Some Good Resources on US College Applications

3 comments
Last updated 12th April 2010 with 145 resources .

Some resources for you to start preparation. Do start preparation from now onwards:-

1. General US Applications Guide - for USA For Students

2. Andrew Loh's Why Study in America

3. Gabrielle (Wellesley College)

4. Su Ann (Columbia University) - Part 1

5. Su Ann (Columbia University) - Part 2

6. Charis Loke (Brown University)

7. Charis Loke (Brown University) - On Application Essays

8. Boon Jim (Cornell University)

9. Andrew Loh (Swarthmore College)

10. FreeRice.com - SAT Vocabulary

11. ReCom.org - The Worldwide Malaysian Students Network

12. College Confidential.com

13. ADFP Guide (Prepared by former INTEC US-Bound Students)

14. Collegeboard.com (SAT Test)

15. TOEFL Test

16. Common Applications

17. US News Ranking of US Universities

18. Times Higher Education Supplement Ranking of World Universities

19. Andrew Loh (Swarthmore College) - For the Kiamsiap: How to save money in US college applications

20. Common Data Set (Prepared by Xianjin)

21. How to Make Full Use of University Life

22. Admit Rate of Class of 2013

23. FreeVocabulary.com (SAT Words Practice)

24. Inside The Admissions Game (Newsweek take a look at University of Chicago admission Process)

25. Wall Street Journal - Summary of Application Essays by 10 University Presidents

(For 26 to 35, it is sample application essays by University Presidents, and may not necessarily be good application essays.)
26. Barnard College's Debora Spar on daily routines

27. Carleton College's Robert A. Oden Jr. on getting lost -- and found -- in Cairo

28. Grinnell College's Russell K. Osgood on a historical figure that has influenced him

29. Oberlin College's Marvin Krislov on a historical figure that has influenced him

30. Pomona College's David Oxtoby on an experience that was 'just plain fun'

31. Reed College's Colin Diver on an experience in diversity

32. The University of Chicago's Robert J. Zimmer on "Living the Question"

33. University of Pennsylvania's Amy Gutmann on her autobiography

34. Vassar College's Catharine Hill on an influential person in her life

35. Wesleyan University's Michael S. Roth on an influential person in his life

36. Youtube videos (US Applications Workshop at HELP UC) .

37. Admission Stuff .

38. Preparation for US Applications from June 2009 -> January 2010 .

39. USA Study Guide.com .

40. Collegeapps.about.com .

41. SAT Score for Ivy League Universities (25 percentile & 75 percentile) .

42. SAT Score for top Liberal Arts Colleges (25 percentile & 75 percentile) .

43. SAT Score for top US Universities (non-Ivy) (25 percentile & 75 percentile) .

44. SAT Score for top Public Universities (25 percentile & 75 percentile) .

45. US News Guide to Admissions .

46. College Admission Tips.net .

47. IvyLeagueAdmission.com Essay Writing Tips & Strategies .

48. IvyLeagueAdmission.com Admission Guide .

49. HopelessToHarvard.com .

50. 5 Tips to get into Ivy League (CNN) .

51. Ivy League Admission Statement for Athletes .

52. Ivy Gate Blog .

53. The Brown Daily Herald .

54. Columbia Spectator .

55. Cornell Daily Sun .

56. Daily Princetonian .

57. Yale Daily News .

58. The Dartmouth .

59. The Daily Pennsylvanian .

60. The Crimson .

61. MIT Open Courseware .

62. http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/.

63. Academic Earth (Video Lectures from Top Unis .

64. iTunesU (Lectures from Top Universities - Do scroll down) .

