Saturday, June 25, 2011

Frequently Asked Questions About Conditional Admission To American Universities

Through our communications with overseas advisors and students seeking admission to American colleges and universities, we have found that there are some misconceptions and misunderstandings about the concept of "conditional admission" to American colleges and universities. In this week's entry, we provide a straightforward explanation of what conditional admission is and answer several of the most frequently asked questions about it.

What is "Conditional Admission"?
OCC CampusConditional admission is an early admission for academically and financially-qualified students who do not have the minimum English skills required for a regular college or university academic program at the time they apply.
Conditional admission is helpful to show international students that they have a guaranteed space in a college or university program after they have reached the necessary English level. It is also helpful to show U.S. visa officers that they have a clear plan for their education program in the United States.

Frequently Asked Questions About Conditional Admission:
1) Do all colleges and universities offer conditional admission? - No. Colleges and universities offer conditional admission for two main reasons: A) To attract more students to their English language program and B) To fill the extra space they expect to have in their programs. Colleges and universities that are highly-ranked and have low acceptance rates will almost never offer conditional admission to their programs.
 
2) Do all college and university-based ESL programs offer conditional admission to bachelors and masters degree programs? - No. Each college and university-based ESL program decides with the school's regular admissions office whether to offer conditional admission or not and what requirements the students will have to meet in order to change from conditional to regular admission status.
Because university graduate departments each have their own admission requirements, conditional admission may not always be available to each graduate program at the university.
 
3) Do all college and university-based ESL programs allow students to skip the TOEFL or IELTS exam if they complete the highest ESL level? No. Members of the school's regular admissions office and faculty decide how well the English skills students learn in the ESL program prepare them for academic study in the college/ university and whether a standardized test like TOEFL or IELTS is needed to confirm their English ability. Before choosing a college or university-based ESL program, it is important to find out whether the students will be required to take the TOEFL or IELTS exam before they can be fully accepted to the degree program.    
 
4) What kind of application documents are needed to get conditional admission? - Students applying for conditional admission must complete and submit all of the regular application documents needed for the degree program EXCEPT the TOEFL or IELTS exam score reports (for graduate students, the GRE or GMAT exam score may also be submitted later in most cases). 
  
5) Are students required to attend the college or university's ESL program in order to be given conditional admission? - In some cases, yes, in other cases, no. Each program has its own policy about this so it is important to check before choosing an English language program. If it's not required and another nearby English program has more convenient starting dates, lower prices, or other benefits,
 your students may want to consider these alternatives. 

6) Are students required to enroll in the college or university they received conditional admission to?
- No. Conditional admission means that the students have a space at the college or university when they finish their English studies, if they want it. There is no legal requirement, however, that students can only attend that college or university. Students can choose to apply to any other college or university that they want, but this will require completing a new application, paying additional application fees and getting a new set of original academic and financial documents from their home country. 

7) If a student does not have high enough grades can he/ she still get conditional admission? - No. Conditional admission is only given to students who have provided documentation that they meet the college or university program's academic and financial requirements or have some kind of correctable deficiency at the time they apply. Having grades that are below the school's admissions standards and is something that is not easily or immediately correctable except by taking more classes and getting higher grades.

About American Education Partners:

American Education Partners (AEP) is a U.S.-based service that helps international students find, apply, and get accepted to hundreds of carefully-selected, high-quality education programs throughout the USA. More information about AEP programs and services can be found on our website at: www.americanedpartners.com
  
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