Li Jie: Hello everyone. Just now, I am very grateful to Mr. Mark from the American Consulate General in Shanghai for giving us a very realistic lecture on visas. We have unveiled a mysterious veil for a long time. Let's explain some specific processes of studying in the United States from the application for admission to American universities.
Before that, we analyzed a student's case. This student scored sat 1 2300, SAT2, Mathematics, Chemistry and History, 770 and 780 respectively. He didn't win any prizes. Then the admission schools are: Virginia Tech, Washington University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and University of Virginia. Then it can be seen that the student's score of SAT 1 is quite high, and SAT2 is close to perfect score. He was admitted to four universities without any reward.
Let's take a look at another student: SAT 12330, SAT2 is also higher than the first place, and has won many competition awards, including the quarterfinals of the American BioOlympics, the American Mathematics Invitational Tournament, and the semi-finals of the Siemens Science Competition, but his university admission: Harvard University refused, Princeton refused, MIT refused, and Duke University refused. So why do these MIT only accept the first student and not the second?
This is a question that many college students often ask. My classmate is 50 points taller than me, or I am 50 points taller than him. Why can't I get in? This is very common in American universities, that is to say, with a good SAT score and your award-winning background, the result of your application may not be better than others.
Let me introduce myself: My name is Li Jie. 1988 studying in Zhejiang university. I studied at the National University of Singapore in 2000. 200 1 After graduation, I will be a lecturer in university enrollment. In 2002, he served as the marketing director of saglu grade in China. In 2005, he began to study in China CIIC, and studied at CIIC Hangzhou Branch. In 2007, he founded the CIIC branch to study in Ningbo. Our lecture mainly introduces from four aspects: the first is how to plan to study in the United States. The role of studying abroad in senior two in entering famous American universities. Third, the admission requirements of the top 100 universities in the United States. Fourth, the whole application process of Harvard and other famous schools.
Generally, before applying for studying abroad, all students have a timetable for studying abroad. That is to say, how long should I start preparing my application for studying abroad? The deadline for applying for admission to American universities is 65438+ 10/,so it's better for the schools that finish 65438+1 0/to send all the materials. The admission results of universities are basically announced around April 1. There are also deadlines for early admission applications in the United States: 1 1 day and 1 0/5 day respectively, which are also determined by different schools according to their own conditions. Early application was published 65438+February1-65438+February 15.
So the general timetable for studying in the United States is like this. SAT scores are tested every June 10 or June 10, TOEFL scores are tested every September or June10, and SAT2 scores can be tested in March, April, May or even June. Generally speaking, if you want to receive SAT and TOEFL training, it is best to do it in July or August every year. For the graduating senior three, his time is very tight, so the SAT can be completed in June 5438+ 10 under the guarantee of the college entrance examination, and the TOEFL is also in June 5438+ 10, so the training is also in July and August.
A few students give up the college entrance examination and apply for American universities. For such students, your SAT 1 score can be known in 65438+February, and your TOEFL score can be known in 65438+February.
What about the other timetable? 7.8 After receiving TOEFL or SAT training in August, write a personal statement in August, September and June, 65438+ 10, ask the teacher to write a letter of recommendation, and then ask others to modify your letter of recommendation and listen to others' opinions. It is very important to write letters of recommendation. Generally, we China students ignore this link and think that writing it out is enough. But in fact, many American universities attach great importance to it, and you can also learn about your personal achievements.
Let's talk about the role of applying for a prestigious school.
Basically, there are three types of schools that are characterized by two categories: one is to find shortcomings and students, the other is to find advantages to recruit students, and the third is in between.
We can see that the application materials of schools ranked first to 300 in the United States are different. The more the former student rejects you because of the shortcomings in your application materials, the more the latter school accepts you by looking for the advantages in your application materials, and other schools are basically in between. So try to reduce the shortcomings in the application materials, no matter whether you choose a good school or a poor school, try to reduce your shortcomings and highlight your advantages.
Generally speaking, we say that the advantages of China students are also recognized by all. They have a strong foundation in mathematics, are smart, work hard and have good music. Many people will have piano certificates, violins, pipa and violins. Students in China are very good at math and physics, and their test scores are particularly high. So in the process of your application, the biggest problem is how you and everyone have different strengths.
