1. Detailed process of enrolling new students in famous American schools

Every year, more than 1, American high school graduates apply for Ivy League schools and strive for the 25, or so places (the actual enrollment is 5% to 6% of this figure). What kind of people apply? What kind of people are admitted? "Take precautions", how and when should senior high school students prepare for this final sprint? Let's introduce it in as much detail as possible.

to apply for an American university, you will be asked first whether to join the early decision project. "Early decision" means that the applicant applies in advance (around November of the first year) and the university makes a decision early (around mid-December). Once you are admitted, it means that you can't choose another school, but you must study in this school.

there is also an early action program, which is similar to the "early decision" program, but after being accepted, you can choose other schools.

what are the benefits of the "early decision" plan? Students who participate in this program may have a 5% higher chance of admission than those who apply normally. For example, the admission rate of Dartmouth's "early decision" program in the 199s was more than 3%, while that of normal enrollment was less than 2%. In Ivy League schools, the students enrolled in the "Early Decision" program account for one-third to half of the total enrollment.

what kind of students participate in the "early decision" program? Most people's scores are the average of the admission lines of the schools they apply for, and they come from wealthy white families. Students with poor grades and good grades are generally reluctant to participate in this plan. The primary concern of ethnic minorities (blacks, Hispanics) and students with poor family economic conditions is the financial assistance given to them by the school. The annual tuition fee of Ivy League schools is more than $2,, plus about $1, for room and board and spare money, which is beyond the average American family's affordability. Almost more than 9% students receive various kinds of financial aid from the school. Some people call these subsidies discounts on the official list price of tuition fees. Generally speaking, there are not many students who pay tuition fees according to the clear price, but few people don't pay tuition fees at all. The amount of funding received from the admitted school is mainly based on the economic situation of the students' families. Students in famous private schools have good grades, so there are few scholarships based on their academic performance. Students who participate in the "early decision" program have no choice if they are not satisfied with the funding. Therefore, less affluent students are reluctant to participate in this program. Almost every school says that the amount of subsidy you will receive has nothing to do with whether you participate in this program or not, but you have no choice, lose your bargaining chip, and naively hope that the other party will be "lazy", and only you know the consequences. On the other hand, students with particularly good grades have almost no problem where they want to go, and there is no need to tie their hands and feet prematurely.

if you participate in the "early decision" program, the result will either be accepted, which means that if there are no accidents, you must enter school next autumn, or it will be postponed, which means that your conditions are not enough. The school will put your application into the normal admission channel and make a decision next year. Others were rejected because of their poor level. Students admitted at this stage, because they still have half a year of high school study, may be cancelled if their high school grades suddenly drop or they violate the law and discipline in the past six months.

the situation of students who are delayed is not optimistic. First, he didn't know whether he was "delayed by courtesy" or "delayed by reality". "Polite delay" means that the standard exam results are not ideal, although it is definitely not accepted, but give him face and not refuse immediately. The "realistic delay" is a student who is in the middle of ambiguity. One is to compare with most applicants, and the other is to see if you have better grades after this development. Generally speaking, if you don't improve your level obviously, your chances are not great.

