<p>Okay, so I live in NZ and not many people I know here has gotten into the top US colleges. Probably because its smaller here and less people apply (plus I don't live in Auckland, where there are lots of schools providing IB courses instead of NCEA), but do you know anyone from NZ that has gotten into a great school in the US (and which school)?</p>
<p>Hey hanana, im from NZ too! U shud add me on facebook or pm me, it is pretty easy to find me lol. I have quite a bunch of friends and news on kiwis getting into Ivies and whatnot. For example, up to now i know two people who go to Princeton, one to UPenn, one to Amherst, and have read that 3 people got into Yale this year alone,all three recruited athletes. There are more applicants than u think! My princeton interverviewer said last year 38 people applied to princeton. One got it lol. if u want more info, facebook me!</p>
<p>Yes, I live in NZ and our school only started offering IB this year, NCEA girls in have gone to Northwestern University, University of Pennsylvania, UCLA, University of Chicago in the last 3 years. Last year there was also a girl who got entry into Oxford before she sat her level 3s @_@ (okay, that’s not US, but still very impressive). I’m from Auckland :]</p>
<p>How is Johns Hopkins viewed in NZ?</p>
<p>I am guessing only a very few have heard about it. Why?</p>
<p>I know some kiwis at MIT. Several of the top schools rely on alumni interviewers and I know that the Harvard alumni interviewers and the MIT ones are really useful resources and are usually willing to talk to prospective applicants about the process and about what it means. Where are you based? If you are in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, or Dunedin you should have no trouble, in Invercargill, there may be slightly more problems catching up with someone.</p>
<p>Another New Zealander here from Wellington. Will be attending UChicago this year 
Happy to help with questions etc</p>
<p>Wow, you many of you guys are from Auckland so you go to a school that let’s you do exams other than NCEA? There’s one like it where I live, but the students aren’t very academically there and mostly they just go to Australian/NZ universities.
My brother’s friend goes to one of those schools where you create your own schedule and basically do the exams/courses you like. But the school doesn’t have extracurriculars, so that’s a minus.
Two years ago, a girl from my school go an athlete’s scholarship to Stanford. I don’t know anyone else who went to college in the US from my school.
So until September (after you graduate in December) what do you do?</p>
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<p>It is a minus, but it isn’t a killer for the top schools. You will notice that none of the top school’s applications ask specifically about extracurricular activities, rather they have a question asking about what you do apart from your academic studies. Obviously if your school has a strong extracurricular program then this is easy to answer. But if it doesn’t, then you can still answer it easily. </p>
<p>Frankly there is no difference between performing in the school play and that of the local amateur dramatic society (and there are community theatres in Onehunga, Ellerslie, Mairangi, Waitemata, Orewa, Howick, Belmont, Takepuna and many several others). Indeed the community theatre shows more initiative and drive. OK, so theatre might not be your thing. Again there is little difference between a school sports team or your local community sports team. Do you play for your local rugby club? That counts completely as an extracurricular. Or do you volunteer at a charity or a hospital or a whatever?</p>
<p>The fact that your school does not offer an extracurricular program does not mean that you cannot fill in the extracurricular section of a school application with impressive credentials, merely that the school isn’t there to make that process necessarily easy.</p>
<p>^ Hm, true! Thanks. But I’d still miss the whole school spirit thing!</p>
<p>Most people who get into unis in USA from my school end up going to a NZ uni for the first semester to fill up time before they move over there. I’ve also heard of people just taking a really long holiday haha, or moving to USA beforehand to get used to life over there. :] I think it’s totally up to you!</p>
<p>wow i’m from NZ in Switzerland now on Rotary Youth Exchange will most likely go back for my last year when I get back I’m not sure.
So, who out of everyone goes to a school that offers other exams that aren’t NCEA. And how much do your results from previous years matter.</p>
<p>@zmallet, yeah I think basically everyone I know who went to a US uni (which is not very many) started college in NZ. But do the credits and etc count there as well?</p>