Basically, all the shortcomings of China students can be summarized as follows: your English reading, writing and listening are not very good, your physical education class is not good, your extracurricular activities are relatively few and monotonous, and you have little interaction with other races and religions. These are the shortcomings of China students. You see, just now a visa officer also asked a question, have you ever been to other countries, or have you ever traveled? This is also a question of communicating with other ethnic backgrounds.
How do China students highlight their application characteristics? In other words, you should show that you want to do what other China students can't do, and you should show that you can do what other American students can't do. From which aspects do you show your strengths in these two aspects? This is the place we need to show most in the application, and it is also the place where we stand out.
There are so many conditions for admission standards in the United States as follows. SAT tests math, reading and writing, and the most important thing is math and reading.
Your average grade, average grade The United States requires all your grades to be in the second grade or above the tenth grade, so you are required to be above the third grade. Therefore, if you are a sophomore applying for an American university, you'd better provide your junior grade.
STA2 had better take two or three exams. Its requirements are science, mathematics and liberal arts. TOEF is difficult to show on the report card. We usually write ranking, not difficulty.
There are also letters of recommendation from high school teachers, one of which is a letter of recommendation from the teacher and the other is a letter of recommendation from the head teacher. The United States attaches great importance to letters of recommendation from professionals. There are also college entrance examination application forms, 2-4 short essays, that is, personal statements and extracurricular activities.
Two letters of recommendation from high school teachers, a liberal arts teacher and a science teacher, and letters of recommendation from teachers in the last two years of high school. Two years before high school and the teachers in the graduating class? Generally not used. Because most graduating class teachers don't understand your learning process, the first two years are basically basic courses. The principal's recommendation letter only says that if the principal doesn't give you classes, the function of this recommendation letter is limited, and if the principal teaches you one or two specific courses, this recommendation letter is very valuable. Letters of recommendation from others, if you can go to America, you should stay. It is very useful to ask your teacher who is communicating in America to write a letter of recommendation. And we will talk about the recommendation letter from the head teacher in high school, which mainly involves your extracurricular activities.
Extracurricular activities are also divided into two categories: one is academic extracurricular activities and the other is non-academic extracurricular activities. Academic extracurricular activities: mathematical physics competition and biology competition. Mathematical physics competitions mainly require mathematical physics competitions at or above the district level. If you only win a prize in a math contest in your class or school, you can generally ignore it. Science Competition: Siemens Science Award, Intel Science Award. There are non-academic activities, including model United Nations, debates and student unions.
Charity activities: community service activities: 1 100 million yuan, nursing homes, libraries. Work correctly in the community and help the disadvantaged groups. Charity activities: disaster relief and poverty alleviation.
Summer vacation activities are very important in all school applications, that is to say, you have to apply for a good school, basically starting from the first year of high school, because every summer vacation from the first year of high school should be arranged. For example, did you do research, volunteer, go out to make money, travel or play video games every day during the summer vacation? Because all the application forms of schools will ask you this question, what are you doing in the summer vacation?
Next are 2-4 personal essays. In this composition, you should write some unusual experiences, books that have the greatest influence on you, mistakes you have made, or what attraction our school has for you, and how you can make full use of its characteristics to give full play to yourself. Generally speaking, each school needs 2-4 compositions.
Let's take a look at the overseas students from China who were admitted to prestigious schools:1Harvard University in Liu Yiting in 1999, Yifei to Harvard University in 2008, and St. Louis for half a year. In 2009, Min obtained Yale University.
Let's take a look at what kind of extracurricular activities are conducive to students' application. For example, nuns are model United Nations activities, and the second is a debate contest, as well as history, geography and some scrabble games.
Participating in school extracurricular activities can give you the impression that you can be a leader, actively participate in political discussions, show an organizational ability, participate in school extracurricular activities, and also show the ability to care about the community. Through these activities, you can also prove to the United States that you can live well in school, giving the school the feeling that you are sure that you will become an excellent student.
