The new college grind

If you've got a son or daughter who is graduating high school in April next year, you've probably already started thinking of university, even if they haven't.

The last year of school in India is becoming increasingly similar to a year in prison; prison, that is, if you've committed a particularly foul murder, with long stretches in solitary confinement alternating with bouts of hard labour.

The rigorous and increasingly two-dimensional demands of colleges here are perhaps why foreign colleges are starting to look more and more attractive to students and parents alike.

If you're thinking of applying to the US or UK, the process should start much earlier than usual, with SATs (for the US) and the process of researching universities, finding out which have the courses you find most interesting, and are located in an area you will find convivial.

Given that (unless you're doing engineering) you won't have to declare your major until your third (junior) year, the other courses available should be of interest. Now that an academic year is winding down, it's the perfect time to start planning.

It all begins with the SATs (the Scholastic Aptitude Test), which should probably already be taken if you're planning to apply for admission for the fall of 2006, but it's still not too late "" especially if you're confident that you only need to take it once to get a good score.

You can register to take the SAT (at least two months before you plan to take the test so you don't miss the registration deadline), either by writing in to the College Entrance Exam Board at Princeton in the States, or online at www.collegeboard.com.

The College Board has recently introduced a new SAT, which has a new writing section and is graded on a 2400 point scale, as opposed to the current 1600. Be sure to check that the colleges you apply to accept old SAT scores if you've already taken it, or if you'll be required to sit the new one. Registering costs $41.50 "" but it's more if you apply late.

Some universities will also require some SAT Subject Tests, in at least two subjects (this is a requirement for colleges at Cornell, Columbia, Harvard, Princeton "" most colleges in fact), and also perhaps the TOEFL, which most students here will be able to do in the dark, on their heads, with their hands tied behind their backs.

Most colleges will have guidelines for the kind of SAT grade you need to apply; but don't imagine that if you get a 2350 you are guaranteed a spot at Yale or Harvard (although it will probably increase your chances).

The thing to do is to concentrate on the rest of your application "" especially your personal statement. Especially in the case of international students, universities will always look at what you can add in terms of your experience, personality and diversity to the class you enter into.

Each university will have an application fee of approximately $60-65. There are extenuating circumstances in which you can waive this fee; you will have to look on the university's website for each individual case, but usually you have to demonstrate straitened financial circumstances.

Application deadlines are generally in late December or early January, but since admission is rolling, it would probably be wise to apply as early as possible.

Since pre-boards are in January anyway, most Indian students would probably like to get their foreign applications out of the way from well before this date.

If there is a university you know you will definitely go to if you are offered a spot, you can apply to their Early Decision Program, which will have the same requirements and fees, but an earlier deadline, usually in early November.

The cost of tuition at American universities is usually quite high; for example, for one year at Princeton, their brochure suggests this breakup of finances for each academic year: $29,910 for tuition; $8,387 for room and board; $3,083 for "miscellaneous expenses" such as books and supplies. This gives an estimated total of $ 41,380 (approximately Rs 17,90,000).

This, however, is Princeton, and the Ivy League colleges are going to cost far more than state universities "" a year at the State University of New York, for example, will cost $10, 610.

Most universities are need-blind, which means they will look at your application without taking into account your finances. If you need financial aid, therefore, you can apply separately; most American universities have generous aid programmes.

If you're applying to England, UCAS (University and College Admission Service) makes life a lot easier by making it possible to use only one form to apply to all your universities.

The difference between going to school in the UK and the US in terms of price is great. A year at what many of us with deep-rooted colonial hangovers consider the best university in the world, Oxford, will cost £10,890 (around Rs 8,79,000) for a science subject, and less, £8,170, (Rs 6,59,000) for an arts degree.

This is about the norm in England "" even at Oxford Brookes University, voted 51 on the recent Guardian University Guide, (check it out online at www.guardian.co.uk, and for the US equivalent, US News Magazine is a pretty safe bet).

The tuition is £8,020 on average. There are also various domestic scholarships you can apply for, via the British Council, given that British universities are slightly more cagey than American ones about financial aid.