How to Apply to Universities Abroad: A Complete Guide

How to apply to foreign universities from India? Before initiating the application process to universities abroad, you need to thoroughly understand the steps for applying to universities abroad. The university application process abroad follows a process of many stages being carried out together, at the same time. Here is the guide to explain it all to you.

Going to a university abroad is a great way for students to experience another culture, meet new people, and get a great education. When you are deciding to apply to universities abroad, you need to understand the entire application process first. Unlike the application process for Indian universities, which is quite linear in nature, the application process for universities abroad is not so simple and follows the work of many stages being carried out together, all at the same time. Thus, the application process for universities abroad involves several steps, from researching programs and checking eligibility, taking the standardised exams, to preparing necessary documents and submitting your application. 

Read more:

• Best Countries for Studying Abroad
• Top Fully Funded Scholarships for Indian Students to Study Abroad

Steps to Study Abroad | Guide to Complete Application Process

Wondering how to study abroad in 2025? Below is a step-by-step guide to studying abroad. Check the details on the complete application process for studying abroad. 

1. Step 1 - Selecting a Country to Study Abroad: For international students from a particular region, certain nations have unique regulations. The application process will go more smoothly if you are an EU citizen and apply to universities in EU countries. For undergraduate programmes, the majority of UK institutions exclusively accept applications submitted through the UCAS portal; for postgraduate degrees, they also accept direct applications or UK PASS. You must go through the pre-application procedure in nations like Germany, Italy, Portugal, and Spain, which involves confirming the eligibility requirements beforehand. Likewise, you must select any country by checking your eligibility to study in that country. For that reason, consider checking your age, nationality, years of formal education, English education, required marks & documents and relevance of the subjects that you studied in your last educational qualification to the ones you are willing to apply now. 
2. Step 2 - Research and Shortlist Programs and Universities: Choosing the right university and course can be a difficult decision. Many universities around the world now offer excellent diplomas, undergraduate, postgraduate and online degree programmes in English and provide support with visas, accommodation and living costs. Select the university that best matches your preferences, and consider weighing factors like budget, location, cost of living, and subjects and specialisations of your chosen course/degree programme.  
3. Step 3 - Appearing for the Required Tests: To meet the requirements, you must take the TOEFL, IELTS, PTE, SAT, ACT, etc., examinations. To be taken seriously as a candidate, you should take these tests and perform well on them. Universities abroad hold the marks obtained in these tests as a major criterion for shortlisting profiles. And if your profile is strong, given that you scored well in these exams, you can even win a chance to avail of a scholarship to study abroad, right with the acceptance of your application. For more information, read: "How Universities 'Select' the Right Applicants". You just need to mention the need for a scholarship in your university application. 
4. Step 4 - Arranging Recommendation Letters: Whether through a unified portal or directly to the university portal, applications should be submitted within the timescale specified by the universities. To speed up the processing of your application, materials like LOR should be prepared and made accessible as requested by the institution. Read: Bonafide Certificate
5. Step 5 - Preparing Essays and Statement of Purpose: When applying to study abroad, a letter of motivation or statement of purpose is a crucial component of the application. Make sure to edit and proofread these documents for mistakes. It should be formatted correctly or in accordance with the university's criteria; don't inflate your experience or accomplishments, and be truthful in your justifications.
6. Step 6 - Collecting all the required transcripts: The process of applying for admission to foreign universities is often tedious, time-consuming and expensive. It requires the student to provide academic transcripts from all previous schools attended. It also requires students to take the standardised subject and language-based tests to prove their readiness for the university. The counsellor will take a look at the student’s transcripts and test scores and then report them to the university of choice for evaluation. This way, the university can assess whether the student is qualified for admission or not.
7. Step 7 - Filling out the application forms: The application form is one of the most important first steps in the process of studying abroad. You have to fill it out correctly to make sure that your application is accepted. You also have to be aware of the deadlines for every step in this process. You should not wait until the last minute because then you might not have enough time to correct any mistakes or answer any questions. Note that an application form is considered submitted only after you pay the application fee. One can complete and submit applications through the university's online portal or designated platforms (like UCAS for the UK).  
8. Step 8 - Accepting admission offer: Once you receive an admission offer from your chosen university for studying abroad, you are required to accept it within a stipulated timeline. This can be done by paying some amount of your course fee.
9. Step 9 - Plan Your Budget and Look for Scholarships: You are advised to plan your finances for tuition, accommodation, and living expenses. If looking for financial aid, explore and apply for scholarships to study abroad to help cover costs. 
10. Step 9 - Visa Application: Comply with the specific visa requirements of the country you're applying to. Gather financial and academic documents, like the letter of enrollment, arrange for suitable accommodation, and obtain necessary health insurance and vaccinations before applying for a visa. 

