<p>i just got an offer from cambridge, but it's quite unbelievable; i keep fearing they sent it by mistake, pretty paranoid i know.
a few friends actually wanted to go back to rjc and wave the letter in his face. =p</p>
<p>congrats :D are you gonna go there next year then? or are you gonna go to US instead.</p>
<p>shucks i have purvis for lit... he seems really nice though, at least to us humans programme people</p>
<p>oh well... this is turning to a Rafflesian thread... :)</p>
<p>scandal-less:
i'm most likely going to cambridge (grades permitting of course). unfortunately 31st march is the oxbridge reply date and us universities only offer on 1st april, so that's not much of a choice against a confirmed place and an unlikely chance. </p>
<p>danieleio:
i wasn't a humans student (unfortunately one of those who suffered from moe's caprice and admittedly comparatively poor o level grades =p), but apparently purvis is nice - that is if you are in his good books. i have a humans friend who he loved and she obviously liked him too, and yet another humans friend who hated his obnoxiousness towards her. one thing though, i do find purvis a very good literature lecturer. so are you taking history or geog? was one of the 38 who took geog my year.</p>
<p>history... lol this really turned into a RJC thread. Anyway from what i've heard, all the teachers who are currently teaching me (the expat teachers), are mostly all living RJC legends (especially purvis, whose name generates many google results). really makes you keep awake in their classes :)</p>
<p>Really hope to end up at a good college like most of you here... oh well i'll just go enjoy my JC days while they last.</p>
<p>Arghh, there is a suprising number of rafflesians here. I'm from RJ too. </p>
<p>Yeah, purvis was horrible. He kept rubbing it into our faces that only people with four As for prelims (sprinkled with a few distinctions and merits) will be considered for oxbridge and that the rest of us have absolutely no chance at all. Well, that completely put me off applying for oxbridge, kinda regret it now. </p>
<p>The only thing to do is wait for RD from the US universities. Really hope to get my choices. University appli is tedious and I'm just glad it's over.</p>
<p>o wow there really are ALOT of rj ppl. haha. </p>
<p>anyway umich's acceptance was 72%. </p>
<p>visceral_verve>> He kept rubbing it into our faces that only people with four As for prelims (sprinkled with a few distinctions and merits) will be considered for oxbridge and that the rest of us have absolutely no chance at all.</p>
<p>IMO, that is not true at all. stellar grades are a dime a dozen, but if you really have a hook, you will probably get in as well.</p>
<p>i'd say you need both stellar grades and a hook</p>
<p>Look at what adults are doing to frighten students off from applying to the States... sigh...</p>
<p>Wait till the admissions officers see the blog that my juniors have created!! I mean... wow I am impressed with my juniors. No doubt many Victorians do not have olympiads and such, but wow, they are a wonderful group of energy-charged students! I am so proud to be a Victorian! ;)</p>
<p>but really, what do they look for when you apply to a us university (lets take yale for example):</p>
<p>a. stellar grades (4As, SATs etc)
b. cca... (do they favour sports/academic stuff more? how about community service stuff)
c. what else do they look for?</p>
<p>Oh well, I think they look for more than just stellar grades. I mean look at the blog. It's darn impressive IMO and it's done by students! That's a passion I am talking about. The love of one's school. Arh... aren't US universities going to take those into account?</p>
<p>Is gainning admissions to the States all about stellar grades? THat's the impression that blogger is having at the moment ("Picture this: people with distinctions in every single A-level subject (3 S papers included) and perfect SAT scores failing to get into a decent American university. Now picture a random Dean Of Admission spewing out his morning coffee all over my results slip that reads BCCO.")</p>
<p>danieleio: the number of sporean students who apply to HYP with all of the above (4as, sat scores, exco positions) are a dime a dozen. honestly, imo you just gotta have a hook. something that will make you extremely irresistable to colleges. i mean, out of the 42 rj students who dared to apply to harvard, im sure they all had stats worthy to speak of. but in the end, only 2 got in. so i guess the 2 were really special in their own niche, unique way.</p>
<p>scandal-less!! You need to clear some messages from your mailbox!! I cant answer your questions unless you do so!!</p>
<p>gaining admission isn't about stellar grades; it's quite sadly the bare minimum, unless you represented singapore for the olympics/first in international science olympiads. i know the girl who got into harvard one year apparently had an A* average for all subjects [yes i mean PSLE A*!], and another won prestigious poetry competitions.</p>
<p>a very overlooked factor - how about luck? =p somehow i get the feeling the college application process is more of an art than a science. </p>
<p>i honestly think singapore students can't compete with those in the states in extracurriculars. it's great that you want to plan early nevertheless. i only started panicking over us universities in december 2005 - and by then it was a bit too late to think of "hooks". my brother's principal was telling my mum how all his students start planning from sec 1 which ivy league school they want to go to (hint: it's a "communist" school with a clock tower). makes me feel like everyone was calculating every step, while i didn't even know what was going on. believe it or not i thought ccas were not needed for overseas universities; i obviously didn't realise how misguided i was. =p</p>
<p>hello I found your thread in the forum. Im 14 and I know its a rather early to be thinking of college but Im kind of nervous well kind of. Its better to prepare early right? I haven't done much community work participated in much etc. so if it is that important would it help to start volunteering now then waiting until say J1? and so what is a good gauge of volunteer work and other activities that I should do?</p>
<p>shib... Go GET a LIFE!! Gosh, I was worrying more about my streaming exams and whether I can get into triple science class back then. Pursue something that you like; not something to make your resume looks glamorous! But do note that US universities dont really focus on your grades in Secondary (except for your Os). </p>
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my brother's principal was telling my mum how all his students start planning from sec 1 which ivy league school they want to go to (hint: it's a "communist" school with a clock tower).
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<p>Oh well, that explains why we love those kids from the school with a clock tower. LOL, actually there's more than one school that fits that description isnt it? One located in a neighbourhood near junction 8, the other one located at a real prestigious location...</p>
<p>gosh shib u really gotta get a life. if it's any advice at all, go pursue something u really enjoy and make sure u do well in it. community service... wld be gd if u organize something rather than juz having hundreds of hrs as a participant i wld think... then again college apps shdn't be ur primary motive for doing cip... </p>
<p>erm actually there r two 'communist' schs with clock towers located at the prestigious location aren't there? only that one clock tower looks more mighty than the other.</p>
<p>yes but his BROTHER's principal. which is obviously rules out nygh haha.</p>
<p>and yes shib its never too early to start planning, start whatever ure doing in sec3. because US unis look at grade 9-12. so being the practical sporean start filling up your resume at grade9. and yes it is a pity that none of us were that precocious to realise that we had to start young. my grade-9/10 profile is almost blank.</p>
<p>lol ok my bad. din notice the brother.</p>