Watch this before starting your application (Get Accepted to Your Dream University Part #7)

- Hey guys, welcome to today's educational video.

You have to watch this video if you decided

to apply to an American university,

'cause today we gonna go to MIT Admissions Page

and we just gonna go through every single step.

I'm gonna explain you what everything means,

what you have to do,

what you you should avoid doing,

so step by step explanation.

If you are interested and if you're applying

to an American university continue watching this video.

(upbeat music)

I decided to look at MIT's MBA page for this video,

just because MBA's are at the toughest programs to get into.

There's so many details that have pretty much the same

for every level of education,

like before we're talking about Bachelor's,

Master's, PHD, MBA.

The admissions criteria gonna be pretty much the same.

There are some things to remember,

some things to consider

and I'm gonna mention them.

There are some different exams,

but again, the process is pretty much the same.

The terms are pretty much the same, so let's do it.

Let me explain everything.

Okay, we're going to the Admissions section.

The first thing when you were applying to university,

you need to realize first,

whether you can afford it financially,

there is another video for that.

Second, what do you need apply

'cause sometimes the application deadline is in two months

and you're like, oops,

I haven't passed my GMAT yet.

I haven't passed my SAT yet.

Haven't passed my TOEFL yet,

which means that you cannot apply in two months,

cause yeah, two months is too tough.

Okay, you realize you wanna apply to MIT

or any other college,

go to the How to Apply section.

(upbeat music)

Okay and let's start here.

The first thing they're asking you

for is your cover letter,

which basically is a personal statement

slash motivation letter.

Different universities use different terms

'cause this is more a professional program, MBA,

they would want to see like a cover letter

that you will use to apply for a job.

If we're talking about like standard master's,

that would be a personal statement

and we were talking about bachelor's,

that would be personal statement,

motivation letter, whatever you call it.

The thing is sometimes they required two,

sometimes they're require one,

sometimes they require three.

Question that everybody asks is,

why have you decided to pursue this step

of education at this time of your life?

And why our university?

Like these questions, everybody asks them.

And then depending on the university,

they would ask different things.

Again, here so MIT Sloan's seeks students

whose personal characteristic demonstrate

that they will make the most

of the incredible opportunities at MIT,

both academic and non academic.

So basically they wanna see

how you perform on campus,

but they don't have like a specific question for you.

Some universities would, for example,

Columbia's Bachelor's program,

they're asking you, "If you could give one advice

"to 16 year olds, what would this be?"

'Cause you're already like 17 or 18 when you're applying.

Stanford asks you,

"What is the most important thing in your life and why?"

There is so many things they're asking,

but basically what they're looking

for are your personal stories,

what is driving you,

what is behind all of those nice words that you're saying.

Like, nobody's looking for everlasting statement

where you're like, oh my God, I love your university.

I'm so excited.

I wanna be like a cool professional.

I would maybe start my own company some day.

Like this is bull...

I'm not gonna swear in this video.

This is not the best example.

What they're looking for is,

I was curing a disease and I realized

that this and that is understudied

and I know our body is a huge system

that can be improved and this is

why I'm gonna study biotechnology or whatever.

Like tell them stories

that made you do whatever you're doing,

apply to the university.

Next step, resume.

The rule of thumb here is that,

if you have less than 10 years of experience,

your resume should not be longer than one page.

Please, please, please.

I've seen so many resumes that have five, six pages.

No, guys come on.

Like nobody wants to hear about,

I don't know all of the publications that you've had.

They don't wanna hear about like all

of the work experience that you've had.

Just highlight the most important things,

like if you were a salesperson,

there is no need to describe that you were selling stuff

'cause this is obvious.

This comes from the title of your profession.

Salesperson sells.

Yes, I know that.

What you can highlight though, is how you exceeded KPI's,

how you exceeded plans,

how you got promoted three months in a job.

Like those things are worth mentioning

'cause they are showing that you're a true professional,

that you're a true leader.

Like all of that stuff.

If you don't have any work experience mentioned

maybe conferences that you took part in,

maybe volunteer projects,

maybe publications,

but again, less than one page, okay?

This is like super important.

MIT is super creative

and I've seen some universities do that already.

Video statement, a 60 second video.

I love that because I'm a blogger,

but I know some people are uncomfortable.

If you see something like that,

if you see a video statement or like the presentation,

please don't be too creative,

just take your phone and record yourself.

Don't hire crew, 'cause again,

I've done a lot of like MIT admissions

and I have seen so many students actually hire crews

to shoot a 60 second video

or like hire animation designers to do all of the animation.

No need to do that.

Like why the university asks for a video,

they just wanna see you.

They want to see how you communicate.

So your iPhone, your frontal camera,

whatever phone you have,

just talk about yourself.

Open up like as if you're talking

to a colleague at an interview.

Don't be too creative.

Don't spend too much time on it.

Like better focus in your exams.

But again, video statement is not something really common

and this is why I picked up and MIT MBAs

'cause they are doing some uncommon stuff

that I wanted you to know about.

Normally that would just be two

or three personal statements and that's it.

No video stuff.

You might have an interview later,

but it depends on the university.

Additional information, you always have that.

Any application would allow you

to add some additional information at the end of it.

And here it's up to you.

I've added that I've been doing ballet.

I think it's exciting 'cause it's Russian ballet

and I don't know, I mentioned that,

I mentioned that I've been to like 22 countries.

I mentioned that I'm singing semi professionally,

like I mentioned my hobbies and what makes me different

and that I'm passionate about languages.

You can mention languages

that you speak if they haven't asked for that before.

So anything that shows you as a person is really important.

Letters of recommendation.

