It’s no wonder that Indian students seeking to go abroad for higher studies are aware that these foreign shores offer better opportunities with regard to career prospects. If there were no money constraints, parents of every student would have sent their children overseas for higher studies after class 12 to expose them to the world of opportunities and to accelerate their career growth.
As per a study by UNESCO, even during the Covid-19 pandemic, around 91% of the total students from India were interested in pursuing their higher studies from foreign universities. However, the pandemic changed the outlook of parents as well as children towards studying abroad. Some complex concerns have emerged in the aftermath of this deadly virus. So, before sending your child abroad for further studies, both you and your child should consider a few things to make an informed decision.
Decreased Acceptance Rate
The acceptance rate by most colleges has dropped drastically as several institutions have gone test-optional for Fall 2022. Universities like MIT, Harvard and Columbia have reduced the number of seats available for international students in the current year. Application acceptance has come down significantly in the Fall of 2021 compared to the previous year. The acceptance rate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) stands at 4% in the current Fall (acceptance rate of 2020 was 7.3%) while Harvard university’s acceptance rate is 3.4% in 2021 (4.9% in 2020). Another reason is that many admitted students chose to defer their admission by a year as they want to attend in-person classes. This has considerably reduced the number of available seats in the current Fall.
Vaccination Status
Vaccination status is causing travel-related hiccups significantly for students going abroad. Many vaccines have not yet got approval from FDA or WHO. Hence, international students who are partially or have not yet got vaccinated with eligible vaccines will have to get fully inoculated. The CDC has issued specific guidelines for the international students who are coming to the US in terms of vaccines and the students have to revaccinate themselves with one of the FDA-approved vaccines.
Considering these challenges, the universities are extending complete support to mitigate them. To embrace the new changes, colleges and universities have created groups on; WhatsApp, Instagram and other social media platforms; both for parents and students. Most universities are organising counselling sessions for students as well as parents to help them understand how they are catching up with the pandemic situation without compromising on the quality of education.
Hence, before choosing and filling in an application form to get admitted to a US university, consider these aspects.
