PRESENTATION REGARDING USA UNIVERSITY OPPORTUNITIES
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PRESENTATION REGARDING USA UNIVERSITY OPPORTUNITIES MILL HILL SCHOOL FOUNDATION 10 SEPTEMBER 2015 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Transcript of PRESENTATION REGARDING USA UNIVERSITY OPPORTUNITIES
PRESENTATION REGARDING USA UNIVERSITY OPPORTUNITIES
MILL HILL SCHOOL FOUNDATION
10 SEPTEMBER 2015
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PRESENTED BY:
• BRUCE FRASER: – BURSAR, MILL HILL SCHOOL FOUNDATION
– USA UNIVERSITIES ADVISOR FOR MHS
– Contact: Email: [email protected] Tel: 0208-959-8131
• JAMIE DUNN: – DIRECTOR (Advising and Marketing), FULBRIGHT COMMISSION
(LONDON)
– Contact: Email: [email protected]; Tel: 0845-8949524
TONIGHT IS JUST A ‘TASTER’
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TONIGHT’S OUTLINE
• OVERVIEW OF USA UNIVERSITY OPPORTUNITIES: THE WHY AND HOW
• THE APPLICATION PROCESS AND TIMELINES
• CHOOSING AND PREPARING FOR THE ENTRANCE TESTS
• THE FINANCIAL PICTURE
• QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
WE NEED TO HAVE OUR EYES WIDE OPEN!
OF COURSE: HERE’S WHAT ITS ALL ABOUT….
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JUST KIDDING!!
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US VS UK UNIVERSITIES—SOME NUMBERS AND CONTEXT
• THE PURE NUMBERS
– Sheer numbers and variety: 2,000+ in the US; 120+ in the UK
– Last year:
• about 500,000 UK students entered UK universities
• About 3,000 or so UK students entered US universities (about 10,000 UK undergraduates in total at US universities across all four years)—these numbers have increased about 4-6% per year in recent years and growth is increasing
• LATEST WORLD RANKINGS
– Of the Global Top 100: 28 are in the US; 19 are in the UK
• MONEY—ENDOWMENTS
– UK: all 85 or so universities with endowments of any size: total is nearly £12 billion, of which Oxbridge represents about £9 billion
– US: 80 or so universities each with at least $1 billion, and total of these 80 is about $325 billion
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WHAT DOES ALL THIS MONEY MEAN?
• THESE ENORMOUS US RESOURCES MEAN:
– LARGER ACADEMIC STAFFING LEVELS AND TOP-PAID PROFESSORS
– WORLD-CLASS FACILITIES
– SUBTANTIAL FINANCIAL AID AVAILABILITY
– FUNDING/SUPPORT FOR SUBSTANTIAL ALUMNI ORGANISATIONS
– BUT NOT LOWER TUITION LEVELS!!
US UNIVERSITIES—STARTING POINT
• BEFORE WE TALK ABOUT THE MAIN ASPECTS OF ALL OF THIS, FIRST REMEMBER THE FOLLOWING: – GOING DOWN THIS ROAD IS GOING TO MEAN A LOT OF HARD WORK OVER
AND ABOVE THE UCAS DEMANDS
– THE GOOD UNIVERSITIES, AND NOT JUST THE VERY BEST ONES, ARE GOING TO BE VERY, VERY COMPETITIVE TO GET INTO; ADMISSION RATES ARE DECLINING
– THERE ARE A HUGE NUMBER OF REALLY GOOD US UNIVERSITIES AND COLLEGES….FAR MORE THAN JUST THE ‘BRAND NAMES’ YOU MAY HAVE HEARD OF
– QUESTION OF AVAILABILITY OF FINANCIAL AID , FOR INTERNATIONAL APPLICANTS, IS OFTEN KEY FOR THOSE WHO NEED IT
– BUT THE HARD WORK SHOULD BE WORTH IT!
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WHY CONSIDER THE USA IN THE FIRST PLACE?
• EDUCATION EXPERIENCE – A BROAD 4-YEAR PROGRAMME (“Liberal Arts”?)
– INSIDE THE CLASSROOM
– OUTSIDE THE CLASSROOM
• LIFE EXPERIENCE – CULTURAL EXPERIENCE
– INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE—employers value highly
– OUTSIDE OF YOUR ‘COMFORT ZONE’
• BUILDING YOUR DISTINCTIVE CV – THE LONG-TERM OBJECTIVE OF BECOMING GAINFULLY AND HAPPILY
EMPLOYED
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WHILE WE SEEM TO LOVE BRANDS/LABELS….