When is a good time to study abroad? There are two ways: one is to study abroad earlier and go abroad after graduating from junior high school, so this is to go to the United States or transfer to the ninth or tenth grade, which means to go to the United States after graduating from junior high school. Yesterday, I met a student from Hangzhou. He is in grade 1 1 in China, and this year he is in grade 12. He felt very nervous. Basically, you should study in the United States at least in grade 10, because you have only been studying in the United States for two years, and many of them are in grade 12. Other students are already taking the ICT test and doing it. For China students, you will be very, very tired because of the different course structures. After 12, many students have to extend it for another year and reread 12 grade. In fact, when you go out to study, you only need to go to 10 grade, and your grades can be better.
There is also the situation of studying abroad for six months to one year. I will go outside to exchange information for a year or six months.
And TOP 100 in America. Let's analyze its specific requirements:
For example, Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and California Institute of Technology, we see that the annual overstaffing rate does not exceed 70%. For example, Wellesley's admission rate is only 36%. Therefore, the admission to a good American university is not based on grades. Will he be admitted as long as he meets his requirements? Not necessarily. The competition is fierce.
Looking back at the admission criteria of American universities, we can see that apart from SAT scores, TOEFL scores and average scores, including whether you can find a good teacher to write a letter of recommendation for you, what other factors are beyond your control? It is how you explain the difficulty of your course and how you can reduce the mistakes in your application form for college entrance. How to highlight your advantages by writing these plans and how to organize your extracurricular activities? These factors can be regarded as a soft factor, but it may be these soft factors that determine why you were admitted because of your low grades.
First, introduce the SAT, which simply corresponds to the college entrance examination in China. SAT is equivalent to the national college entrance examination in the United States and the exam organized by association of american universities. He used SAT 1 to test students' academic ability, verify students' usual grades and compare the advantages and disadvantages of schools. So the United States has a statistic every year. Which school is this student whose SAT scores are different every year? Through the statistics of school data, you can give it a ranking within the university, that is, whether your school is good or bad. So we can see more and more American universities. When we look at which school you graduated from, there will be many high schools in China. Basically, the SAT 1 average score is 200-800. Mathematics is not difficult, but it is difficult to read and write. Generally speaking, the total score of students is 1900-2400. So in the SAT, the average score 1600 is the bottom line.
We can look at the average grade of high school for three years. Many students asked me, how can the average score of China be converted into the average score of SAP in the United States? The score range of the United States is 0-4, for example, 93- 100 belongs to 4, 90-93 belongs to 3.7, and each score interval is 1.3.
Here is the correspondence between our general statistical SAT scores and your usual scores. Basically, students above 2200 usually get grades between 3.8 and 4.0. In other words, if your average score is above 92 and your SAT score is above 2200, the lower the average score, the lower your SAT interval.
SAT2 is a professional exam, which generally requires two or three levels. One is science: math, physics, division, biology. One is liberal arts: English literature, history, foreign languages. There is also an optional door. Many students in China choose mathematics as their two subjects, but even if you get a lower score in the liberal arts exam, it will be very beneficial to your application. Because he also knows that you are from China, you can choose English, even if your score is lower, he understands. If you take two math classes, you can't see the difference between you and others.
TOEFL scores: Many students asked me if I still need TOEFL scores after taking the SAT scores. The answer is yes, and you must have TOEFL scores. TOEFL scores are the scores of students whose mother tongue is not English. What is the lowest unit score of SAT? 530 points for the top 100 schools, 620 points for the top 30 schools and 690 points for the top 4 schools.
The SAT was revised last year. I can send the best SAT scores in each exam to the school, which means that when it gives you scores, it will automatically send your higher scores in each exam to the school. For example, it has taken three exams, and the school will finally refer to his grades, not the total score of each exam, but the sum of the highest scores of his three exams is 2 160. You see, the structure of his highest grade is higher than any of his previous grades. This is the policy implemented last year. So many students in China have no countermeasures. I concentrate on one exam at a time, and I do badly in other exams. For example, I just watched it this time. In fact, everyone who has tried knows that even if you study every day, you may not get good grades in the exam. This is very strange. Reading is basically a perfect score in the United States, but it is really difficult in China. Writing is difficult for some people in China, but some people find it difficult. It is a long-term accumulation and it is difficult to improve in a short time.
How many times do you take the SAT every year? Basically, our suggestion is to prepare early and take the SAT several times. Few people take the SAT once, and American students are also going to take the SAT scores three or four times. So it is very common for students in China to take the SAT two or three times.
