Ivy League Admissions as a UK student
As in the title, I'm currently in a gap year and am in the process of applying to US universities. My US choices (others undecided) are Harvard, Princeton and Yale. My issue is that I'm very very unfamiliar with the admissions process, and every website I've looked at has just overcomplicated everything and confused me with their waffle.
Can anyone tell me what the admissions process is like (for Ivy League and MIT 2025 entry), including what I need to submit, where and how I submit it, anything I need to sign up for, deadline dates, what the application includes, any people I need to ask for help from (or ask for documents from) etc.
I'm assuming the 'commonapp' is the UCAS of America. But here, of course, you need to write a personal statement, apply for admissions tests, submit your UCAS application, do the admissions tests, do any pre-interview assessments, do interviews etc so I was wondering an overview of the process for the US.
I've registered and am sitting the SAT this year, so that's one thing to cross off the checklist!
Can anyone tell me what the admissions process is like (for Ivy League and MIT 2025 entry), including what I need to submit, where and how I submit it, anything I need to sign up for, deadline dates, what the application includes, any people I need to ask for help from (or ask for documents from) etc.
I'm assuming the 'commonapp' is the UCAS of America. But here, of course, you need to write a personal statement, apply for admissions tests, submit your UCAS application, do the admissions tests, do any pre-interview assessments, do interviews etc so I was wondering an overview of the process for the US.
I've registered and am sitting the SAT this year, so that's one thing to cross off the checklist!
Hi! I am currently a senior in an American high school, currently going through the applications process (US and UK).
First, while Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and many other USA unis are on the CommonApp, MIT is not. Applications, whether on the the CommonApp or on a separate portal are largely the same.
Ivies have two deadlines: the Early Action/Decision deadline, which is November 1st and the Regular Decision (RD) deadline which is sometime in January. Early Decision (ED) means that you receive your offer earlier, but you are contractually obligated to attend that college/uni. On the other hand, Early Action (EA) allows you to receive your offer early, but no contract. Private schools usually have Restrictive Early Action, which, depending on the school, may not allow you to EA to other private schools. ED-ing means you can only ED to one school, everything else must be EA or RD.
The CommonApp has that "personal statement," which is more story-like than the UCAS statement. For example, you might choose to write about a struggle you overcame or a metaphor for your life. Whatever you choose, it must showcase your personality, not your achievements (that's what the activities section is for). Furthermore, Ivies and other top schools require that you write supplementals, which tend to be on the shorter end (Harvard's are about 100 words each) and are more tailored to your major/course and the school rather than your personality.
Beyond essays, you have the recommender end of the application. While UCAS has the reference, the USA has the Counselor Report and the Letters of Recommendation. There is one counselor letter and usually up to two teacher letters (one is required for Ivies). I am not too sure how it looks for students who have finished high school, but you will request these letters within each school on the CommonApp, where the counselor submits your transcripts, letter, and other additional information the school requires. The teacher letter, from my understanding, speaks about your character and your achievements within the classroom. Such letters also must be requested from a pertinent teacher. Assuming you are applying for something STEM-related, you will request your math, science, or other related teachers for recommendations. You The most important step here is to WAIVE YOUR RIGHTS on the FERPA agreement. Schools will not take your recommendations seriously if you did not waive your rights and it will hurt your application. I would speak with your school to figure out who will handle the counselor letter, since each school might handle it differently.
Since you are sitting the SAT, you must send the score to the schools early enough to ensure you meet the Nov 1st/January deadlines. Do not leave the score sends until two weeks before since they take a while to send (unless you want to pay shipping, which is extortionate). SAT scores sends cost 14 dollars each to send, but fee waivers exist, and there are plenty of ways to qualify.
The activities section on the "CommonApp" portion of the application allows you to submit 10 activities, which include paid work, volunteering, and anything else you spend time on outside of school. You are given 150 characters for each description, and you are absolutely allowed to use abbreviations and shorthand to fit everything. You rank these in order of most importance.
Since you have already registered for the SAT, I assume you have a Collegeboard account. That should be the only extraneous website you need to sign up for.
