Category: College Applications
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Qualities you should demonstrate to colleges.
One of the most common questions that college counsellors are asked is “How do I get accepted by ????? University?” There is not a straightforward answer, each college or university in the USA will have their own peculiarities in what they are looking for, but there are some things that are common across just about… Read more
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Building a College List with Reach, Target, and Safety
When you are building your college list you will often come across people recommending that you have a mix of reach, target and safety schools in your list. What you are less likely to find is a description of how you can decide which colleges fit into which category, so that is what I am… Read more
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Planning for College: What to do Now Spring is Here?
The road to submitting your college applications is a long one. The students with the best outcomes are those that have been working towards their applications throughout high school so in this article I’m going to look at what students from different grades should be doing during the next few months. Read more
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Waitlist to admitted- Your strategies to win over colleges.
If you have applied to colleges and universities in the United States, you should now know which have accepted you and which have not offered you a place. For some, there will be a third category where the college has put the student on a waitlist. If the college is your top choice college, then… Read more
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All Change for the SAT… But Not Yet.
The SAT, together with its near relation, the ACT, has been a feature of college applications for many years. As a result of the COVID pandemic most US colleges have moved to a ‘Test Optional’ application format, meaning that applicants can choose whether to submit an SAT or ACT score without it affecting their chances… Read more
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What is a Portfolio? Who should submit one?
A Portfolio is a collection of your personal work. This could be in the form of fine art, digital art, creative writing pieces, or performing arts such as music compositions, monologues, dance choreography – the list isn’t exhaustive, but it usually tends to fall under these categories. Read more
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F1 Student Visa: The Basics
As an International student, you will be applying for a Non-Immigrant Visa. This means that you will not be allowed to ‘work’ in the US (excluding internships/co-ops which are practical/experiential opportunities – more on this in my future blog). While Student Visas can be received up to 120 days prior to the beginning of the… Read more
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What’s an ‘Extracurricular Spike’?
When I meet with students to review their extracurricular activities for the first time, many are curious about whether or not they should focus on a single activity until they apply to college. I think for anyone considering an application to US universities, this is an important aspect to consider given the ‘holistic’ nature of… Read more
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What are AP Tests and should I do them?
In a recent webinar Ivy Central did with students there were lots of questions about AP Tests, unfortunately, we didn’t have time to explain about them in detail so hopefully this article will fill the gaps. Read more
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Deferred! What do you do next?
When you apply to your top choice college in the early application round you will get one of three responses, accepted (yippee), rejected (boo) or deferred (what?). In this article I’m going to explore what it means if you are deferred and more importantly what to do about it. Read more