What You Can Tell From An American University's Webpage

When you’re looking at an American university, it is understandable that you would think that you have to visit the campus to learn everything you need to know about that university. However, in this age of information, the Internet can serve as your one and only companion for finding out everything that you need and want to know about the university of your choice.

Naturally, the first place to look would be the actual homepage of the university's website. Home pages, in general, offer a quality overview on a number of things around the campus and about the inner workings of the university’s academic system. The first thing that you, as a international student, should look at is their international student page. It’s essential to check and make sure that they have a fully staffed and operational office devoted solely to international student affairs. This will ensure that while you’re staying at the university, you will always have someone there to answer questions for you, and will have someone well read in the areas of immigration policies and similar processes that you will have to go through.

Of course, that should not be the only place you look on the university's home page - take your time and study, in depth, everything you can about the university. Are there any on-campus groups you might like to be a member of? What sort of fees should you expect to pay as an out-of-country student? Websites for universities tend to be very comprehensive on all matters of campus life and classes, and it can give you just as good of a look at what life going to that university may be like without you having to actually visit the campus.

Finally, feel free to search online for the university and look at any other websites besides the university's own that come up in your web search. This should help you find all manner of statistics pertaining to the university, as well as reviews from previous and current students. Also, the university should have a way for you the ask questions and get information from their website.

So there’s no need to spend outrageous sums of money visiting the campus of your potential university. Instead, take a good, hard look around the internet and see what you can find. You may be surprised by the amount of information that you gather!

By: Dennis Dunham PhD

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Dennis Dunham, PhD is the Executive Director of International Services at the University of Central Oklahoma. He is credited with helping over 16,000 international students come to the United States. Dr. Dunham has received many awards in the field of international education. Dr. Dunham holds a Ph.D. in Educational Psychology and Technology and Masters of TESOL. Dr. Dunham, a former Peace Corps Volunteer, speaks Korean and French. Visit the UCO International Office to learn more about studying abroad in the USA at www.uco.edu/ioffice.