DOES THAT HAVE TO MEAN….
ITS EASY TO THINK ONLY OF THE SO-CALLED ‘IVY LEAGUE’
BUT LOOK AT THE LISTS OF BEST NATIONAL UNIVERSITIES AND BEST NATIONAL LIBERAL
ARTS COLLEGES
WHAT ABOUT THESE HIGHLY-RANKED NATIONAL UNIVERSITIES?
• University of Chicago (Tied at #4 rank)
• Stanford University (Tied at #4 rank)
• Duke University (Tied at #8 rank)
• Northwestern University (#13 rank)
• Johns Hopkins University (#12 rank)
• Cornell University (#15 rank)
• Rice University (#19 rank)
• Vanderbilt University (Tied at #16 rank)
• Georgetown (#21 ranked)
• Wake Forest University (tied at #27 ranked)
• Tufts University (tied at #27 ranked)
OR THESE HIGHLY-RANKED NATIONAL LIBERAL ARTS COLLEGES?
• Williams College (#1 ranked)
• Amherst College (#2 ranked)
• Swarthmore College (#3 ranked)
• Wellesley College (Tied #4 ranked)
• Bowdoin College (Tied #5 ranked)
• Middlebury College (#7 ranked)
• Vassar College (Tied #11 ranked)
• Hamilton College (Tied at #15 ranked)
• Colgate University (#22 ranked)
SOME THINGS TO CONSIDER….
• WITH OVER 4,000 HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS IN THE US, HOW TO BEST RESEARCH AND BUILD A SHORT LIST THAT MAKES SENSE FOR YOU?
• WHAT ARE SOME OF THE KEY ELEMENTS OF THE TIMELINE?
• THE KEY COMPONENTS OF THE APPLICATION
• WHAT ABOUT THE MONEY SIDE OF THINGS?
• DECISIONS ABOUT SAT VS ACT TESTS
• VISITING THE COLLEGES
• GOING FOR ‘EARLY DECISION’
• KEY RESOURCES TO USE IN ALL OF THIS, ESPECIALLY:
– FULBRIGHT COMMISSION
– THE COLLEGE BOARD
– THE PRINCETON REVIEW
• USE OF ADVISORS, TUTORS OR ‘COACHES’
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ELEMENTS IN DETERMINING YOUR SHORT LIST
• KEY ATTRIBUTES:
– SIZE OF THE UNIVERSITY
– PRIVATE VS PUBLIC
– LOCATION
• URBAN, SUBURBAN, RURAL
• WHAT PART OF THE COUNTRY
– CURRICULUM STRENGTHS/FIELDS OF STUDY
• LIBERAL ARTS, ENGINEERING, PRE-MED, JOURNALISM
– AVAILABILITY OF FINANCIAL AID FOR INTERNATIONAL APPLICANTS
– ‘REPUTATION’ AND ‘COMPETITIVENESS’: AM I LIKELY TO GET IN?
– NATURE OF THE ‘CHARACTER’ OF THE INSTITUTION AND THE OVERALL ‘EXPERIENCE’
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SHORT LIST (cont’d)
• REMEMBER: THE ULTIMATE OBJECTIVE:
– TO GET INTO A GOOD UNIVERSITY WHICH IS APPROPRIATE FOR YOU
• GIVEN THE LABOUR-INTENSIVE NATURE OF THIS EFFORT, THE AIM IS TO DEVELOP A SHORT LIST OF UNIVERSITIES WITH:
– 2 OR 3 BEING ‘ASPIRATIONAL’
– 2 OR 3 BEING SEEMINGLY ‘A GOOD FIT’
– 2 OR 3 WHICH ARE ‘SAFE BETS’
• CAREFULLY CONSIDER THE LIKELIHOOD OF GETTING IN:
– ACCEPTANCE RATES
– % OF ACCEPTANCES IN TOP 10% OF THEIR CLASS
– RANGE OF ACT AND SAT TEST RESULTS OF SUCCESSFUL APPLICANTS
– ‘NEEDS BLIND’ OR ‘NEEDS AWARE’ 22 22
SOME SAMPLE ‘METRICS’ • APPLICATION/ACCEPTANCE RATES (2015 ENTRY):
• University of Chicago: 8%
• Harvard: 5%
• Yale: 6%
• Columbia 6%
• MIT: 8%
• Williams: 18%
• Northwestern: 13%
• Princeton: 7%
• Stanford: 5%
• Penn: 10%
• Georgetown: 16%
• Brown: 8%
• Duke: 11%
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OTHER METRICS….
