"I'm the only one in our school who was admitted!" What's it like to be admitted to a top 10 undergraduate program?

Date：2022-03-16   Author：admin

Student Zhang


High school: Mianyang Dongchen International School

Standardized test scores: TOEFL 97, no SAT

Admitted University: University of Washington (Seattle)

Interest is the primary productive force


It was when I was in junior high school that I planted the seed of wanting to study in the United States in my heart. My cousin, who was still pursuing a postgraduate degree at Columbia University at that time, told me some of his experiences in the United States when he returned to China during the vacation. Listening to the interesting stories about him in the US and browsing through the photos in his album, I developed a yearning for studying in the US.

By the time I reached high school, due to my parents' influence, I came into contact with more elder brothers and sisters who had studied and lived in the United States. Through their sharing, I personally felt that compared with attending university in China, studying in the United States allowed me to understand and learn about different majors.

Because in the United States, even if you choose a major for your undergraduate studies, if you find during the learning process that you lack interest or it doesn't suit you, you can change it. This enables you to not only truly get in touch with the majors you are interested in, but also choose the ones you like and are good at from them.

In my mind, interest is productivity. Without the support of interest, it is difficult to persistently spend a lot of time exploring and researching professional knowledge and form one's own unique understanding. Therefore, I think the undergraduate education in the United States would be more suitable for me.

2. A smooth school selection journey
When I was communicating with Ms. Lu, a consultant from Explore, she first asked me about the university I was looking forward to (UW) and the major I wanted to choose (finance and computer science), and then made a basic school decision based on my background, grades and other circumstances.

No matter which school is mentioned, she can fluently state the geographical location, climate conditions, majors and other information of each university. Mr. Lu's thorough knowledge of American universities and his professional expertise left a very good impression on me as well as the intermediary agency, Explore.

After officially signing a contract with Explore, an important thing is to determine the school. The consultant teacher first clearly divided the school selection into three levels: sprint, match, and safety. The entire process didn't take long because, whether it was my pursuit of the major or my yearning for the atmosphere, Teacher Lu understood and respected my ideas very well. Therefore, our school selection went very smoothly.

In addition, the teacher would also remind me of the time period when I needed to get my TOEFL score and inform me in detail what kind of score I needed to achieve (including TOEFL, A-Level, etc.) to have A chance of being admitted to my target university, which also gave me a clearer goal and motivation.

3. Carefully crafted documents
In my opinion, the crucial part of the application process is the application essay, so the communication process with the essay teacher is particularly important. I still remember the first time I communicated with the document teacher was over the phone. I first shared all the materials I could think of, and the teacher helped me screen and analyze them one by one: which contents should be emphasized, which specific application should be made in which document, and so on... In this way, the scattered materials became clear one by one, and the framework and content of my document began to gradually take shape.

Among all the application essays, the one that impressed me the most was the short essay from UW - If you come to UW, what kind of diversity can you bring to the school? When I first got the title of this essay, I was completely at a loss because it's really hard to encounter such problems in education. When I first started writing, I told the story of how I helped my classmates with their homework to highlight my helpful personality. But halfway through, I gave up, thinking I was just too "bad". I sent this half-finished product to the document teacher, and as expected, it didn't pass.

So I began to discuss with the document teacher where to start. I remember that the teacher shared a document with me at that time: How to teach other students to write with a brush pen at UW, promote traditional culture, and achieve communication and dissemination.

After elaborating on this document in detail, the teacher began to guide me, explore my traits and strengths, and thereby inspired me. I had been learning the saxophone all along and had also joined the school orchestra. Combined with what the teacher had said about cultural exchange, an idea that I thought was brilliant emerged - the saxophone is a Western instrument, and our orchestra had played distinctive pieces before. I am like a "bridge" for the integration of Eastern and Western cultures, connecting two seemingly unrelated or even opposite cultures.

Looking back now, I think it was this essay, which I "meticulously crafted" together with the essay teacher, that was favored by UW and enabled me to stand out among many competitors.

4. An unexpected delight from the dream school

I believe that every student is anxious while waiting for an offer during the application season. Every day, they look forward to receiving their ideal offer as soon as possible to end the agonizing application season and then be able to do what they want without any worries.

I remember that before receiving the offer from UW, I always thought the chances were slim and didn't have much hope. But when the teacher called to tell me that I was admitted, I was really pleasantly surprised and excited. It felt like an unexpected gain. Because I really like UW, it can be said to be my dream school. It's the one I want to go to among all the schools I applied to!

Although I signed up for the TOEFL test a total of eight times, I only took it four times (the other four times I failed due to various unexpected circumstances). Otherwise, my TOEFL score should have been higher. This has always been a big regret in my heart. So I hope that in the context of the repeated outbreaks of the epidemic, everyone can prepare for standardized tests as early as possible and cherish every opportunity to take the tests to minimize the unknown risks to the greatest extent.

In addition, I also hope that students can determine the study abroad agency as early as possible. I found Explore in my senior year of high school, which was already very late. Many important activity plans for applying to undergraduate programs in the United States, such as competitions and social practices, were not completed in time. So when I was applying, I hardly had any competitive social activities. My relatively weak background made me lack confidence for a while, thinking that it would have been great if I had found Explore earlier.

So everyone must prepare and plan early. Don't wait until the application process begins to realize that your background is completely blank.

It is hoped that Explore will continue to improve and help more international students find their way out of the sea of suffering.

Hope everyone has a bright future. FOR DREAM!!

Tutoring Review

Ms.Ou., Academic Director of Yisi Bole
Under the circumstances where the SAT cannot be provided due to the pandemic, it is indeed not easy to apply for undergraduate programs in the United States. Student Zhang is a high school student with a decent average score, but his TOEFL score is not particularly outstanding. Therefore, for his application to his dream school, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, the essay part becomes crucial.

I first met Zhang during the essay brainstorming session. Unlike many traditional high school students, he is a very creative classmate. After clearly explaining the requirements of the document, he can always quickly write materials that meet the requirements. The application essays for American undergraduate programs require students to be creative. There is no need to state the major they are studying, but to tell their own stories.

In the main essay about the costs of his father's paper mill, Zhang student did well in all the aspects that the admissions officers valued, such as the beginning, conflict, reflection, action and outcome.

When writing the application essay for Hua Da University, he didn't have a clear idea at first. But after a phone conversation with him, he suggested starting from the musical instrument he likes, which could bring diverse elements to the school. He highly approved and provided satisfactory materials. Here, I'm a little proud of myself as his instructor, which has brought him an expansion of thinking. Huada encourages students to engage in independent cultural exchange activities. Therefore, it particularly emphasizes that he wants to join the school's chamber music club, which is also an important reason why he meets the admission requirements of Huada.

There was another small incident. Zhang, a student who is also very good at thinking, after his wechat account was stolen and his wechat friends were defrauded by scammers, in a state of anger, he wrote a very creative essay material. Although it was not used, it was very interesting. This is also one of the skills that American undergraduate students value.

Just as he wrote in his university application essay, go to University happily and keep playing the saxophone.