65. SatVocab.com .

66. CollegeNews.org - Liberal Arts Colleges news .

67. AdmissionAdvice.com .

68. How to get into Ivy League Admissions .

69. Liberal Arts Education .

70. Alumni Interview .

71. Earnings of those from Elite Universities .

72. Choosing the right colleges .

73. Forbes US Colleges Ranking .

74. College Confidential - Xiggi's SAT Prep Advice .

75. College Confidential - Arachnotron's SAT Prep Advice .

76. College Confidential - Bigb14's SAT Prep Advice .

77. College Confidential - SAT Prep Books Review .

78. College Confidential - Past and Present SAT Practice Tests .

79. College Confidential - Tips from a SAT 2400er .

80. College Confidential - How to improve significantly in SAT .

81. College Confidential - How to attack SAT critical reading effectively .

82. College Confidential - Strange Camus's SAT Grammar Guide .

83. College Confidential - How to ace SAT essay .

84. College Confidential - SAT Math Help Center .

85. College Confidential - SAT 2 Review Books .

86. College Confidential - SAT 2 Chemistry & Physics Help .

87. College Confidential - SAT 2 Literature Guides .

88. College Confidential - SAT 2 Maths Guides .

89. College Confidential - SAT Test Curves .

90. College Confidential - SAT Practice Tests & SAT Official Essay Prompts .

91. College Confidential - Sharing on Conquering SAT .

92. College Confidential - Big Improvement Scores in SAT .

93. College Confidential - List of SAT Vocabs .

94. College Confidential - Past Year SAT Official Essay Prompts .

95. College Confidential - List of Topics on SAT in College Confidential .

96. Unigo.com - College Reviews by College Students .

97. Vocabtest.com .

98. Syvum.com - SAT Practice .

99. Quiz-tree.com - SAT Practice .

100. SAT-Preparation.co.il - SAT Practice .

101. English-test.net - SAT Practice .

102. West.net - SAT Practice .

103. Majortests.com - SAT Practice .

104. SATtest.us - SAT Practice .

105. Yahoo Education - SAT Practice .

106. Yahoo Education - SAT Subject Test Practice .

107. ENotes.com - SAT Practice .

108. Wikibooks.org - SAT Study Guide .

109. Sparknotes.com - SAT .

110. Brightsparks.com - US Applications Forum .

111. What Will They Learn - Core Curriculum of Top 100 Unis .

112. WhatWillTheyLearn.com .

113. What Should Colleges Teach - New York Times

114. Collegedata.com

115. College Admissions Tracker

116. Fusion Academy - 31 Free SAT Writing (Grammar) Lessons

117. Fusion Academy - 31 Free SAT Vocabulary Lessons

118. Fusion Academy - 31 Free SAT Critical Reading Lessons

119. Fusion Academy - 31 Free SAT Maths Lessons

120. Harvard Dean of Admissions - Part 1 Reply

121. Harvard Dean of Admissions - Part 2 Reply

122. Harvard Dean of Admissions - Part 3 Reply

123. Harvard Dean of Admissions - Part 4 Reply

124. Harvard Dean of Admissions - Part 5 Reply

125. Uncle Ezra Replies on Cornell - Since 1986

126. A Word A Day - Lets Improve our Vocabulary

127. SAT Score Analysis (Using Thai Case Studies)

128. 100 Free Ivy League Lectures

129. FreeVideoLectures.com

130. US College Search

131. Article on Liberal Arts College (NST)

132. Article on Choosing Colleges based on cost

133. Edforall.net (Collections of Lecture Notes from Top Universities

134. Iswari (Cornell University) - Her Journey

135. Iswari (Cornell University) - Application essays

136. Alan Lawrence Sitomer (Essay Preps)

137. Chan Leong (Carnegie Mellon University) - His Journey

138. Khan Academy - SAT Video

139. Khan Academy - GMAT Video

140. Khan Academy - Video Resources

141. Calnewport.com - blog of a Harvard Postgrad Student

142. College Confidential - Admission Letter Dates

143. Michael Teoh on his observation at Stanford

144. Waitlisted? What can you do (by Andrew Loh and Darell Koh)

145. Waitlisted? Sharing from MBA Perspective

* All these resources are sourced from various people. A lot of them shared based on their personal experience, and we would encourage everyone to evaluate on your own, on whether which advice to take and which advice to ignore. Neither we nor the author of the articles will be held responsible for the advice shared. We do not endorse any of the product/package sold by any website above.

