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Finding Opportunities for Study in U.S., Canadian and British Universities
By Marcia Koth de Paredes

If you want to develop your talents or help develop the capacity of employees, family or friends via university study in the U.S., Canada or Britain here are some “tips.”

1. Start early
Work on two tasks must start early, especially if the intention is to obtain a scholarship to help cover costs: English preparation and research to discover opportunities. Preparations should begin at least two years prior to presenting applications. Applications are usually presented at least a year in advance of starting classes. For example, the contest closes in early May for some of the Fulbright-sponsored graduate study grants.

2. Excellent English is required
An excellent knowledge of English is required by universities in all English-speaking countries as well as scholarship programs of other countries such as Japan. Native speakers of English need to work on their writing, reading and speaking skills. It is almost impossible for a non-English speaker to learn English well enough to pass the required examinations in less than two years of intensive courses. I have seen very determined people do it faster but please don't depend on it. Students also should understand that their personal experience (academic achievement, fun, work to help to meet expenses) depends on the ability to interact with colleagues and friends with ease.

3. Establish very clear study objectives
Since university catalogs (example http://web.mit.edu/catalogue/overv.welco.shtml) as well as the summaries prepared by commercial entities (example Thomson Petersons http://www.Petersons.com) are basically organized by curricular objectives, the first step in research requires clear personal decisions about study objectives. Study objectives are not necessarily the same as career objectives. It should be understood that for undergraduates a “liberal arts” objective is just fine for many students who are as yet undecided about career objectives.

4. Compare offerings
Once study objectives are clear the next step is to compare offerings in Peru and other countries. People sometimes skip this step by following recommendations of friends and colleagues (I studied there; I hear it is very good, I have friends who have studied there.) These recommendations are a good way to select a few universities to analyze their academic programs but should not be considered sufficient. How many times have I heard “me dijeron” even in cases where the school does not offer degrees in the subject of interest. Universities want to match their programs with the objectives people want to achieve. They want to select a group of students interested in what they have to offer, students who will contribute and be satisfied that their personal objectives are being fulfilled. It is very important to understand what is offered when preparing an application.

There is a wealth of information in the Educational Advisor's office of the Fulbright Commission (Juan Romero Hidalgo 444, San Borja, 475-3083) and the libraries of organizations such as the Instituto Cultural Peruano Norteamericano and the British Council. The educational advisors in the Commission and the ICPNAs also give monthly talks to orient people about the processes of application and scholarship opportunities.

Internet also offers wonderful opportunities to obtain information on academic programs as well as good advice on how to prepare applications. The following are a selection of portals to the information required:

Peru Universities
Universia http://www.universia.edu.pe
INABEC http://www.inabec.gob.pe
CONCYTEC http://www.concytec.gob.pe

U.S. Universities
University of Texas Austin http://www.utexas.edu/world/univ/state

Basic information for US and Non US citizens
Fulbright Commission http://www.fulbrightperu.info/cae/paginas/links.htm

More for U.S. citizens
U.S. Department of Education http://www.ed.gov/index.jhtml
U.S. Department of State http://exchanges.state.gov/
Institute of International Education http://www.iie.org and http://www.iiepassport.org
The College Board http://www.collegeboard.com/?student

More for Non U.S. citizens:
United States Embassy Lima http://lima.usembassy.gov
NAFSA: Association of International Educators
http://www.nafsa.org/content/AboutInternationalEducation/ForStudents/WebResources.htm

Canadian Universities
Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada
http://www.aucc.ca/can_uni/our_universities/index_e.html
ScholarshipsCanada.com
http://www.scholarshipscanada.com
Canadian Embassy in Peru
http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/peru/menu-en.asp

British Universities
British Council http://www.britishcouncil.org
British Embassy http://www.britemb.org.pe
(Click Essential Guide to the UK education)

5. Work hard on the essays
Applicants must usually present an essay on a topic set by the university or scholarship sponsor. Many university admission officers check the language and other exams first and then read essays before reviewing other aspects of the application. If the essays are interesting, they will look at the rest of the application. I searched for “college admission essays” on Yahoo and there were 443,000 results. Gives a good idea of how important the essays are. There is advice on essay preparation in most of the portals mentioned above.