• % OF ENTRANTS IN TOP 10% OF HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATING CLASS (2014 entrance data):
– HARVARD: 95% UCLA: 97%
– PRINCETON: 93% USC: 89%
– YALE: 97% NYU: 62%
– MIT: 97% NORTHEASTERN: 56%
– PENN: 96%
– STANFORD: 92%
– CHICAGO: 95% WILLIAMS: 91%
– DUKE: 92% MIDDLEBURY: 86%
– BROWN: 91% AMHERST: 84%
– COLUMBIA: 97% VASSAR: 74%
MORE METRICS….
• MIDDLE (25%-75% BAND) RANGE OF SAT TEST SCORES (2014):
– HARVARD: 1390-1590
– PRINCETON: 1410-1590
– YALE: 1400-1590
– COLUMBIA: 1390-1560
– MIT: 1410-1570
– STANFORD: 1360-1550
– PENN: 1350-1530
– GEORGETOWN: 1290-1490
– NYU: 1260-1460
– NORTHEASTERN: 1250-1430
THE STORY ABOUT ‘BEN’
• PROFILE OF SOMEONE I KNOW WELL:
– LOCAL HIGHLY-SELECTIVE STATE SCHOOL
– 10 x A* AT GCSE
– 4 x A AT AS
– 4 x A* AT A2
– SCORE OF 34 ON ACT (out of possible 36—at 99th percentile)
• BUT WAS NOT SUCCESSFUL IN APPLICATIONS TO:
– YALE, PRINCETON, HARVARD, STANFORD
• BUT WAS SUCCESSFUL IN OBTAINING A NEARLY 100% SCHOLARSHIP TO WILLIAMS, THE #1 RANKED NATIONAL LIBERAL ARTS COLLEGE!
• LESSONS LEARNED….
SOME THINGS TO PONDER… • BE WILLING TO LOOK WELL BEYOND THE ALREADY WELL-KNOWN
‘BRAND NAMES’
– EXAMPLES: THE FELLOWSHIPS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA (‘JEFFERSON SCHOLARS’) AND THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA (‘MOREHEAD-CAIN SCHOLARS’)
• THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN:
– UCAS PERSONAL STATEMENTS AND US APPLICATION ESSAYS
– UK and US LETTERS OF RECOMMENDATION
• WHAT IF I END UP WITH A CONDITIONAL UK OFFER AND A FIRM OFFER FROM A GOOD US UNIVERSITY?
• DO I HAVE THE ‘BANDWIDTH’ TO UNDERTAKE THIS MAJOR EFFORT?
• DON’T FORGET ABOUT:
– POST-GRADUATE OPPORTUNITIES
– STUDY ABROAD YEAR IF ATTENDING A UK UNIVERSITY
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OUTLINE OF THE APPLICATION PROCESS
• PRESENTATION BY THE FULBRIGHT COMMISSION
US Admissions
Process
Application Components:
• Application form
• Transcript and/or school report
• Admissions exam scores
• 2-3 essays
• 2-3 recommendation letters
• Application fee
• Academic achievement – GCSEs – Predicted A levels
• Academic potential
– Admissions exam scores
• Extracurricular involvement
• Personal attributes – Interest in your academic field of choice – Character – Leadership abilities – Reasons for wanting to attend the university
Selection Criteria:
Transcripts: • Listing of your academic qualifications and marks (Years 10 – 13) generated by your
school
• Provide your school / counsellor with information about what to include in a
transcript:
– GCSE scores
– AS levels
– Predicted A-levels or ‘working at’ marks
– Academic honours
– Information about other qualifications earned
– Information about the school
– Years attended
• Delivered electronically or signed, sealed and delivered
Admissions Tests: • Options:
– SAT Reasoning & Subject tests
– ACT & ACT with Writing
– English-language proficiency exams
• What’s required
• Choosing between the SAT and ACT
– Taking practice tests
– Differences in format
– Test sites and availability
• How admissions tests used in admissions
• How to prepare
May 2016: NEW SAT Test
• Reasoning test sections in: Evidence-Based Reading & Writing Section, Math, Essay Section (optional)
• Scoring: Will be out of 1600 instead of 2400
• Key Takeaway: fewer questions BUT a clearer, stronger focus on reasoning as well as the knowledge, skills, and understandings most important for college and career readiness and success
Essays: • Importance of admissions essays
• Opportunity to set yourself apart and showcase your unique qualities as an applicant
• 1-3 essay questions per university
• Likely able to re-use elements of essays for different universities
Recommendations:
• Ask someone who knows you well, both in and out of the classroom
• Letter should be a marketing tool for you as an applicant
• Consider meeting with your referee to discuss letter
• Make sure referee is aware of deadlines and paperwork to complete
• Above all, encourage referees to be enthusiastic, positive, descriptive and anecdotal and avoid being restrained and too modest
Application Process Recap
USA College Day Fair –
25-26 September 2015
Questions?