There's a separate class on letters of recommendation,

but again, something you have to remember.

First,

they need to come from the recommender directly.

So they either submitted online or they send it.

Normally they submit it online,

but you don't wanna bother them too much.

Like if you're applying to seven universities,

they're gonna be bothered.

So five or six universities is the maximum

that I would advice in terms of applying,

'cause there is so many personal statements

that you have to write.

There's so many recommendation letters.

Depending on the level of education for like MBA,

they would wanna see mostly professional recommendation's,

so basically say that,

professional recommendations are preferred

from individuals who are able to speak with certainty

about your professional achievements and potential.

And this is true for any Masters degree, normally.

Like 'cause Masters is a professional degree already.

And it's supposed that you have some work experience

or like internship.

Sometimes you can do two recommendations,

one academic, one professional for your Masters,

which means that you can ask your professor

to submit a commendation

and then your ex-manager or current manager.

For Bachelors, it mostly comes from your teachers.

I would suggest your English teacher just

because they speak English.

And your most favorite teacher

or the teacher could teachers a related subjects,

like if you're applying to Bachelor of Economics,

I would ask your maths teacher to submit a recommendation.

The next thing they're asking

for is organizational structure.

This is very specific to MIT.

They just wanna see how you see organizations.

But if we're talking about something that's related to art

that's gonna be your portfolio.

They would wanna see what you've painted

or what you've done before.

If that's like a acting profession,

then they might wanna see how you've acted,

like the recordings of you acting.

They might sometimes give you like specific tasks like,

read Shakespeare or perform a monologue.

Like again, for every university this is different,

depending on whatever you wanna study.

And if it's a PHD, it's very important

to highlight your academic work.

The articles that we wrote,

the conferences that you took part in

and things you've done in terms of your research.

Transcripts,

and I'm gonna answer some common questions related

to transcripts.

So if you are applying for your Master's degree

or your Bachelor's

and you're still completing your previous level

of education, there is no need

to submit your diploma just yet.

What you can do,

you can go to the administration of your school

or university and ask them for your current grades.

So they would give you a paper with your current grades.

You're gonna translate it into English.

The thing is you can do translations by yourself,

just make sure they're good

and they just submit those transcripts

with your application.

What happens later when you get your diploma,

they would want the original like paper transcript.

So what you can do, again,

you go to universities administration

because you don't,

if you have just one diploma,

you don't wanna send it to America.

So you go to your administration

and ask them for an exact copy of the diploma

and they can do that.

This is school like transcripts

and they put it in the envelope,

you write the address of the university,

they seal the envelope.

This is really important.

Like they put a stamp on the envelope,

which means that you didn't have access to what's inside,

so you haven't tossed any documents.

But this all happens only after you get accepted

and only after you accept the invitation.

It's not like you have to do it now at this stage,

just the copy of your transcripts is enough.

If you already have a diploma translated into English

and scan it and send it, that's it.

Like you're gonna deal with all of the originals later.

Test scores.

You need them before you apply.

You need to have them ready.

Some universities would be able to wait for you.

For example, what happened to me when I was applying,

I took my TOEFL the day before the application deadline

and it takes like two or three weeks

to check the TOEFL results.

So I just asked the university,

is it okay that I took TOEFL before the deadline

but I don't have the results yet?

And they told me that yes.

The most important thing is that you've

taken your tests before the application deadline.

So be careful with that.

They all have to be taken before the application deadline.

If you don't have the official scores yet,

they gonna receive them.

Just don't forget to mention your university in there,

you know, TOEFL or GRE or GMAT or SAT application form

'cause it allows you to send the results automatically.

Application fees can be different.

The minimum that I've seen is like $15.

The maximum you see right now on the screen,

MBA application fee, $250.

You can ask for application fee waivers always.

But again, it depends like MIT

and top universities normally would

not provide application fee waivers international students

who they provide them for are like college seniors,

active U.S. military,

Teach for American members.

Like you can read all of that,

but talented international students are not here.

but some universities tell you, "Hey,

"if you have good exam scores,

"like if your GMAT is above 700,

"if you're SAT is about 1400,

if your TOEFL is above 100,

"we can provide application fee waiver."

Why they do that?

Because they want your application

'cause they wouldn't tell them to people

to apply to their university.

They wanna make sure their average student profile is,

you know, on the higher end with all of the grades.

So sometimes when you have good results,

they would provide an application fee waiver,

which means that you can apply for free.

Normally I would ask for an application fee waiver

after I've completed all of the forms,

uploaded everything,

then I would reach out to the admissions committee

and ask if they have it.

But again, if they have this black and white here,

MIT does not provide application fee waivers

to like married based application fee waivers,

then there is no need to ask, okay?

Because they're gonna send you back to the website

and you're just not gonna look too professional

'cause a professional person

researches everything before asking, right?

Okay, the information that I've given you in this video,

would allow you to get accepted to top universities,

let alone the average ones

because I've gone through every single detail

and if you're a serious about it,

if you're taking every single step

that I've talked about seriously,

you have really good chances of getting accepted.

Rule number one, always believe in yourself.

If you don't believe in yourself, nothing's gonna happen.

But if you do, if you work hard,

if you try your best, I'm sure you're gonna get accepted

to your dream university.

And I'm here to help you ask questions,

like this video if this information was useful

'cause it's really important for me

to see your feedback.

And if you're not yet subscribed, subscribe to this video.

If you have friends

who are applying to American universities,

please share this video

'cause this is something like really, really,

really important

'cause I get so many questions regarding applications

and I've answered, like I tried to answer a lot of those,

like the major ones in this video.

And thank you so much for watching,

I'll see you very soon.

Bye. Bye.