The college application process can be a source of stress for any student, but is often particularly overwhelming to international students hoping to study in the United States. The U.S. is geographically and culturally diverse, and so are its colleges. With close to 5,000 U.S. colleges to choose from, how do you narrow your choices down to a manageable list of no more than ten schools to apply to?

For students applying to U.S. colleges and universities from abroad, it’s not only a challenge meeting the benchmarks defined by one’s own national curriculum—either secondary school leaving exams or applications to one’s own set of national universities—there’s the added work of deciphering how local successes translate over to USA admissions standards, a system with its own set of quirks. Will a set of classes taken abroad even fulfill the course requirements of a U.S. college? As with most answers: It depends.

The U.S. college admissions process can be perplexing to international and domestic students alike.  Why are some seemingly qualified applicants denied admission, while others with outwardly similar qualifications are accepted?  The answer lies in the fact that U.S. college admissions officers are not tasked with simply admitting individual students, but with shaping a diverse class that meets a variety of institutional needs.

International students, just like their domestic counterparts, should strive for a college list that encompasses a range of admission selectivity. While it’s fine to aim high and dream big, it’s smart to have a safety net and multiple options. To better understand how to build a balanced list and why rankings aren’t everything when it comes to the college search, see Emily Toffelmire’s recent article on www.wes.org, home of World Education Services, a non-profit organization advocating for international education since 1974.

As an international student considering universities overseas, you may be choosing between multiple destination countries, not just the United States. What if you don’t have to decide? What if you could attend a university in the U.S. but also spend a semester or a school break studying in an additional country or two? Well, there’s good news for you adventurous types: You can!

If you’re a prospective international student, you’ll need more than just a valid passport to study in the USA; you will also need to certify your finances. What exactly does it mean when a US university asks you for evidence of adequate financial support? As non-immigrant visa holders, international students are required by law to demonstrate proof of sufficient funding a.k.a. “certification of finances.” This documentation allows universities to get more information about the funds available to students wishing to study in the United States.

If an international student contacts the financial aid office at a college or university in the U.S. and asks, “Is there financial aid available for international students?,” the answer will usually be a firm no. Financial aid officers are ambassadors of federal funds, and may not look beyond the money that is offered by the U.S. government to fully answer this question. A more complete answer requires students to broaden their scope. Finding money for college requires looking beyond the federal funds and even traditional first-stop college sources like the like financial aid office.

I’m an international student living in India and will be applying to universities in both the UK and the US. The UCAS application requires a personal statement, which I’ve already written. Is it okay if I use that personal statement for my main Common Application essay?

—It’s Raining Essays in Mumbai

A quick internet search for the question, “Where can get I get a scholarship to study in the United States?” will yield thousands of results. Given that your week does not magically have more days to spend searching for scholarships, how does a student weed through the noise and decide where to focus his time and energy?

If you are an international student or parent, or anyone who wants to cut costs in college, you won’t want to miss last week’s episode of Getting In: A College Coach Conversation. Guest host Sally Ganga had experts on hand to talk about the many aspects of college admissions and enrollment for international students, and she welcomed a recent and gainfully employed college graduate, who shared some fantastic college cost-saving advice with our listeners.