The United States may be the 'land of opportunity' but, when it comes to gaining a place in its universities, postgraduate students are well advised to avail themselves of some opportune groundwork.
That is why so many Hong Kong students seeking to maximise their chances of securing a place in the US and elsewhere turn to help from the Princeton Review, a leading test preparation organisation.
Established in New York in 1981 by John Katzman, the Princeton Review has more than 600 locations around the world and has assisted about a million students achieve top SAT, Test of English as a Foreign Language, and Graduate Management Admissions Test Compute Adaptive Test (GMAT CAT) scores on college entrance examinations.
Postgraduate students applying to study in the US and other countries are usually required to arrange and sit a GMAT CAT test in Hong Kong.
The results are then forwarded to the universities where they wish to study. The results are considered alongside their work experience, interviews and other admission criteria.
While essays, work experience and interviews play a big part in a successful application, only a student's GMAT CAT score could be changed substantially in a short period, Mark Reis, sales and marketing manager for the Princeton Review in Hong Kong, said.