SAT subject test skills. For some high school students studying abroad. Many students have asked me if I want to take a Chinese exam. Considering your Asian background, although your Chinese score will be high, I suggest you not to take the Chinese exam, because you obviously give people the impression that you are a little opportunistic.
What's the lowest SAT score? Basically, the scores of the top 100 universities are not less than 530-700 points.
The minimum required TOEFL score is basically 70-100 for the school before. In other words, the TOEFL score must be above 100 in the first 30 to 50 schools, which is the most basic requirement.
TOEFL and SAT test skills are not detailed here. We believe that TOEFL is mainly a vocabulary problem, which means that grammar is relatively easy and listening and writing are relatively difficult. It is best to take the TOEFL and s at at the same time, and try to take the test as early as possible, because the training of SAT and TOEFL is similar, and the TOEFL score will be improved a lot immediately after taking the SAT.
Let's take a look at the process of applying for a prestigious school. Basically like Harvard University, its average SAT score is above 2300, and according to China's score, it is above 93.
Harvard is different from other schools, because its academic future is unusual, and it is difficult to measure what kind of academic ability it is. There are also many Harvard students who are all-rounders. When you get good grades, you make a lot of contributions to the community, and there are many extracurricular activities, as well as various extracurricular functions, such as photography, sports and other talents. The other one has several students, too. He is also a part of talents, but he is a leader in a certain field. Basically, all Harvard students emphasize enthusiasm, creativity and good character.
This is the University of Washington, and you can see that it is one level lower than Harvard University, which is about 2 150. The requirements of Washington University and Harvard are also very different. This requirement means that as long as you emphasize your academic ability and personal determination, you can adapt to it in Washington University and become its pride in the future. Harvard University selects students from the perspective of leadership and * * * *, while Washington University values your academic ability more.
In terms of extracurricular activities, good schools in America attach great importance to it, but your grades are not good enough. It rejects countless top candidates in the college entrance examination every year, so you must show your activity ability. We China students can notice a feature. In fact, if we apply for the best students through the intermediary, we will do well. We applied for the top 20, and the best place to apply reached 18. But if you can really go to a good university, you can basically apply for it yourself, so that students can know themselves better and have more ability to master their own application process. And he is also excellent in extracurricular activities. In extracurricular activities, we should make early planning and planning. Many students said that he would not verify my application anyway, so I just wrote it down. The difference is that other students can provide photos, and you have no photos to provide, just write them down. This is your difference. Compared with the students who provide photos, you are lacking. So there are some uncertainties in the application of American universities. Among these factors, we have also seen many in many years of application. For example, the same grades, the same extracurricular activities, or the results of the same school application are culturally different. A characteristic of many China students is that during the application process, they will compare why they applied and why I didn't. It is equivalent to the attitude of the visa officer to answer questions. In the eyes of every student, our conditions are similar. Because our China culture is characterized by the traditional herd mentality, we should compare what others have or what I have before considering any problems. If I were similar to him, I should have the same result as him. But for Americans, it is not such a culture. He thinks everyone is different, even if they look the same, they are actually different. So your application results are different for the same grades and the same extracurricular activities.
So from this perspective, the result of our application is unpredictable. Why can I choose schools for my students? I think the biggest role of the intermediary now is to help you make some decisions in the process of choosing a school. Because of our understanding of the school, the biggest difference between mediation and reconciliation is our understanding of the students themselves. The problem ordinary students encounter is that they don't know themselves, and many people don't admit this reality. Many people say that if I know these universities in America, I can do many things in advance. On the contrary, a person can only make a good application if he really knows his own advantages and disadvantages. Therefore, the role of intermediary is more to help you understand yourself, give you an accurate positioning and then apply. This auxiliary function will enable you to apply for an ideal result under a relatively accurate positioning. This is the biggest difference between individual application and intermediary.
Moderator: Thank you very much, Ms. Li Jie. Let's give her the warmest applause for her speech. Just now, visa officers Mark and Ms. Li Jie emphasized that visas are one-to-one and very personalized, and everyone's situation may be different. Therefore, I suggest that interested friends can consult the staff, let them design and plan your visa from a professional perspective, and help you arrange, how to sort out some information and how to fill out some forms. The on-site consultation meeting is over. Thank you for your participation.