Are you thinking its too late for you to apply to college or university in the US? That the only schools who may still be accepting students at this date would be low-caliber, border-line diploma mills?

Well you would be wrong! Many well ranked, highly respected colleges and universities have rolling admissions. These institutions do not have a “hard” deadline by which your application must be received but instead continue to accept applications until the class is full.

If you were not accepted at your chosen schools, your first choice, or even if you changed your mind about wanting to attend a specific college, look around, you may find a school with rolling admissions that you can still apply to.

For many students in the United States, applying later in the year will reduce chances of finding scholarships or financial aid. For international students, the main issues center around the time it may take to gather required information such as:

– TOEFL results (TOEFL testing and registration centers) http://www.ets.org/bin/getprogram.cgi?test=toefl

– Official or notarized copies of your original high school transcripts (if you are applying for undergraduate/bachelors degree) or university transcripts for graduate study

– Official or notarized translated copies of your original documents

– Official results of any standardized tests (SAT, GMAT, GRE, etc) – each university has different requirements

– Letter of recommendation from an academic source (teacher, advisor, principal, etc)

– Proof of funding (you must prove you are able to pay for all your expenses at the university by showing bank statements, scholarship letters, etc.

Most, if not all, community colleges offer rolling admissions, and can be a great way to start your US college education (read more about community colleges here). You can click here to find a list of some 4-year colleges and universities that offer rolling admissions for undergraduate programs (this is not a comprehensive list).

However,  just because a school has a late application deadline or rolling admissions, it does not guarantee your acceptance even if you are a well qualified applicant. Schools often use a first-come-first-serve process that will grant admissions to students who applied earlier but may not have been as qualified as you. Housing, financial aid, and merit scholarships are usually awarded in this fashion as well and may mean you miss out on campus living if you apply late.

Rolling admissions is a great flexible tool that can help some students who had reasons for being unable to apply early.  Its always recommended that you apply as early as possible and, as an international student, start your application and college research process as early as possible.