Unlike the UK, you cannot keep track of your offers and decisions on the CommonApp. Colleges will have you make an account on their portal once you submit their application. This is where they will request additional documents, portfolios, and further information, as well as where you will receive your offer. American colleges have varied offer days; the dates should be posted on the websites. By MAY FIRST, please make sure you submit a deposit for ONLY ONE COLLEGE (we do not have insurance unis here).
Some extra tips:
If you have any other questions, feel free to message me!
First, while Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and many other USA unis are on the CommonApp, MIT is not. Applications, whether on the the CommonApp or on a separate portal are largely the same.
Ivies have two deadlines: the Early Action/Decision deadline, which is November 1st and the Regular Decision (RD) deadline which is sometime in January. Early Decision (ED) means that you receive your offer earlier, but you are contractually obligated to attend that college/uni. On the other hand, Early Action (EA) allows you to receive your offer early, but no contract. Private schools usually have Restrictive Early Action, which, depending on the school, may not allow you to EA to other private schools. ED-ing means you can only ED to one school, everything else must be EA or RD.
The CommonApp has that "personal statement," which is more story-like than the UCAS statement. For example, you might choose to write about a struggle you overcame or a metaphor for your life. Whatever you choose, it must showcase your personality, not your achievements (that's what the activities section is for). Furthermore, Ivies and other top schools require that you write supplementals, which tend to be on the shorter end (Harvard's are about 100 words each) and are more tailored to your major/course and the school rather than your personality.
Beyond essays, you have the recommender end of the application. While UCAS has the reference, the USA has the Counselor Report and the Letters of Recommendation. There is one counselor letter and usually up to two teacher letters (one is required for Ivies). I am not too sure how it looks for students who have finished high school, but you will request these letters within each school on the CommonApp, where the counselor submits your transcripts, letter, and other additional information the school requires. The teacher letter, from my understanding, speaks about your character and your achievements within the classroom. Such letters also must be requested from a pertinent teacher. Assuming you are applying for something STEM-related, you will request your math, science, or other related teachers for recommendations. You The most important step here is to WAIVE YOUR RIGHTS on the FERPA agreement. Schools will not take your recommendations seriously if you did not waive your rights and it will hurt your application. I would speak with your school to figure out who will handle the counselor letter, since each school might handle it differently.
Since you are sitting the SAT, you must send the score to the schools early enough to ensure you meet the Nov 1st/January deadlines. Do not leave the score sends until two weeks before since they take a while to send (unless you want to pay shipping, which is extortionate). SAT scores sends cost 14 dollars each to send, but fee waivers exist, and there are plenty of ways to qualify.
The activities section on the "CommonApp" portion of the application allows you to submit 10 activities, which include paid work, volunteering, and anything else you spend time on outside of school. You are given 150 characters for each description, and you are absolutely allowed to use abbreviations and shorthand to fit everything. You rank these in order of most importance.
Since you have already registered for the SAT, I assume you have a Collegeboard account. That should be the only extraneous website you need to sign up for.
Unlike the UK, you cannot keep track of your offers and decisions on the CommonApp. Colleges will have you make an account on their portal once you submit their application. This is where they will request additional documents, portfolios, and further information, as well as where you will receive your offer. American colleges have varied offer days; the dates should be posted on the websites. By MAY FIRST, please make sure you submit a deposit for ONLY ONE COLLEGE (we do not have insurance unis here).
Some extra tips:
•
Create a special email for applications since colleges LOVE to spam email you. Don't make the same mistake as I did by using my personal email to sign up for Collegeboard; my email has never seen a day without 20 spam emails.
•
Use CollegeVine to calculate your personal chances based on extracurriculars and scores.
•
Use CollegeSimply to see various data points for colleges such as the 25th/50th/75th percentiles for the SAT and rankings.
•
KEEP A SPREADSHEET. I have so much data I need to keep track of, such as deadlines, fees, recommendations, and submissions, that I need a visual to look at to stay sane.
•
Do not leave anything for the last minute. The application sites commonly go down near deadline dates and you do not want you application to go to waste.
