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Category Archives: Applying to University

I have recently had a bunch of high school students ask me: “Do you have any advice on getting into MIT?” Instead of repeating myself, I thought it would be best to create blog posts that give advice. I was accepted to Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Princeton University, Columbia University, University of Pennsylvania and Harvard College. Thus, I can give specific advice on applications to these universities and to US universities in general. The guides below include documents checklists, which means that whilst reading the blogs, you can go through the process! If you have any questions that are not answered in my blog posts, feel free to comment. Follow the steps below:

Transferring to a new university

Did you know that about one-third of all students will transfer to a different university at least once before earning their degree? So if you are transferring universities, you are not alone! After transferring from MIT to Harvard, I’ve had requests to answer some questions. Hopefully these can help you too. How do you make […]

Step-by-Step guide to apply to US colleges

The US university application process can be daunting. There are many steps to take. Many things to do. Many deadlines to meet. Especially if you are an international student, you may have no idea what you need to do. This step-by-step guide provides steps for all the major parts of a US application. There is […]

Step 1: Make a list of universities

The application system varies widely across different universities in the U.S. Therefore, in order to keep organised and on track, you should create a list of all the universities that interest you. Do not worry if you have a long list of universities – you can filter them afterwards. How do you choose the universities? […]

Step 2: Application Deadlines

Before you get started, you should know the deadlines. There are different deadlines that vary across different universities. The deadlines you should be concerned about are: The Application (including your information, essays, teacher recommendations) The SAT/ACT/TOEFL (these are some tests that you will have to take – we will go into more detail later) test […]

Step 5: Teacher Recommendations

An important part of your application is teacher recommendations. These are important because it is the only part of the application that is not written by you – which means that admission officers (people who look at your application) value teacher recommendations. In your application, you could exaggerate about how amazing you are, but if […]

Step 7: Transcripts/Predicted Grades

As an international student, you may have done the IB, A-levels, APs or your own country’s system. Some of these systems have exams after the application process which means that you will not have your grades by then. Therefore, you may use your predicted grades. For US applicants, they just have to provide their GPA […]

Step 8: Activities

If you are applying to US universities, extra-curricular activities are a large part of your application. US universities look at students with a holistic approach – thus it’s important that you display excellence in the activities you are involved in. What extra-curricular activities should I do, you may ask. That is up to you! I […]