Download Notes on American Universities and SAT Tests

Notes on American Universities and SAT tests from seminar 4/10/11
SAT total is 2400
Made up of:
800 – Critical reading (most top Universities require 720)
800 - Maths
800 –Writing
Need to have 2100 for the very top Universities and each part no less than 700.
There is an emphasis on vocabulary which you need to learn.
It generally takes at least 6 months preparation using very large practice books which you
can purchase.
Applications have four parts each of which are worth approximately 25% each.
They are:
1. Grade point average – most subjects at school need to be an A with perhaps one B as
a minimum
2. Application essays are critical and much more important at some Universities where
they are shown to several staff members for their opinion. You need to prepare one
short essay and one long essay. It must be written by the applicant and it is obvious
if it has been written by an adult. Adults can check it but you may need to rewrite it
three times or more. Some Universities have their own topics. It could be a sentence
from Aristotle that you have to relate to your own life or simply why you chose their
University. It needs to tell a story and have impact. It could be what you feel about
looking at a picture but it has to be very well organised, paragraphed and logical as
well as have personal voice.
3. References from your school. It can be done on-line. You need two and sometimes
three. It can be a subject teacher, a sports coach or music teacher but they need to
know you very well. It needs to have personal voice. At Macleans you need to see Mr
Phillips to organise this.
4. Activities. You need to show that you are at the sharp edge of whatever you do. At
some Universities like Princeton they need to see that you have done community
service or volunteer work and this is more like 150 hours not just a few.
Universities can cost up to $60,000 a year. Scholarships are either:
1. Needs based e.g. Harvard and Yale
2. Merit based – you need to have a talent like a sport or music
For sports scholarships you should contact the sports coach at the University you are
interested in at least 12 months ahead. You may need to send a video and if they are really
interested they may come and see you play. You may be able to get contacts through your
professional sports association in NZ or your present coach.
The web site should show quite clearly if they are needs based or merit based or both. The
larger Universities tend to be more needs based but economic circumstances generally can
affect the availability of these everywhere.
You can apply for Early Decision by 1 November but this means that if you are accepted you
have to withdraw any other applications and may not attend another University. This can be
limiting if you get a better offer. Harvard only has Regular decision closing in January. An
Early Application decision lets you apply for other Universities within a certain time frame.
Check US 𝑁𝑒𝑤𝑠 for rankings for finding out which are the best places for what you want to
do. It will give you the top 20 free and after that you have to pay for the information.
For law you are better to do your law degree in NZ and then a Masters or post graduate in
America. You may get a scholarship. There is an intermediate stage before Masters called
Judis where there are more scholarship opportunities so you can start with this first.
Applying for Universities in the USA takes considerable planning and students need to start
researching this at the end of Y11 or at the very latest in Y12.
Gerri Strevens