* If you find any good articles, do share with us at usapps2009 AT gmail DOT com, and we would share it here. If everyone shares 1 or more article, then there would be a lot of articles here for everyone to learn together.

FAQ of the Training

3 comments
We'll attempt to share all the most frequently-asked questions here:-

1. Does this training guarantee my admission into Ivy League?
- Nope. We do not guarantee. And we don't think that anyone could. The admission into Ivy League is a very tough process. What we hope to do is to guide you, so that you are better prepared.

2. Would you write our application essays?
- Nope. We are teaching you how to fish, but you have to fish yourself.

3. How many reviews you would go through with us for the essay?
- We promise we would do 1 review with you on Day 3 of the training. This is to get you started on the right footing. To really have a good shot at Ivy League and equivalent universities, you need an essay with multiple reviews. So, we are helping you to get a headstart, but not getting you to the finishing line. During the essay review time, we hope to spend about 10-15 minutes with each student. As you would have extra time between 10am and 3pm on Day 3, do use it to prepare yourself, discuss with other students and learn together. It is an interaction time. Don't waste it.

4. Are you guys the authoritative people from admission office?
- We are not. We are just a bunch of people who have worked hard over the years, and managed to go through the process and get the offer into Ivy League, Ivy Standards or Top Liberal Arts College. There maybe 5 to 20 of us there sharing.

5. Does the training provide food or drink?
- Nope. To reduce the cost to a minimum, food or drink would be on your own. We would try to find a venue for the training, where you can easily walk out and get the food/drink within a few minutes' time.

6. Would there be mock interview?
- Nope. There won't be any mock interview for each person. We would use the interactive session on interview workshop on Day 3 of the training to pull out people for practice in front of everyone. And we would throw out a few sample interview questions for everyone to respond in front of everyone. There will also be a panel session for those interviewers of top U.S. universities in Day 2.

7. I paid RM25, and why is it that it is not guiding me till I get into my dream universities.
- This training is intended to give you a head start, and not a full blown process to do 5-20 reviews of your essays etc. It is going to be 3 days of training, where day 1 is a lot more on seminar based, day 2 on workshop based, and for day 3 would be review of your essay/cv and mock interview. For Day 3, there will be waiting time, as thre would be a lot of you. We'll spend about 10-15 minutes per person on your essay/cv review and also 10-15 minutes on mock interview. Would advise you to fully utilize the waiting time, to share and learn with other attendees.

8. Is this training going to guarantee my SAT score increase?
- Nope. SAT won't be our emphasis. We would spend about 90-120 minutes sharing you on a bunch of hot tips on SAT, and also potential resources that you can use. But you have to work hard for your SAT.

9. Is this training profit-driven?
- Nope. We don't think that there is any seminar in the country (unless it is heavily subsidized through some grants/sponsorships) that can afford to charge cheaper than this. If we are profit-driven, we would charge a lot more. If you really count, it is slightly more than RM1 per hour, since we are covering about 7 hours each day for 3 days. We intend to charge a very nominal amount, so that you would be committed to attend all 3 days. If in any case, you can't afford RM25, do let us know. We'll consider case-by-case and grant you waiver/discount.

10. How to sign up?
- Do fill up the form on the right hand side of this page. If any question, do email us at usapps2009[at]gmail[dot]com .

11. How many students would you train?
- Total seats in the auditorium is 250. So, first come first served. We will have wait list as well, once all the seats are taken.

12. I have registered. Can I be there any time as I wish?
- For those of you who have registered online, we will hold your place until 9:30am on 1st August 2009. Registration starts at 9am. If you do not show up by 9:30am, admission is based on first come first served, till the auditorium is fully filled up.