THE QUESTION OF THE ENTRANCE EXAMS
• SAT VS ACT – WHICH ONE IS BEST FOR YOU?
– HOW THEY DIFFER
– CHANGES TAKING PLACE WITH THE SAT
– HOW MANY TIMES CAN THEY BE TAKEN
– PREPARATION TUTORING
– SUBJECT TESTS
NOTE: SAT & ACT UK TEST DATES
• SAT I: – 3 OCTOBER 2015 (3 SEPTEMBER 2015 DEADLINE)
– 7 NOVEMBER 2015 (9 OCTOBER DEADLINE)
– 5 DECEMBER 2015 (5 NOVEMBER DEADLINE)
– 23 JANUARY 2016 (28 DECEMBER DEADLINE)
– 7 MAY 2016 (8 APRIL 2016 DEADLINE)
– 4 JUNE 2016 (5 MAY 2016 DEADLINE)
• ACT: – 12 SEPTEMBER 2015 (7 AUGUST DEADLINE)
– 24 OCTOBER 2015 (18 SEPTEMBER DEADLINE)
– 12 DECEMBER 2015 (6 NOVEMBER DEADLINE)
– 9 APRIL 2016 (4 MARCH 2016 DEADLINE)
– 11 JUNE 2016 (6 MAY 2016 DEADLINE)
Other 2016 dates will be advised when known
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THE QUESTION OF FINANCES
• OVERALL COSTS TO ANTICIPATE
• SITUATION FOR NON-US APPLICANTS
• ‘NEEDS BLIND’ VS ‘NEEDS AWARE’
• POSSIBLE SOURCES OF FUNDING
AND DON’T FORGET:
• USA College Day 2015: – If you are considering undergraduate study in the US, USA College Day is not
to be missed! At College Day you will have the opportunity to speak with over 150 exhibitors representing universities in the US and educational service providers. Now in its 37th year, College Day is the largest American university fair in the UK. This event is not to be missed by students, parents or advisors!
• Details: – Dates: Friday 25th September and Saturday 26th September 2015
– Venue: ILEC Conference Centre (47 Lillie Road, London, SW6 1UD
– Time: Friday 4:30 pm - 7:30 pm or Saturday 10:30 am - 3 pm
– Cost: Free if you register in advance. £5 if you pay at the door
– Registration: Register for USA College Day. Last year's event sold out, to ensure your place you should register early.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION RESOURCES
• Fulbright Commission:
– www.fulbright.org.uk
• College Board:
– www.collegeboard.org
• ACT Testing Organisation:
– www.actstudent.org
• The Princeton Review:
– www.princetonreview.com
• Bruce Fraser, Bursar:
– [email protected]; Tel: 0208-959-8131
• Lesley Sharples, Director of Sixth Form
– [email protected]; Tel: 0208-906-7851
USEFUL REFERENCE BOOKS (generally available via Amazon)
• ‘The Ultimate Guide to America’s Best Colleges 2015’
• ‘The Princeton Review: ACT of SAT? Choosing The Right Exam for You’ (go to www.princetonreview.com)
• ‘The Insider’s Guide to the Colleges 2015 Edition’
• ‘The Gatekeepers—Inside the Admissions Process of a Premier College’ by Jacques Steinberg
• ‘U.S. University Scholarships for International Students’ by Steve Fenoglio (Mayflower Education Consultants)
• ‘U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges 2015 Edition
• ‘Fiske Guide to Colleges 2016’
