<p>Sorry to interrupt the debate, but I have one question (it's going to sound rather stupid so I apologize before hand): So my GC was filling up the Harvard form today (I know, stop laughing. I'm just applying for the heck of it). In the School report part II there's like a bunch of boxes (creativity, intellectual promise etc.) and 5 options, with the final three being: Top 10%, top 5% and One of the top few. I saw her ticking 3 boxes in the "Top 10%", with the rest in the top 5 and top few.</p>
<p>Is it bad? I mean i imagine more than half of H applicants are going to have all boxes in the top 5% and top few, so are the three "top 10%" boxes going to hurt my chance, slim as it already is?</p>
<p>Finally, should I include my prelim grades? They are not bad by my school's standards, but there are B and C...</p>
<p>i have a question for you: can you change what she wrote? no? then it's not something you should spend time and energy worrying about. you can't change your GC, or what she wrote.</p>
<p>well, the prelim grades thing was asked before in this thread.. i don't think you need to send them.</p>
<p>hey if it helps and if it's possible then yeah you should try. but how are you gonna do that? your GC doesn't sound extremely dedicated or nice from your previous posts leh would it backfire? or do you mean your CT?</p>
<p>hmmm i would love to learn abit from you as in how to ask your GC to change her appraisal without coming off rude. it just sounds pretty impossible, at least to me. did she actually allow you to see what she ticked?</p>
<p>i don't think it's really, REALLY bad. in fact you should be positive and think about the top 5% and top few boxes! still, as long as you know how to ask her without offending her, DO IT. every little bit might help. you have only one chance at this and you'll want to do your best, no matter what the outcome.</p>
<p>Unless they have an idea how competitive (or un-competitive) your school is, then don't worry too much about the school report thing.</p>
<p>Concentrate on doing a good essay, that if done properly will usually be able to overshadow whatever deficiencies you feel are overtly recognizable.</p>
<p>It's my CT (the GC left to a more prestigious school, thank goodness). To be honest she let me suggest to her where to tick, just as long as "it's not all in one column, i.e. the last one."
So it's like my idea to have the 3 boxes. I don't know why, maybe at that moment i thought it'd be more realistic and believable. I mean it's a cohort with 800 smart kids, and the boxes are like "sense of humour", "concern for others" and "energy"? if i rmb correctly
So I guess if i want to ask her to change, it'd be no problem. Just gonna be quite annoying for her.. The envelope has been sealed and signed, now must be opened and redone.</p>
<p>One last question, the ranking thing. The school only ranks by subject so must i indicate the rank percentile? I don't know how to estimate that either.. all these forms are killing me! (i guess this is where Mr. S comes in handy)</p>
<p>That was on purpose. Haha :D Well i certainly hope the kids at this "more prestigious school" will find my former counselor a delight! They might be made for each other for all i know. lol He might be the most talked about singaporean counselor.</p>
<p>Back to the ranking thing. Since the first two years i'm an IP student --> different cohort size, different rank. How can I indicate this in the application? Since they lump "secondary school" together in one report.
Can i just write in the "Academic Honours" list something like "Salutatorian, IP Year 1" (let's say). Although technically, such term doesn't exist in our system but it means the same thing?</p>
<p>Off-topic: Argh cambridge interview in a week. My interviewer is a natural science guy, and my intended major is political science. I'm at a loss as to what we'll be talking about.. Chemistry? nooooooo</p>
<p>hey well i have no idea who Mr. S is! but then again my school is so utterly bad at providing support for US applicants that I practically did all my apps myself. </p>
<p>i don't think you can write salutatorian since there's no such title. maybe second in level? </p>
<p>LOL you're supposed to be interviewed about your own subject what. that is REALLY weird. but it's cambridge's problem anyway, they're supposed to provide you with a polsci interview.</p>
<p>That's what I thought! but I googled this professor and he's a chemistry guy! I'm both quite scared and confused, since I did some chemistry research before and took chem olympiad (major mortifying experience) but to be honest my chemistry is quite horrible.
BUT chemistry isn't supposed to be in the picture, right! My intended course is social and political science in cambridge's trinity college. And the prof is from another college. Lol. I feel good about the interview already.
And there's a unseen 30-min essay. Like it's not even in the test requirement but somehow we're all gonna take it. So i have absolutely no idea what the prompt is gonna look like. I suspect it's gonna resemble the 25-min SAT essay.</p>
<p>To give credit when credit is due, the infamous Mr. S did manage to squeeze a guy into Brown, and another into Stanford this year. Notice they're all guys. wow didn't realize how i miss all the gossips Mr. S induced while he was still here. Made life in NJ a whole lot more fun..</p>
<p>guys, the offers that you got were not conditional offers rite? are A level results absolutely necessary? possible to withdraw admission because of bad a level results?</p>
<p>@darklord: UK offers? mostly conditional, based on predicted A level grades. Yes, offers will be finalised upon release of actual A level. However, if the condition is like AAA and you get AAB or even ABB most of the time it's gonna be fine. Who got offers already so fast?</p>