There is no unified national college entrance examination in the United States. Scholistic Assessment Test,SAT), hosted by Educational Testing Service, is used by most universities as a standard to compare different regions, different high schools and different scoring systems. SAT is divided into two parts, one is the general part, including mathematics and English, which is called SATI；; Others are single-subject exams, including mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, foreign languages (including Chinese, Japanese, German, French, Spanish), etc., which are collectively referred to as SATⅡ II. SAT I scores 8 in math and 8 in English (the lowest score is 2), so the full score is 16 (note: this is the SAT I test form before 25); The full score of SATⅡ is 8. SAT scores are relative scores, and the median value was 5 points for each item before 1995. This 5-point standard was formulated in 1941. In that year, 1, students from American private high schools took the SAT, with an average score of 5. So if your SATⅠ I score is 51 in English and 49 in math, it means that more than half of people are not as good at English as you, but better at math. In 1995, more than 2 million high school students in the United States took the SATⅠ I exam, and they were still measured by this standard more than 5 years ago. This year, the national intermediate scores were: English: 428; Math: 482. More than 7% of the candidates' English scores are below 5. In addition to getting full marks by answering all the questions correctly, a wrong question may lower your score by 3 points. In addition, there are a few people whose scores are below 2. In 1995, the intermediate score of SATⅠ I was redefined as 5 according to the candidates' scores in that year, that is to say, 428 (the original score) in English became 5 in 1996. Similarly, 482 in mathematics has become 5. In this way, the distribution of scores tends to be reasonable, but it also improves the scores generally. Even if you make two or three mistakes, you may get full marks. Before 1995, only twenty or thirty people in the world got double full marks (16 points) on SATⅠ I every year. But by 1996, there were 545 people in the United States alone who got full marks on the SATⅠ ⅰ. This year, 365 people applied to Harvard got this score (Harvard only accepted 45% of them).

the sat (and a smaller ACT) is the only achievement that American universities can get that can compare students from different regions and schools, so it plays a very important role in admission or not. Although the SAT is criticized as being designed to adapt to whites (or Asians) and unfair to black and Hispanic students, and American universities have repeatedly told you in public that the SAT score plays little role in the admission process, the most important thing is the high school score, and so on, but you must not be naive to believe it. Generally speaking (at least for the admission officials of most universities), the SAT I score indicates the student's intelligence level, and the SAT II score depends on how the student's studies are. If a student gets all A's in high school physics class, but only 55 points in the SATⅡ ⅱ physics exam, the simplest inference is that his school score is inflated, or the student is not competitive. No matter how you understand it, it's not good for him.

the relationship between students enrolled in Georgetown University in 1997 and SAT I scores

English score admission rate

Mathematics score admission rate

15 5-599 25-299 1-149 5-54

1 8 8 79 76 73

2 8 79 77 74 71

. 68

4 79 76 73 7 66

5 78 75 72 68 64

6 78 74 71 67 63

7 77 73 7 66 62

8 77 73 69 66 61

9 76 72 69 65 6

1 76 71 68 63 58

25 72 67 63 57 49

5 69 63 59 51 27

If there are 1 people in your graduating class, your ranking is third, and your "conversion ranking score" is 72. Add with the first two scores: AI=75+65+72=212. , just enough for Dartmouth. Although class ranking is important, it cannot be absolute. In 1995, 1,543 senior high school graduates applied to Princeton University. Among them, less than one third (495) were admitted. In some famous private high schools, about 3% of the graduates enter the Ivy League. Among the students who applied to Georgetown University in 1997, the admission rates of the top three applicants in high school were 62%, 48% and 43% respectively.

if you read this and think, "ah, that's the same", then you are wrong. AI refers to the "athlete index" (or "academic index"), which was originally used for athletes. For athletes, the whole league uses this index. But Dartmouth extended it to all students. What tricks do other Ivy League schools use on non-athletes students? They use "academic ranking systems". The "Academic Ranking System" finally sums up all the information of applicants into a score: "numerator" means academic ranking, "denominator" means extracurricular activities and personal character ranking, and there is no mathematical relationship between them. The range of numbers varies from school to school. Harvard is 1-6(1 is expensive), Brown is 1-6, but 6 is expensive, University of Pennsylvania and Dartmouth College are 1-9, and 9 is high. Princeton: 1-5; Yale: 1-4, less is more expensive. Columbia, Georgetown, MIT: 1-5. You don't need numbers. In 1998, among 72% of the freshmen enrolled in Princeton, the "academic ranking" was 1 or 2.

does "academic ranking" have anything to do with AI? Yes. Look at the table below.

"academic ranking" only stands for academics and is a "molecule"; "Denominator" will be discussed below.