How to Choose the Best Countries to Study Abroad?

This stage is the most time-consuming and crucial stage. From the admission point of view, it requires a lot of research and active involvement in the shortlisting process. Since applying to foreign universities is an expensive matter for most Indian applicants, the choice of universities is usually restricted to six or eight universities which fulfil your requirements and fit your profile.

To help you with the best country shortlisting, here are a few pages to help you with the process:

• Study in US
• Study in UK
• Study in Canada
• Study in Australia

How to Choose the Right University to Study Abroad?

The perfect match for you may not be the famous university, but the one which offers you a suitable course in your field of study and the tuition fee there fits within your budget. The process of shortlisting the best university is again not a single step but involves multiple stages. Below are the stages involved –

• Self-evaluation stage – the applicant shortlists universities on the basis of criteria like location, city, ranking, tuition fee, etc.
• College fit - at this stage, the applicant checks whether he is a fit candidate for the university or not. The criteria in question are academic eligibility, academic record (GPA), standardised test scores, financial aid considerations, and other issues.
• Application stage – after receiving application forms and the prospectus, the applicant finally makes a final list of colleges to apply to.

For more help, read the following article on choosing the right universities for you to study abroad: How to select the right college abroad?

Scholarships to Study Abroad

Since all international students are interested in getting a scholarship to study abroad, you should start looking for scholarships at the research stage itself. The various sources of scholarships are described below:

1. College-funded – Many colleges offer financial aid to students on the basis of merit. You may have to apply separately for them, or your application will be considered for financial aid automatically on submission. It is recommended to get in touch with the university student cell or the admissions department to get the details and complete information.
2. Private-funded – There are many scholarships offered by private organisations/funds, which may cover your course, for a particular country. You may need to appear for an exam in order to get the scholarship, where the most deserving candidate will be selected among a pool of meritorious students. One such example is the Reliance Stanford Scholarships. 

You could be required to apply for scholarships before applying to university or even after submitting your applications. It is advised to research thoroughly on each scholarship and plan beforehand, so you can properly divide your attention between the admission and scholarship processes.

You may also choose to read the following article to ease your decision of selecting the right university for you: Most Affordable Countries to Study Abroad

For the purpose of having all the information about the admission process in one place, all universities offer admission brochures. It contains all the information a student might require about a course. Since this is the first step of your application process, you can request or download the brochures of the selected 20 to 25 universities.

There are many ways to get university brochures:

1. Requesting brochures –Most university websites have the provision of requesting a brochure via e-mail by filling up a form available online.
2. Downloading from the website – to view the brochure in PDF format, many universities have a downloadable file of their brochures available on their website.
3. Standardised forms/portal – for a few countries or universities, you need to apply through a common admission form like UCAS for undergraduate courses in the UK. In that case, you cannot apply to individual universities but will have to fill in the online standardised application form and send it to the universities of your choice.

Note: These brochures don’t usually contain an application form anymore, as most of the universities accept online applications. In case the University of your Choice still accepts paper applications, check with them in case you need to submit the form enclosed alongside the brochure.

You need to go through the information provided by the website thoroughly. Keep a tab on application eligibility, score requirements, admission deadlines, the transcripts needed, etc. Organise all the information on the requirements and see where you stand. You need to assess yourself from the eligibility perspective and see whether you match up to the expected levels or not.

Check the following articles on study abroad scholarships that may be of great help to you.

• How to Get a Scholarship to Study Abroad?
• Top Fully Funded Scholarships for Indian Students to Study Abroad

Now you can differentiate between schools that match up to your profile and those which don’t. The final list of colleges your profile matches will be somewhere around 10 in number. After figuring out the eligibility checklist, you need to consider the remaining colleges on this basis.

• Kinds of courses offered and teaching methodology
• Admission criteria
• Availability of scholarships/financial aid
• Research facilities
• Class profile
• Affordability of tuition fees and cost of living

Your final list of universities will be somewhere around 5 to 6 colleges. Once you have this final list, you need to start registering on the university’s website and create an admission account.