(edited 1 month ago)
Original post by alwks
Hi! I am currently a senior in an American high school, currently going through the applications process (US and UK).
First, while Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and many other USA unis are on the CommonApp, MIT is not. Applications, whether on the the CommonApp or on a separate portal are largely the same.
Ivies have two deadlines: the Early Action/Decision deadline, which is November 1st and the Regular Decision (RD) deadline which is sometime in January. Early Decision (ED) means that you receive your offer earlier, but you are contractually obligated to attend that college/uni. On the other hand, Early Action (EA) allows you to receive your offer early, but no contract. Private schools usually have Restrictive Early Action, which, depending on the school, may not allow you to EA to other private schools. ED-ing means you can only ED to one school, everything else must be EA or RD.
The CommonApp has that "personal statement," which is more story-like than the UCAS statement. For example, you might choose to write about a struggle you overcame or a metaphor for your life. Whatever you choose, it must showcase your personality, not your achievements (that's what the activities section is for). Furthermore, Ivies and other top schools require that you write supplementals, which tend to be on the shorter end (Harvard's are about 100 words each) and are more tailored to your major/course and the school rather than your personality.
Beyond essays, you have the recommender end of the application. While UCAS has the reference, the USA has the Counselor Report and the Letters of Recommendation. There is one counselor letter and usually up to two teacher letters (one is required for Ivies). I am not too sure how it looks for students who have finished high school, but you will request these letters within each school on the CommonApp, where the counselor submits your transcripts, letter, and other additional information the school requires. The teacher letter, from my understanding, speaks about your character and your achievements within the classroom. Such letters also must be requested from a pertinent teacher. Assuming you are applying for something STEM-related, you will request your math, science, or other related teachers for recommendations. You The most important step here is to WAIVE YOUR RIGHTS on the FERPA agreement. Schools will not take your recommendations seriously if you did not waive your rights and it will hurt your application. I would speak with your school to figure out who will handle the counselor letter, since each school might handle it differently.
Since you are sitting the SAT, you must send the score to the schools early enough to ensure you meet the Nov 1st/January deadlines. Do not leave the score sends until two weeks before since they take a while to send (unless you want to pay shipping, which is extortionate). SAT scores sends cost 14 dollars each to send, but fee waivers exist, and there are plenty of ways to qualify.
The activities section on the "CommonApp" portion of the application allows you to submit 10 activities, which include paid work, volunteering, and anything else you spend time on outside of school. You are given 150 characters for each description, and you are absolutely allowed to use abbreviations and shorthand to fit everything. You rank these in order of most importance.
Since you have already registered for the SAT, I assume you have a Collegeboard account. That should be the only extraneous website you need to sign up for.
Unlike the UK, you cannot keep track of your offers and decisions on the CommonApp. Colleges will have you make an account on their portal once you submit their application. This is where they will request additional documents, portfolios, and further information, as well as where you will receive your offer. American colleges have varied offer days; the dates should be posted on the websites. By MAY FIRST, please make sure you submit a deposit for ONLY ONE COLLEGE (we do not have insurance unis here).
Some extra tips:
If you have any other questions, feel free to message me!
First, while Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and many other USA unis are on the CommonApp, MIT is not. Applications, whether on the the CommonApp or on a separate portal are largely the same.
Ivies have two deadlines: the Early Action/Decision deadline, which is November 1st and the Regular Decision (RD) deadline which is sometime in January. Early Decision (ED) means that you receive your offer earlier, but you are contractually obligated to attend that college/uni. On the other hand, Early Action (EA) allows you to receive your offer early, but no contract. Private schools usually have Restrictive Early Action, which, depending on the school, may not allow you to EA to other private schools. ED-ing means you can only ED to one school, everything else must be EA or RD.
The CommonApp has that "personal statement," which is more story-like than the UCAS statement. For example, you might choose to write about a struggle you overcame or a metaphor for your life. Whatever you choose, it must showcase your personality, not your achievements (that's what the activities section is for). Furthermore, Ivies and other top schools require that you write supplementals, which tend to be on the shorter end (Harvard's are about 100 words each) and are more tailored to your major/course and the school rather than your personality.
