American schools spend a TREMENDOUS amount of money each year to create and maintain the image that they offer potential students a great place to live and study. To accomplish this, most hire professional marketing consultants, photographers, graphic designers to create professional, attractive-looking brochures and websites.
There's nothing wrong in doing this, but if you are an international student living thousands of miles away and have never visited the school, how can you find out if the schools claims are true and if it is really the right school for you? One good way is to find out what actual students say about their experience.
A good website to read about what real students have to say about their schools - both good and bad - is http://www.unigo.com/.* This website provides student comments about hundreds of colleges and universities throughout the USA. You can search student comments by school name, number of comments per school, or popularity. Students provide comments on such things as the school's academic and social life, and what they consider to be the best and worst things about the school.
The good thing about these comments are that they are made independently of the school. Students are not paid to post their comments and they are not edited by the school's public relations department. The bad thing is that these comments do not necessarily reflect a true overall representation of all of student opinions from the school - just the ones who felt strongly enough to post good or bad reviews. Keeping these things in mind, it is important for any international student reading the comments to keep them in the proper perspective and to not rely upon them too heavily in your overall decision of which school to apply to in the USA.
Another thing to keep in mind is that most of the comments on the Unigo website are made by American students, rather than international students. Their experiences and opinions may differ from those of international students. If you attended an American college or university as an international student, adding your comments on this website will help future international students gain a better perspective about what they can expect to experience at your school.
American Education Partners makes a special effort to visit schools throughout the USA each year to gain a first-hand perspective from an international student's point of view. During AEP schools visits, we look at the facilities, programs, and international student support services they have to offer. Once we are satisfied that the school meets all of our high standards, they become a "Partner School" and are recommended to future students. To learn which schools might be a good match for your education goals and needs, contact the AEP School Placement Team today at: info@americanedpartners.com
*NOTE TO READERS: American Education Partners has no affiliation with the organization(s) behind the Unigo.com website. We provide the information about this website simply to inform future students about an information resource they can use in their school planning research.
Education is a major committment. Students should take sufficient time to research different school. Time, effort, and money is a major component of education. The programs offered by the college and social activities should be evaluated.
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