Sick and disgusted with tertiery education in Malaysia? (Not implying anything) Thinking of furthering your studies overseas? Here are some tips for those who are considering to apply.

1. Make your decision

First and foremost, prior to almost every aspect to applying. Well duh. Decide exactly which university(s) you opt for. Depending on your current academic qualifications or what you plan to acquire, choose the country, then the university. USA? UK? Aussieland? Choose!

After that, pick your university. This part, in my opinion, is the most fun part. Lets say you pick USA. Goody! Go to libraries and bookstore to find directories of American universities. What people other than the universities themselves say about them would be more reliable. Savvy? I’d go for ‘TOP 100′ or ‘BEST OF’ and stuff like that, and make sure its up to date!

2. University lockdown

Dont be stupid and eliminate from a list of thousands. Know what your criteria is! Whats your major? Whats your location preference? Eastside? Westside? How expensive is it? Can I meet the requirements? Rural? Suburban? Get hold of directories! And don’t easily fall prey to advertisements. As a marketing student myself, I’m telling you that whatever product that is heavily advertised is likely to have needed it. Harvard and Princeton don’t need to advertise much. Get it?

But the most important in this section is to KNOW THY MAJOR. Accounting? Law? Pharmacy? Afro-American Anthropology? I won’t waste my time helping you decide in this article. You handle that yourself. Really. Take an aptitude test or something. Know your strengths/interests/talents, etc.

3. Narrowing the choice

You’ve got a choice of 5-10 universities after hard, sweaty work. You’re sure that the ones other than these 5 to 10 are absolutely not right for you? Sure? Well then, take a look at the few you got right now. Compare them systematically. Dont write it in words like “Eureka University is good because it’s next to a lake”.

Instead, make a table/grid to make your comparison. Put the university names on rows and the following on columns: Annual expenditure, location, required grade, selectivity, ranking, comments, etc. This would allow you to see the essentials all in half an A4.

4. The application form

So you’ve made your decision? You can apply up to 3 or 4 just in case shit happens. But applying too many would waste your money. Application fees can go up to three digits so be careful. If you’re a genius of a student and you know you can get in, save the money.

Then get the form! I made the mistake of getting the form after acquiring some of the required documents. This gave my dad a few round trips to the bank and he ain’t pleased! So get the form BEFORE you start acquiring documents.

Make a checklist of EVERYTHING YOU NEED to fill the form. A single form will ask you to climb the mountains and swim the oceans, your check list can help you prioritize. AND DONT FORGET THE DEADLINE! MISSING THE DEADLINE WILL BE YOUR UNDOING. Ahem.

Applying online would require similar stuff, except that they dont need notarized/authorized documents, just provide the information they ask you for. I do not know if this is a good alternative but snail mail will never fail you, unless of course, an Iraqi suicide bomber hijacks your FedEx plane.

That’s it! That’s most of the tips I can give, I can’t think of all at the moment cos I have homework to worry about. If you got more tips, share it through comments. I welcome them. Till next time, toodles.