Applicant S’ Background
Geographic Location: Melbourne, Australia
Citizenship/Residence: Australian
Starting to Use Our Admission Service: Since Year 10
SAT: 1490 out of 1600
School Ranking: Top 10%
Significant Award: None
Intended Major: Economics/Business
Admissions: University of Notre Dame, Bowdoin College, UCLA, University of Michigan Ross School of Business
Case Detail
Applicant S became one of our admission consulting clients in the end of her Year 10. Just like many other applicants, both her family and herself wanted her to study at a famous US university, but did not know how to properly prepare. As to extracurricular activities, they knew the rough direction and requirements, but did not know where to start.
After breaking the ice, we found that she was very serious about learning but lacked other experience. Therefore, our first step was for her to take the SAT, to make use of what she was good at. In the extracurricular activities, we encouraged her to explore the world around her, gradually accumulate her own experience, and then develop activities with real meaning to her. In the beginning, her family members worried that her progress in extracurricular preparation was slow. However, the value of patience gradually surfaced. She began to observe society more closely while working in cafes and thrifty stores, and began to develop her passion to help the underprivileged. With such real passion and improved interpersonal skills, Applicant S’ extracurricular activities began to burgeon. From participation in all kinds of welfare activities at school, to organizing earthquake donations for Afghanistan, to using the money she earned at work to tour around India helping homeless people, her resume was vastly improved. Just because all these activities developed naturally out of a personal feeling, all the details in the process became very good materials for her later essays.
In the second semester of Year 12, Applicant S was busy with IB final exam preparation. By this point, she still needed to decide which schools to apply to, prepare a large amount of essays and prepare for the SAT subject tests. She was literally racing against the clock. After many face-to-face talks with Ray where she unveiled more about her passion and drive, Ray suggested Applicant S to apply early action of the University of Notre Dame, because the school’s expectations for applicants were highly matched with Applicant S’ profile. Julia and Rochelle offered much help for Applicant S’ application essays. They revised the main 650-character essay over10 times, and persistently improved it until they believed it could completely reflect Applicant S’ personal qualities. In the supplement essays, after deeply exploring Applicant S’s experiences, they combined her careful observations, thoughts on Social Justice and interest in economics in a natural way.
Summary
Just like our other applicants, Applicant S not only achieved admission into a famous US school, but also grew up in the process. Just imagine if Applicant S had not dreamed of attending university in the US, she would possibly had taken learning as the only goal in education, which would undoubtedly have been a waste of her talent. In the admission preparation, it is often better to start early and be patient to allow applicants implement activities and develop passions to naturally enhance their application.
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