13. How do I pay?
- Payment will be collected on 1st August 2009 at 9am.

Preparation for Ivies, Ivy Standards and Top LACs Application

1 comments
Preparation for Ivies, Ivy Standards and Top LACs Application

Proposed Length: 3 Days
Venue: TBA
Fee: RM 25 (3 Days of Training, payable on registration at Day 1)
Contact: usapps2009[at]gmail[dot]com
Date:- 1st and 2nd August 2009 (2 Days Training)
Date:- 15th August 2009 (CV/Essay Review, Q&A)

Day 1 (1st August):-
9am - Registration
10am - Intro
11am - Common Pre-U Programs
1pm - Lunch (Eat on your own)
2pm - Liberal Arts Colleges
2:30pm - Applications (ED vs RD, SATs, TOEFL, application fee waiver, funds for sitting SATs and TOEFL)
3:30pm - Applications (Common App, School reports, Teacher's evaluations)
4:30pm - SAT workshop (SAT Reasoning Test, SAT Subject Tests)
6pm - End
Day 2 (2nd August):-
10am - Applications (Interview) - Panel of Interviewers
11:30am - Perspectives from Admission Office (Kevin Sim, Resident Counselor, Raffles Junior College, Singapore)
1pm - Lunch (Eat on your own)
2pm - Essays/CV (Guides on how to write essays/CV)
5pm - Characters the university look for
5:30pm - Financial Aid
6pm - End
Day 3 (15th Aug):-
10am - CV/Resume/Essays Reviews
1pm - Lunch (Eat on your own)
2pm - Interviews Workshop
3pm - Q&As with Current Students/alumni
4:30pm - Current Students/Alumni mingling with participants
6pm - End

* The schedule above is tentative.
* The RM25 charge is for 3 days (Even if you attend 1 day, it is RM25. We want to encourage everyone to attend all 3 Days).

Do help us promote this workshop to your friends and family members!!
Registration is at 9am on 1st August 2009 at Lecture Theatre 2, Taylor's University College Main Campus Subang Jaya. Your reserved place is only kept until 9:30am, after which, we will open the gate for those on waiting list.
The direction is:-
Enter the main gate of Taylor's University College Main Campus in Subang Jaya (the one opposite Asia Cafe)
Take the first flight of stairs on the right hand side to 2nd Floor
Lecture Theatre 2 is the 2nd theatre on the right.
Confirmed List of Facilitators (In alphabetical order):-
Amelia Lee - Bryn Mawr ' 13
Anand Pillai - Northwestern '04
Andrew Loh - Swarthmore '10
Charis Loke - Brown '13
Chen Chow - Cornell '05
Chern Han - Princeton '11
Dominic Lucien Luk - Brandeis '10
Emily Chan - Colby '11
Evelyn - Scripps '13
Gabrielle Chong Yong Wei - Wellesley '13
Hew Mun - Sloan/Harvard '12
Hui Juin - UPenn ' 13
Jayson Poon - Berkeley '13
Jie Min - Berkeley '13
John Lee - Dartmouth '11
Katherine - JHU '13
Khye Theng - UPenn '13
Kok Yew - Duke '09
Lali - Mount Holyoke '13
Nathaniel Tan - Harvard '03
Nellie Tan - Berkeley '13
Ngai Jin Tik - Stanford '12
Philip Loh - Olin '13
Su Ann - Columbia '12
Sue Lynn - Columbia '13
Suet Li - Mount Holyoke '11
Sui Ying - Brown '13
Teng Hui Li - Harvard '13
Vin Nie - Stanford '13
Yihui - MIT '13
Yin Wei - Harvard '13

Guest Facilitator:-
Kevin Sim - Resident Counselor, Raffles Junior College, Singapore
Panel of Interviewers:-
Adrian Ow - Harvard
Christine Lim - UPenn
Dr. Ewe Hong Tat - MIT
So, with that a total of 21 universities are represented, with all 8 Ivy Leagues represented for the first time in Malaysia (Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Cornell, Columbia, UPenn, Dartmouth, Brown), Swarthmore, Brandeis, Colby, Scripps, Wellesley, Berkeley, Johns Hopkins, Duke, Stanford, Mount Holyoke, MIT, Bryn Mawr and Olin College.
* This list will be updated as more facilitators confirmed their availability.
* All these facilitators will be there for at least 1 day, and most of them will be there for either 2 or 3 days.