Beyond essays, you have the recommender end of the application. While UCAS has the reference, the USA has the Counselor Report and the Letters of Recommendation. There is one counselor letter and usually up to two teacher letters (one is required for Ivies). I am not too sure how it looks for students who have finished high school, but you will request these letters within each school on the CommonApp, where the counselor submits your transcripts, letter, and other additional information the school requires. The teacher letter, from my understanding, speaks about your character and your achievements within the classroom. Such letters also must be requested from a pertinent teacher. Assuming you are applying for something STEM-related, you will request your math, science, or other related teachers for recommendations. You The most important step here is to WAIVE YOUR RIGHTS on the FERPA agreement. Schools will not take your recommendations seriously if you did not waive your rights and it will hurt your application. I would speak with your school to figure out who will handle the counselor letter, since each school might handle it differently.
Since you are sitting the SAT, you must send the score to the schools early enough to ensure you meet the Nov 1st/January deadlines. Do not leave the score sends until two weeks before since they take a while to send (unless you want to pay shipping, which is extortionate). SAT scores sends cost 14 dollars each to send, but fee waivers exist, and there are plenty of ways to qualify.
The activities section on the "CommonApp" portion of the application allows you to submit 10 activities, which include paid work, volunteering, and anything else you spend time on outside of school. You are given 150 characters for each description, and you are absolutely allowed to use abbreviations and shorthand to fit everything. You rank these in order of most importance.
Since you have already registered for the SAT, I assume you have a Collegeboard account. That should be the only extraneous website you need to sign up for.
Unlike the UK, you cannot keep track of your offers and decisions on the CommonApp. Colleges will have you make an account on their portal once you submit their application. This is where they will request additional documents, portfolios, and further information, as well as where you will receive your offer. American colleges have varied offer days; the dates should be posted on the websites. By MAY FIRST, please make sure you submit a deposit for ONLY ONE COLLEGE (we do not have insurance unis here).
Some extra tips:
•
Create a special email for applications since colleges LOVE to spam email you. Don't make the same mistake as I did by using my personal email to sign up for Collegeboard; my email has never seen a day without 20 spam emails.
•
Use CollegeVine to calculate your personal chances based on extracurriculars and scores.
•
Use CollegeSimply to see various data points for colleges such as the 25th/50th/75th percentiles for the SAT and rankings.
•
KEEP A SPREADSHEET. I have so much data I need to keep track of, such as deadlines, fees, recommendations, and submissions, that I need a visual to look at to stay sane.
•
Do not leave anything for the last minute. The application sites commonly go down near deadline dates and you do not want you application to go to waste.
Hello,
I am also a gap year student in the UK planning to apply to US universities (not ivies i think). I am planning to sit the SAT and was wondering how impactful it will be on my applications. Most of the universities i am applying to dont require the SAT but since i dont have that many extracurriculars i was thinking doing it just on the safe side. Could you explain the structure of it if possible. Thanks!
Original post by drakefan
Hello,
I am also a gap year student in the UK planning to apply to US universities (not ivies i think). I am planning to sit the SAT and was wondering how impactful it will be on my applications. Most of the universities i am applying to dont require the SAT but since i dont have that many extracurriculars i was thinking doing it just on the safe side. Could you explain the structure of it if possible. Thanks!
I am also a gap year student in the UK planning to apply to US universities (not ivies i think). I am planning to sit the SAT and was wondering how impactful it will be on my applications. Most of the universities i am applying to dont require the SAT but since i dont have that many extracurriculars i was thinking doing it just on the safe side. Could you explain the structure of it if possible. Thanks!
Having a great SAT score, especially at test-optional schools can really boost your application. It’s not really a placeholder for your activities, but if there is a similar candidate, but you have a higher SAT, you are more likely to be chosen over them. I would recommend you check out CollegeSimply for the schools you’re looking at, and browse the “Academics” tab where you will see the 75th percentile for admitted students. That should be your goal for your score.
