Parent help appreciated - United World Colleges

Parent Cafe
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<p>Hello,</p>

<p>I was hoping some parents could help me with a bit of an issue I'm having. I'll try to explain as best I can without turning this thread into a soapbox.</p>

<p>I suppose to start I should ask any of you if you have heard of United World Colleges (here's a link to their wiki page: United</a> World Colleges - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia). Can anybody comment as to whether or not they've been contacted by the organization, or have been involved in it in any way?</p>

<p>Yesterday I received a packet from them in the mail stating that they wanted me to apply for admission (although I am unsure if they send out mail en masse like universities do). After reading up the program, it sounds like both the experience and the environment I've been craving. However, I am not sure that I stand a chance of admission, and here's why:</p>

<p>I've failed classes -- quite a few classes. While I consistently score in the top 1% in English-related standardized tests, the top 25% in math-related standardized tests, and am consistently selected to participate in special study groups set up by my school for students in the top 5% of our class, I've had a horrendous high school career. I live in a low income, rural home in the Mid-West with a mentally abusive father. I don't want to complain, as there are others who are much worse off than I, but this has hindered my high school performance substantially. It's hard to complete any school work when everybody's always screaming at each other and I'm trying to portion off money to help my mom pay the bills (my father doesn't work). I haven't been held back any grades by the Fs, and this year I've been able to go back and forth between an aunt's house and my grades have improved substantially (read: all As and Bs), although nowhere near a 4.0. </p>

<p>I'm also still in Algebra I... as a Junior. I've maintained an easy A in that class thus far now that I've been able to concentrate, and my counselor and I had a plan worked out where I could be bumped into Pre-Calc next year. This involves me taking a Community College Algebra/Trig class over the summer in conjunction with a self-study of Geometry. My concern is that I would not be able to accomplish this "jump" if I attended UWC next year, as I presume that they would have to approve it. I fear that they would not, as it's rather unorthodox. Considering that the school is only for Juniors and Seniors, and utalizes the IB diploma as opposed to AP classes, I'm not sure that I could get sufficiently caught up in time for graduation.</p>

<p>I would love to be able to study internationally in a secure environment with a diverse group of students -- essentially the antithesis of what I experience now -- and I feel as though I could succeed in that context.</p>

<p>In sum, I was hoping some parents could realistically help lay out my chances for the program and perhaps provide some solutions to the math issues.</p>

<p>Thank you very much for reading.</p>

<p>I was hoping some parents</p>

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<p>The one in Singapore is good, has boarding. IB system.</p>

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<p>They all have boarding.</p>

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<p>Bump. I would appreciate any advice.</p>

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<p>It is an excellent school - they have long waitlists.</p>

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<p>Do a search of United World Colleges, there have been a few topics on them before. And you also might want to try posting in the Prep School forum.</p>

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<p>I have a friend who sen this DD to a UWC in Norway, as I recall it was for her last two years of HS and was essentially boarding, but funded by UWC. It was a wonderful experience, not a scam, and very competitive</p>

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<p>My knowledge of these schools, while second hand, is that they are incredible places. Two kids from my community have attended, one in New Mexico, one someplace in Latin America, and went on to Ivys. Both were brilliant students, one rather disaffected with standard HS, the other was in private schools. Regardless, it seems an experience not to pass up, especially if success in school is so hard won in your current environment. I’d be thrilled if any of my kids had been on track to attend.</p>

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<p>Thanks for all the replies. Does anybody have any advice on the math issue? I read on their site that they offer a fairly low level math class in addition to the SL and HL levels.</p>

<p>Great lakes mom: When you say the student was disaffected, what exactly do you mean? Where his grades lower than his potential because of this?</p>

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<p>As other posters have told you, UWC is immensely prestigious. I am in the UK and know that the one in Wales is visited by Admissions Reps from places like Harvard and sends graduates to top colleges every year. Have you looked at the IB Math Studies syllabus? Wouldn’t that be manageable for you?</p>

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<p>That would indeed be manageable. However, I would prefer to avoid that class if at all possible and take the SL Math course. The issue is not that I cannot do math or that I find it impractical – or even that I lack an aptitude for it, to a certain extent – but it is the fact that I’m so far behind. Further reading the syllabus after my above post, I’m not sure that it would best to have that on my transcript as opposed to the Standard Level.</p>

<p>I suppose the best option would be to email the college and find out their policy and if they would give leniency regarding summer courses.</p>

<p>Thanks for the post.</p>

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<p>My children attended a UWC school, so if you get the chance I would recommend you take it.</p>

<p>As the link states, admission is by interview process, so you could get the questions you are asking here answered then.</p>

<p>Seriously, this could be a life changing opportunity, I would urge you to at least apply and find out more.</p>

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<p>I was under the impression that in order to be granted an interview the applicant had to have had credentials enough to even be considered. Does every applicant have the chance to be interviewed?</p>

<p>I do agree that this seems like it could be a life-changing experience. I would give anything to escape the environment I’m in now.</p>

<p>Thanks.</p>

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<p>You can start reading about IB and AP so you will understand what IB is and compare between IB and AP. Then you read about UWC from all UWCs’ website. I heard a lot of good things from UWC world wide.</p>

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<p>Basically, it seems as though IB HL is harder than AP and IB SL is easier than AP. And ,as I understand it, in order to graduate with an IB diploma the student must have completed two years of of the program. Which means I would have to stay in high school another two years. This, in my mind, is actually not a bad thing. It would give me an opportunity to get caught up and improve my GPA… which brings me to another thought: How will colleges calculate a GPA consisting of 5 years of high school? Is freshman year automatically axed off? Or does the school adjust their expectations to coincide with the inflated grades?</p>

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<p>Friendly bump</p>

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<p>We got a mailing from them–for our son who is already a Jr…
It is a boarding school high school with options in several places…</p>

<p>Can’t figure out where they got his name–unless from PSATs --he gets his scores tom at school…</p>

<p>Our student is taking a ton of APs so this wasn’t an option for us…
Don’t know how rigorous it is…</p>

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<p>They sent me mail too, so it’s just a mass mailing. The place does look very legit though…</p>

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<p>repeat sentence from below</p>

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<p>I can comment as a former UWCer. UWC typically attracts the best the students from each country and the experience is nothing short of spectacular. Several of my friends are now in ivy leagues and have top jobs or are going to great graduate schools. The school has an amazing alumni network. The school is very rigorous though. You need to be able to balance your work, community service and other activities very well. The classes are very tough since you’re competing against some of the best students. Wales has a great program, Norway and India also have very good programs. I highly recommend it. I must advise though that you must also have a lot of discipline and you have to be very hard working to succeed there. Just to put some stats out there. Out of my class of 100 students, 16 went to ivy leagues. About 5 - 6 went to Oxbridge and LSE. A lot of students went to Middlebury, Wellesley, Colby or Williams. Also, when you come from a UWC, SAT scores matter very little for some reason. I know quite a few people who got into HYP/Williams with 1350-1450 on 1600.</p>