US Universities Applications and Experiences If you have downloaded this presentation, please refer to the notes at the bottom of the page in Powerpoint for links and extra information

Contents 1.Academics and school 2.Extracurriculars 3.SATs 4.The Common App and other applications 5.Financial aid 6.Choosing schools

School and Academics

High-School Options Private schools Large school/small schools High-school programs – International Baccalaureate – Gifted – TOPS – CyberArts – Other Arts – Athletic programs Finding your fit is important, even for high school.

Academic Requirements Goals – Meet academic requirements – Go beyond (competitions) – Have good relationships Harvard-recommended: – 4 years of math MIT: Requires Calculus – 4 years of science MIT: 1 year of each of the 3 sciences (Grade 11) – 3 years of history MIT: 2 years – 4 years of foreign language (French) MIT: not required Rigour – Academic < Enriched = Gifted < IB/AP – Do not sacrifice more than 5% for a more rigorous course, unless you are actually learning Marks – Range: preferably >90 – Rank in top 10% – Not declining

Recommendations Do: Work fairly hard, especially early on Schedule Take a variety of courses Know the system & teachers Be flexible to yourself if you can handle it – Procrastination may help if you have control over it Balance schoolwork and extracurricular Don’t: Appear lazy or complacent Kill yourself over one subject – Admit that we have strengths and weaknesses Take a course without knowing what it’s like Give up a course at school because of a conflict: there are other options

Competitions Work for competitions – Shows interest – Shows academic ability (if you’re good at some of them) – Helps with the SAT and doing the SATs helps Nice to do, regardless of skill Common: math Other great options: – Physics: CAP, OAPT, AAPT, SIN – Chemistry: CCO, Avogadro & Chem-13 – Biology: CBO, National BioComp – Computing: CCC Approximate

Books for Science Competitions Physics: Fundamentals of Physics by Halliday and Resnick Olympiad level physics: Physics by Halliday and Resnick Chemistry: Chemistry by Zumdahl Organic chemistry: Organic Chemistry by McMurry Biology: Biology by Campbell Buy from U of T book store, online on eBay and bookstores, or from senior students

Competitions If your school doesn’t have it and you want to do it – Do invest time in preparing if you do this – Get helped! Others – French – Philosophy – English speaking – Science fair – Tournament of Towns – Linguistics – Arts – Design/Engineering Aristotle Competition

Extracurriculars

Extracurricular Activities: In-School Something you like You like the activity You actively participate, practice and excel Your efforts are recognized, and you get a leadership role

Sports! Common clubs and activities – Reach for the Top – DECA – Newspapers – Yearbook – Student government Don’t have it? Make it! – Music and shows – Debate – Robotics – Model UN – Academic (science, language) clubs Extracurricular Activities: In-School

Extracurricular Activities: Out of school Volunteering – Hospitals/Health care providers – Community organizations YMCA Toronto Youth Cabinet Cultural organizations Churches – Camps

Extracurricular Activities: Out of school Jobs – Something meaningful preferred e.g. Librarian >> Canada’s Wonderland Academics – University of Toronto Mentorship program – Ask teachers for opportunities (e.g. research, music groups)

Extracurricular Activities: Out of school Randomness! – Start a webcomic – Write a play – Ensemble music Competitions, Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra Start a serious band – Do film production – Start a website/write an application – Invent something and patent it or even better, make a company that sells it! Meeting people is easy

Summer Activities Avoid – Summer school to get ahead, unless necessary – Doing nothing Do – Meaningful jobs or volunteering – Camps: Shad Valley! Deep River ISSYP – Olympiads – Study on your own, preferably while doing one of the above

Make Your List Keep track of what you do: example ActivityYear/DateDetails Debate club2009President Qualified for OSDU finals Canadian Computing Competition 2009Score: 60 (qualified for Stage 2!)

Robotics United States FIRST Robotics Competitions International: two Canadian regionals Prestigious, started by world famous inventor Dean Kamen and MIT professor Woodie Flowers. Over 1000 teams, from many countries. Gracious Professionalism Scholarships to American colleges and UT & UW $6000 automatic sponsorship from TDSB Business, engineering and math science oriented Start-your-own friendly!

SATs

SAT SAT I: Reasoning Very important – Goal: >2200/2400 Low scores will not prevent you from getting in if your other credentials are great ReadingMathWriting 25%690 75% Harvard ReadingMathWriting 25% % MIT ReadingMathWriting 25% %760 Amherst ReadingMathWriting 25% % Princeton

How to Study Grade 9 and 10: – Read, read, and read – Great for reading and writing, and interesting Use the books, do lots of questions – Contingency: do SAT classes Study vocabulary: small investments of time can pay off

Schedule Grade 11 and 12 – Do SAT I: late grade 10 or early grade 11 – Redo if needed(score choice) SAT II – Get the books – Finish before grade 12 – 800s much easier to get Aim for 800 Grade 11 start Grade 12 end SAT I: November SAT I redo: December SAT II (Chemistry): January SAT II (Math II, physics): November SAT I: October (best) SAT II (Math II, chem): April SAT II (phys.): May

Application

Electronic or paper Common Application or Universal College Application Single application, multiple universities – Pesky MIT All have similar layouts

Early Action and Early Decision Can apply earlier than the normal deadline – Deadline: November 1 for most instead of December 31 Early Decision: must accept offer if admitted – Higher admit rate; easier to get in Cornell, Brown, Dartmouth, Penn, Columbia, Williams Early Action: don’t have to accept offer if admitted – More flexible – Single choice: can only apply to one Stanford & Yale See notes for full list

Early Application Acceptance Rates

Sections of the application Personal Info Demographics Family Academics Info (schooling) Academic Awards Extracurricular Employments Short paragraph on one activity Essay Disciplinary actions Recommendations(incl. ratings) Other info

Important Sections: Five Awards

Important Sections: Seven Activities You must have seven activities

The School Report School profile Ranking and estimations GPA Courses and difficulties Counsellor/Principal rating Counsellor/Principal recommendation letter Transcript – read the Ontario Transcript Manual before Grade 11.

