<p>I'm from good ol' India :). And I live and breathe MUN too! YEAH!</p>
<p>I have a question. Because it's my senior year so I must focus on MY studying, right? But I plan to take part in a Camp (Asian Youth Forum) in Japan the coming October in 5 days. Anyway, my parents love to see me to study as much as possible so it may hard to get their permission to join AYF. So do u think I must give it a shot???</p>
<p>@lethi_phuongmai: why not? never hurts to try</p>
<p>@miraboo: thats soo cool. I mean I love my school, I really do but it would such an amazing experience to go to school with people from all different nationalities. Theres a girl who goes to my school now that went to an international school in china up till 10th grade and some of her stories are amazing, plus the fact that she has friends all over the world.
Yeah I live In Sydney which is on the othersidfe of the country from Perth which is in Western Austalia. But I mean applications here dont cost anything so I may as well apply :)</p>
<p>thank you bee :D, I have told my parents and they said if it is free, go for it. But don't forget your study. And then they told me to get into a VietNamese school lol because it's easy for me to get a good job at 1 of "prestigious" company in VN after I graduate ...</p>
<p>I don't like my parent's plan at all, I still wanna try for the higher education</p>
<p>@beeish:YES, if it's free, by all means, go for it! That's such a Malaysian mentality! :p</p>
<p>@lethi_phuongmai:
[quote]
I don't like my parent's plan at all, I still wanna try for the higher education.
[/quote]
I know it's a bit harder for some people (Asian kids come to mind), but try to do what YOU want to do, not what your parents want you to do. I chose biology A-Level instead of English lit. because my mother wanted me to, and while I don't hate it, I don't enjoy it too much either. If they want you to do something you don't like, or won't like, you may not be as happy or do as well as you/they would like... At least, this is what our counselor is telling us, now that we're approaching application season! Oh, and if you don't shoot, you don't score. Go for your dreams and don't let anyone tell you that you can't do it! :)</p>
<p>So are you guys done with the various standardized tests, or are they pending?</p>
<p>I'm done with my SAT, I think, and probably won't take it again. I just got my scores. I did well compared to the other juniors in my school who took it (there were two of them :p), but CC has this way of making you feel inadequate. My parents are thrilled, though. I'm taking subject tests in October. I still don't know if I want to apply ED.</p>
<p>That's good. If you don't want to apply ED, how about giving EA a shot?</p>
<p>My first choice school is Columbia and they only offer ED. At least, I think so... I'm not sure if I can scrape together all the stuff I need for the app by the November deadline. i.e. teacher recommendations. I had to get my MUN director to write me one when I applied for a chairing position, and I had to remind him every day in school and email him a couple of times a week before he finally produced it.</p>
<p>I haven't even started with all the testing yet for different reasons.
I'll be taking the TOEFL-test this August though...SATs and SATIIs have to wait until October and November</p>
<p>_Silence: Oh, so no early deadlines for you huh?</p>
<p>miraboo: Wouldn't asking for recs in August-September solve that problem? I mean if Columbia is your definite top choice you should apply ED, it does give you a boost.</p>
<p>@_Silence: one of my friends is in a similar position to you: she realised two weeks ago that she had to take SATs. Good luck for your TOEFL!</p>
<p>@tetrisfan: I might actually tell my teachers NOW that I plan to ask them for recommendations next term! I'm really close to the two teachers I plan to ask. One of them is my MUN director and he's known me for four years and he may or may NOT be my math teacher next year. So I may have to use him as a supplementary rec. But he knows me almost better than I know myself and I know he'll do a great job!</p>
<p>Now all I have to do is own the SAT IIs and I'm good to go. Oh, and actually do the applications! :p</p>
<p>Haha :).</p>
<p>So what's on your list apart from Columbia?</p>
<p>You know what my dad said when he saw my SAT percentiles?</p>
<p>"You are in the 98th percentile for writing. Why don't you try Harvard?" and I kid you not, he said it in that reverent tone of voice like Harvard is the best thing known to mankind. Harvard doesn't reeeaaally appeal to me. I think it's the hype. So far, Northwestern, Stanford and Hopkins are on the list, but that is subject to change. Also, I need a safety that does international relations and other stuff in case I change my mind. I want to be in a city. American U is looking good, I like what I read on the website and I like that it's in DC.</p>
<p>I'm a big sucker for LACs. Therefore, this post is a shameless plug for LACs - read at your own risk :D.</p>
<p>I'm an anti-Harvard person as well - not too much attention devoted towards undergrads, blah blah, yada yada. We know that whole story. Therefore, wouldn't an antithesis of Harvard be purr-fect?</p>
<p>Tada, hello LACs! They're on the smaller side, but you get to pick how small you want your small to be - 500 students only? I think we can arrange that. Oh wait, you want 2999 mates? That can be done too! Basically, less students=low faculty:student ratio=smaller classes=easier-to-get research opportunities=really, really close student-teacher relationships.</p>
<p>They offer a wide array of majors (just look at the number Wesleyan offers, for instance). All of them have fun-loving, smart, quirky, intellectual, jocky and super-nerdy students, all rolled into one beautiful campus (OK, Reed probably wouldn't have jocks...). </p>
<p>Tell me, what's bad about these places? :p</p>
<p>Oops, I kinda forgot to get to the crux of my message. You can definitely find LACs which act as safeties for you - provided you look into the sub-strata. These places are usually off most international applicants' radars, and therefore your chances will be greatly boosted.</p>
<p>LACs are great for FA, too! Supposedly anyway. Amherst, Middlebury, and that other school in MA are needblind. Macalester, Vassar, Oberlin and Grinnell offer pretty good aid.</p>
<p>Hee, yeah, LACs do sound cool. I considered Reed, but they don't have my major. Wesleyan does though, will check it out! ;) My dad might have a heart attack, he dismissed Tufts as a second tier college. My jaw dropped. I quite like it, from what I can learn from the website. I'm a real sucker for nice websites, I think MIT's is the best I've seen! It's so colourful.. Haha.</p>
<p>LAC's are highly successful in getting students to top grad schools. I'm sure you can find some hard data if you fish around the internet, and your dad can't argue with that :).</p>
<p>No, he can't. :) I'm glad he supports me though, he thinks very highly of Columbia. And from the beginning, it was always about what I wanted, not what he wanted me to do. My mom was a bit more difficult. She wanted me to stay close to home, and she probably still does! But I think she finally accepted where I want to go on the day I took my SAT! It was pretty funny, she bumped into my friend's parents who asked her where I wanted to go and she said, "The US...?", to which my brother replied, "This is the test for the US!" Then he said something about New York. When I came out of the testing room, she grabbed me and dragged me to the other parents so I could tell them Columbia. :p My family rocks.</p>