Documents Required to Study Abroad

You need to upload information like personal details, academic records & official transcripts, essays, statements of personal achievements & extracurricular activities, along with recommendation letters.

A recommendation letter or LOR is an important part of the admission process. LOR is a document written by professors or managers who know you well. They must have managed you on a job or taught you a subject that is related to the course you are applying to. The author must write about their position and how long they have known the applicant. Now, the universities usually provide a format for the LOR, so the author only needs to rank the applicant according to the criteria asked. You need to let the writer know beforehand what kind of questions to expect so there are no surprises in the end.

Your academic degrees and mark sheets are called academic transcripts. Your scores will be converted to credits or GPA, depending on the education system of the destination country. The following are the documents you need to scan and submit to the universities:

• All the academic mark sheets/diplomas
• Secondary school and college reports written by the principal or counsellor
• Character report

Note: If the transcripts are not in English, then they must be translated into English only by the issuing authority or university; otherwise, they may not be acceptable.

The personal Essays and Statement of Purpose (SOP) help the admission officers evaluate your application for admission and financial aid purposes. It provides the people assessing your application with an impression of you as an individual. In the SOP, the student must define his/her academic goals along with the reasons for choosing that particular university and course and the benefits the applicant is looking to enjoy.

Documents Submission

Once you have prepared all your application documents, you should make a docket for them. Collect all your application documents in one folder. This ensures that you do not miss out on any document at the last moment of applying. Depending on the university to university, you would need to submit the documents well in advance of the deadline and through the channel that the university prefers. Basically, there are three types of submission channels:

• Online Submission: The majority of foreign universities prefer online submission for all application-related documents. In this channel, you just need to attach the required document in the space provided. Keep in mind the format of the document as asked by the university, as they prefer and support certain types of file formats only for instance, .doc, .pdf, etc. All your documents (CV, SOP, LOR, Essays, Consolidated Marksheet, etc) should be in this file format only.

• E-mail Submission: A few universities allow the option of submitting your documents and application form through e-mail. For this channel as well, you need to make sure that all the drafts are in the correct file format as preferred by the university. After drafting an email, as per their requirements, you will attach all the documents in a sequence. For instance, if you are attaching the LORs, then attach them in a proper manner: LOR1, LOR2, then LOR3. You might be required to combine all the documents in a zip file. So it is always advisable to double-check the requirements stated by the university.

• By Post Submission: Sending hard copies can be a hassle, and as it is a time-consuming process, it is best if you send the document 15 days before the deadline. All hard copies must be duly signed and stamped before sending. Also, do thorough research on all the international courier services available and their prices to get the best deal. By opting for Shiksha's DHL Student Offer, you can avail up to 40% discounts.

Points to Consider While Finalising A University Abroad

Universities have deadlines for informing the students of their admission decisions as well. If you receive acceptance letters from more than one university, then you will have to make a decision on which one you want to attend. Here are a few objectives and subjective criteria you should consider while making the final decision –

• Length of program, choice of courses
• Financial aid offered
• Cost of living
• Prestige of related departments/programs
• Reputation of the university
• Location of the campus and safety
• Climate and weather changes
• Social life, off-campus activities
• Accommodation and housing options

It is essential to do a lot of research on the universities and their offerings. You will have to find out which of these are likely to meet your goals by spending time online and researching more on that. By making a final checklist of the

You must respond quickly to the university with a Yes or No for each offer of admission. In most cases, you will be required to submit a financial deposit for the first semester/year to the institution that you plan to attend. This is to guarantee your acceptance. You need to make sure you do not miss any deadlines at this stage. Each college will let you know what steps to follow to confirm your place for admission. This information will be included with the letter of acceptance or in materials/e-mails that will be sent shortly after.

Waiting List: If you are on the waiting list, you will receive a letter that informs you that you are on a ‘waiting list’. This means that although you were qualified for admission but there were not enough seats available for qualified applicants. Again, you will be asked whether you are interested or not. If you say yes and accept to be on the waitlist, you may be offered admission if space becomes available later, in case someone cancels their admission.

Read More: Excellent study abroad destinations - Thinking beyond the famous 5

Complete Application Process for Studying Abroad FAQs