Important Sections: Written Components – Common application essay – 150-word snippet – Supplementary essays

How to write your essay Provide insights into your personal character and who you are outside of academics Anything – Personal stories are popular and easy Plays a crucial part in admission – Something you can start early – Get it edited Read sample essays – Preferably not online

Teachers’ Recommendations Start building relationship with teacher early The perfect teacher: – Taught you recently – Likes you and knows you well as a great student and person – Is familiar with the American admissions system – Is eloquent and knows how to write recommendations Don’t be surprised if your teacher asks you to write a rough draft

Asking for the Recommendation Do you think you know me well enough to write me a strong recommendation letter for _____? Sit-down interview: helpful, but rare Give all materials at once – Do it online if possible; easier for teacher

Teachers’ Recommendations

Counsellor’s Recommendation Principals/Vice Principals can do it too Get acquainted with: – Guidance counsellors – Vice principals (and possibly principals) – Help with course selection, club creation, student govt, etc. Ask early Try to avoid bothering your counsellor for other trivial things, but do try to get to know them Don’t be a flatterer

Counsellor’s Recommendation

Also includes a part for any extra issues Make sure they mention – Changes in schools – Long absences – Achievements that don’t fit on the Common App lists Provide them with a list of activities, achievements at the school to help them

Financial Aid

Don’t worry: No one left behind in many schools Cost: Max $58,000 for 1 years and increasing Income – <40~60K = (Nearly) Free – Between 60K and 100K = Cheap (no more than usual Canadian universities) – > 100K = larger percentage of tuition

Evaluation of Need Financial Aid is purely based on your need of funding, not your merit You submit: – T1 forms – CSS Profile (CollegeBoard) Offers are calculated using set formulae – See online calculators – # of children, etc. are considered – Can ask for more in some cases

Need aware and need blind Need blind: – College does not consider how much financial aid it will have to give you when making acceptance decisions Need aware is the opposite NB/NA is largely based on endowment – Policy could change over years

Need-blind is fine Unlimited Harvard MIT Yale Amherst LAC’s (Williams, Middlebury) Penn (Canadian citizen or PR) Columbia (Canadian citizen, not PR) Dartmouth (new policy?) Limited – does not always give enough to satisfy full needs Brown Cornell

Need-aware: don’t be scared Rumor has it that some of the need blinds are actually need aware anyways Need aware: – Smaller chance of getting in – If admitted, you will also receive 100% of your need. Schools with a large endowment can be generous Lots of people gets scared off by need aware, so it may not be that competitive

Great need aware schools Northwestern Johns Hopkins (does not commit to meet 100%) Duke (very recent donation, very generous) Stanford CalTech Columbia for Canadian PR’s and intl’s UPenn for internationals

Merit Scholarships “What’s so good about the Ivy leagues? No merit scholarships and crappy sports?” – A CC’er Non-ivy leagues offer merit based scholarships Full ride for 4 years plus possible summer/research benefits Best for: – Students with large family incomes – Athletes

Merit Scholarships Morehead Cain Duke Robertson Duke Scholarships UWSL (high school nomination) Johns Hopkins Engineering (2) Outside the US (discussed in choosing college section) And more…

Choosing a College

Choosing a college

Before choosing colleges to apply for: Reflect on your goals Know your academic interests (leave space for exploration) Research, research, research! Visit the campus early (strongly recommended) – Look into overnight stays

Considering colleges Academics, departments, degrees Finances and financial opportunities Reputation and rankings Student resources and support Geography and location Alumni and after-undergrad destinations Student life and campus CollegeConfidential.com

Making the decision to apply Questions to ask yourself: – How does it compare to a Canadian university? – Is the cost realistic? – Parental approval necessary? – Do I meet the requirements? – What are my chances? Finally, apply to as many as you can afford to, financially and otherwise

Making the decision to attend Same considerations as before – Compare aid offers if any – Special programs/scholarships – Visit during visiting days Atmosphere is important Consider visiting during low- season (January, February) Talk to students, alumni, faculty, admin – Friends, classmates can help a small bit too CollegeConfidential.com Advice on CollegeConfidential

Other Colleges: outside of the box UK Colleges – Whole different set of requirements – AP’s are recommended UK/International scholarships Canadian Scholarships and programs Asian and international colleges

Let me be so bold as to suggest a list Sample College list: Engineering – MIT – Stanford – Cambridge – Cornell (Eng. Sci) – Berkeley – Caltech – Imperial College London – Duke and Johns Hopkins (Biomed Engineering) – Penn, Columbia, Georgia Tech, UMAA, UIUC

Miscellaneous Books – A is for Admission – Acing the College Application – The Gatekeepers Disclaimer: advice is not absolute; use your judgment Common Application website: register and familiarize The Internet

Well-roundedness Important for most American universities – Good balance between schooling, extracurriculars and other interests – Knowledgeable about many issues – Able to communicate, write, analyze, and lead – Good personality Enjoy life in Toronto!