Choosing the right university

I picked my schools by looking at the following factors:

1.    Location-urban / suburban / rural

2.    Academic requirements

3.    Culture

It’s important to make a wholistic choice, as each of these factors are very important to your college life.

Location:

Pick a school that aligns well with your personal lifestyle. (E.g. urban if you prefer living in a bustling metropolis, suburban or rural if you’d like most of your college life to be centred around campus)

The US is quite diverse in terms of their political viewpoints at different states. It is important to research general attitudes towards immigrants and international students of each state before deciding to apply to a particular school.

Academic requirement

Academic wise, different schools also have very different expectations. Look into the curriculum expectations can also help making a choice. (E.g. Brown has an open curriculum that has no class requirements, while other colleges often have a list of classes that all students need to complete).

Culture

Understanding a university culture can be difficult, especially when living in Australia, where the exposure to overseas universities is generally weaker.

While official school websites are quite accessible, I found most helpful to learn about university culture via reading, watching videos from college students talking about their schools, and scrolling on social media. Meeting teachers and older students at summer school is also a helpful form of getting first-person insight into different colleges.

To get a sense of the university, virtual or actual tours are also great!