Now, about the test. You have 2 sections and 4 modules: Reading/Writing 1 & 2 and Math 1 & 2. The test begins in the R/W1 section, which is the same for everyone. However, after you submit that first 32 minute/27 question module, you will either be given the easier or harder R/W2 module depending on your previous answers. Receiving the easier module caps your score, so it is imperative you do as well as possible on the first half. After that you have a 10 minute break.
For math, each module is 35 minutes long with with 22 questions each. The math section also follows the easier/harder sorting system. The Desmos graphing calculator is built-in, so you should get acquainted with using it and its features.
So the total time is: 64 minutes for 54 questions for Reading/Writing and 70 minutes for 44 questions for Math.
Each question for the R/W will provide you with one paragraph of reading with a question concerning it. The questions could be about vocabulary, claims, etc. The Math section questions do not require much knowledge beyond Algebra 2 and geometry (maybe some basic trigonometry questions like knowing what tangent is).
I would recommend you buy a practice book and run through the tests and some specific types of questions. Also, try to hit your schools’ 75th percentile or more; while it won’t make you stand out, your chances of admission do increase overall.
Original post by alwks
Having a great SAT score, especially at test-optional schools can really boost your application. It’s not really a placeholder for your activities, but if there is a similar candidate, but you have a higher SAT, you are more likely to be chosen over them. I would recommend you check out CollegeSimply for the schools you’re looking at, and browse the “Academics” tab where you will see the 75th percentile for admitted students. That should be your goal for your score.
Now, about the test. You have 2 sections and 4 modules: Reading/Writing 1 & 2 and Math 1 & 2. The test begins in the R/W1 section, which is the same for everyone. However, after you submit that first 32 minute/27 question module, you will either be given the easier or harder R/W2 module depending on your previous answers. Receiving the easier module caps your score, so it is imperative you do as well as possible on the first half. After that you have a 10 minute break.
For math, each module is 35 minutes long with with 22 questions each. The math section also follows the easier/harder sorting system. The Desmos graphing calculator is built-in, so you should get acquainted with using it and its features.
So the total time is: 64 minutes for 54 questions for Reading/Writing and 70 minutes for 44 questions for Math.
Each question for the R/W will provide you with one paragraph of reading with a question concerning it. The questions could be about vocabulary, claims, etc. The Math section questions do not require much knowledge beyond Algebra 2 and geometry (maybe some basic trigonometry questions like knowing what tangent is).
I would recommend you buy a practice book and run through the tests and some specific types of questions. Also, try to hit your schools’ 75th percentile or more; while it won’t make you stand out, your chances of admission do increase overall.
Now, about the test. You have 2 sections and 4 modules: Reading/Writing 1 & 2 and Math 1 & 2. The test begins in the R/W1 section, which is the same for everyone. However, after you submit that first 32 minute/27 question module, you will either be given the easier or harder R/W2 module depending on your previous answers. Receiving the easier module caps your score, so it is imperative you do as well as possible on the first half. After that you have a 10 minute break.
For math, each module is 35 minutes long with with 22 questions each. The math section also follows the easier/harder sorting system. The Desmos graphing calculator is built-in, so you should get acquainted with using it and its features.
So the total time is: 64 minutes for 54 questions for Reading/Writing and 70 minutes for 44 questions for Math.
Each question for the R/W will provide you with one paragraph of reading with a question concerning it. The questions could be about vocabulary, claims, etc. The Math section questions do not require much knowledge beyond Algebra 2 and geometry (maybe some basic trigonometry questions like knowing what tangent is).
I would recommend you buy a practice book and run through the tests and some specific types of questions. Also, try to hit your schools’ 75th percentile or more; while it won’t make you stand out, your chances of admission do increase overall.
You are an absolute godsend thank you, I had the same problem as op but u clarified everything so nicely, thank you!
Original post by urfaverowboat
You are an absolute godsend thank you, I had the same problem as op but u clarified everything so nicely, thank you!
it's no problem! I suffered through this process for too long, and I'd rather y'all have an easier time than I did
Original post by alwks
it's no problem! I suffered through this process for too long, and I'd rather y'all have an easier time than I did
would it be possible if you can see my thread and give me feedback on my possibility of going to the US? https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=7551055
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