Therefore, if your "academic ranking" is below 3, unless you have some special "connections", please give up the idea of entering the Ivy League. If your ranking is above 8, then you are truly "assured", just wait for good news. Ranks 6 and 7 are also lucky, and there will always be places for you to apply for more schools. Exactly: I don't have a grandfather here, but I have my own place to raise him.

the relationship between the admission rate of freshmen in Dartmouth in 1996 and different indexes

the admission rate of AI applicants in academic ranking

1 229 2.2% 94%

What about those ranked 4 and 5? Be slaughtered and resigned to fate? Another introduction.

as the saying goes, man proposes and god disposes. There is something else to say: do your best and listen to your destiny. Do your best first. This is also the role of the denominator. Although the "denominator" accounts for only a quarter of the enrollment, its importance varies from person to person, especially for those who rank 4 or 5, which is enough to tilt the balance. You should try your best to let the admission officials know your versatility. Have you ever been the president of the student union (leadership and organizational skills)? Have you ever been ranked in sports competitions, arts and sciences competitions (stylistic ability)? Have you published any research papers, poems and novels in famous newspapers? In addition, whether you have been a volunteer in society, helping the weak and helping the poor (kind-hearted, responsible to society); Are kindness to others, team spirit, manners and manners mentioned in the recommendation letter? Whether there have been any hardships in the process of growing up (indicating your perseverance and enterprising spirit), and so on.

besides, you can take more difficult exams. In the United States, high school students can take university courses, and after passing the unified examination, they can get university credits. Depending on the number, you can graduate early. This exam is called Advanced Placement (AP). AP has computing, biology, chemistry, physics, history, English, French, Latin, etc. The highest score is 5. If you get 4 or 5 points in several AP exams, it will be of great help to you. First, it shows that the depth of your study is different from others, and a simple exam can't reveal your true level, which is called "making yourself stand out from the crowd"; Second, it also shows your initiative in learning. Although some of these courses are offered in high schools, they are all elective courses, and their difficulty is the most among them. Don't you take the difficult course, which means that you challenge your ability and pursue knowledge? In 1996, 581,554 high school graduates in the United States took 921,61 AP exams. And 4 years ago, these two figures were 1229 and 2199 respectively.

so, what is the admission process like? Let's try to take a walk. Suppose it is July and August, and you are one year away from graduating from high school, then you should go to the library to find information and roughly choose the university you want to go to. If the library and other aspects can't help, then spend tens of dollars to buy a book about American universities. Of course, the best way is to visit online. In short, the information should be complete, and the more complete the better. Suppose you feel good about yourself and go to the best private university in America. Then you should probably choose these schools introduced in this book and add some liberal arts colleges, such as Amherst, Williams, Swarthmore College and so on. Do not exceed 5 in total, lest you be dazzled; And not less than ten, so as not to have a wide choice. Twenty schools are more suitable. Then, you should write to the admission offices (or admissions offices) of these universities and ask them to send you the introduction, application forms and financial aid forms. About a month after the information comes out, you will start to receive responses. Some schools will put all the information in one package, and some will send you a form first. Other schools, such as MIT, will ask you to pay a few dollars and then send you information. In a word, you will have about a dozen school materials in a month. If you send 2 letters.

Next, it is a difficult choice: choose three or five schools to formally apply. Of course, you can apply to many schools, but it is very impractical. First, you have to pay an application fee, ranging from $3 to $5. Moreover, "there are thousands of buildings, one bed", and in the end you can only go to one school. Of course, some schools can reduce the application fee according to your family income (such as Dartmouth), but this is not a common practice. Second, applying for a school requires a lot of information, such as high school transcripts, letters of recommendation, and standard test scores (SAT, etc.), especially the latter, and only send your scores to three schools for free. Although high school transcripts and letters of recommendation can be copied infinitely by photocopying, the big print and signature must be original.

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