APPLYING TO UNIVERSITIES UNITED KINGDOM (UK) cont. that your application has no mistakes and add your reference and predicted scores before we submit it to UCAS. Please remember that you must complete Application Notification Forms (ANFs) by the LAS deadlines for each university to which you are applying. UNITED STATES (US) In the US, colleges and universities set their own individual criteria for determining who gets admitted—and how. Each one designs its own application, asks different questions, has a variety of deadlines, and sets its own policies. This can become rather complicated as you attempt to keep track of what each school wants. Even schools accepting the “Common Application” often ask for individualized supplemental essays specific to their university. Completing college applications may seem daunting, so you will want to be sure that you give yourself plenty of time to fill them out thoughtfully. Admissions requirements and deadlines will vary from school to school and year to year so you need to check carefully to ensure you have completed all the necessary requirements. Your university advisor is available to answer any questions that you might have at any point in the process. Essays Essay topics for universities will typically be released in the spring or summer before your grade 12 year, and may change year-to-year. While specific directions vary from college to college, all will ask some variation of: “tell us about yourself.” No matter the prompt, the purpose of the essay is for the admissions officer to learn
more about you. The person reading your essay should be able to draw some conclusions about how you think and process information, your ethics and/or value system, your sense of humour, and/or your intellectual curiosity. This is very different writing than the five paragraph expository essay you may be used to. LAS offers essay writing presentations during Student Success in the spring of grade 11, and your university advisor can help you brainstorm potential essay topics and give you feedback along the way. Many schools will require one large essay and smaller, supplemental essays. Make sure you check the requirements so you are aware of the expectations of each university. Extracurricular Activities Universities will give you the opportunity to report your extracurricular activities and interests. Concentrate on your important activities and list them in the order of what is most meaningful to you. MaiaLearning allows you to track your involvements including clubs, service, athletics, work experience, and other out of school activities. Keeping this document up to date can really assist you with completing this section of your applications. Sending your Official Test Scores When you take an SAT, ACT, TOEFL, or IELTS, you are the person who receives and “owns” the scores. If universities require you to send your scores directly and officially from the testing agency (e.g., College Board, ACT, etc.), you should send your scores at least three weeks before a college’s application deadline. Many universities allow students to selfreport their test scores on their application. There is a significant cost savings to selfreporting scores, and if universities allow this,
