Studying in the
Introduction
The US
College/ University system
Different
types of universities
Accreditation
Standardized Tests for Admissions
The Application Process in HCI
Introduction
The application process for US Universities is complicated
by the fact that there is no central authority that processes the applications
- each university conducts its own admissions exercise. It is likely that you
will also need to take a few other tests in addition to your GCE 'A' levels,
such as the
You are generally advised to apply to 6 universities: 1-2
highly competitive universities, 1-2 universities you are confident of gaining
admission to, and 1-2 universities as 'fallback options'.
The US
The words "college" and "university" are
used interchangeably in the
Different types of universities
Many of you would have heard of the term "Ivy
League" universities. Ivy League refers to the most historic and
prestigious universities located in the northeastern part of the
Public or state universities tend to be larger and less
expensive than private universities but this does not mean that the quality of
education is lower. Liberal arts colleges are often overlooked by many
The
The table below gives some well-known examples of various
types of US universities. Note that the list is not exhaustive.
Ivy League
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Harvard |
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Yale |
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Brown |
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Cornell |
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Some
top private non-Ivy League universities |
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Massachusetts
Institute of Technology (MIT) |
Duke |
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California
Institute of Technology (Caltech) |
Carnegie
Mellon |
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Stanford |
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Johns
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Some
well-known public universities |
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Georgia
Institute of Technology |
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Some
liberal arts colleges |
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Accreditation
It is very important to have your
Medicine
Note
that in the
To
find out how to practice as a doctor in
The
list of schools which are recognized by the
Dentistry
The list of schools which are recognized by the
Pharmacy
There are several steps before you can become a practicing
pharmacist after graduating with a degree in Pharmacy from a
Architecture
The Board of Architecture recognizes a Bachelor's of
Architecture degree accredited to the National Architectural Accrediting Board
of the
Law
In
the
For
those who are graduating after 2008, they are eligible to take the Bar
Examination without 2 years of legal experience. They have to pass Part A of
the Bar Exam and complete the revamped PLC as well as passing Part B of the Bar
Exam. Instead of going for the pupilage, they have to complete a 12-month
Training Contract.
Concerning the recent
changes to the requirements for admissions to the Singapore Bar, you can find
more information at the Ministry of Law website:
Accounting
An individual who has passed the final examination in
accountancy from the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants can
practice in
Engineering
You can find more information at the Professional Engineers
Board,
Standardized Tests for Admissions
Applying to college in the
Test of
English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL)
TOEFL stands for the Test of English as a Foreign Language.
Its purpose is to evaluate the English proficiency of people whose native
language is not English. The TOEFL is a computer-based test. Many
Scholastic
Assessment Tests (SAT )
The
The USEIC has the latest
You can also call the RELC Examination Bureau on
Advanced
Placement Program (AP)
An increasing number of students have also been taking the
The Application
Process in HCI
1.
The
Application Form
As mentioned earlier, different universities have different
admission requirements and procedures. Therefore you must read the instructions
on their websites or their application packages for the details. The set of
application forms and procedures described below is a generic one which is
applicable to most
As the application forms are basically meant for American
students, you will find some rather unfamiliar terms, some of which are not
applicable to you. Please read through the following section carefully as it
contains useful information that will help you to complete your application
forms.
A
Basic Application Package consists of
n Student
form
n Secondary
School Report (for Civics Tutor)
n 2-3
Teacher Evaluation Forms (for Subject Tutors)
1.
The Naviance Portal for non-UK
universities Application
This year,
HCI is using the Naviance Portal for students to submit requests for
recommendations for non-UK schools and for teachers to submit school forms for
Common Applications.
Current
students will be able to register for their Naviance Family Connection account
using their NRIC/FIN as their registration code. For ex-students, only male
students who graduated from 2008 onwards can register using their NRIC as the
registration code. If any other ex-student wants to have access to Naviance
Family Connection to request for recommendations, please email Mrs Patsy Soo at
patsysoo@hci.edu.sg to request for a
registration code.
2.
Use of Naviance Family Connection
Students
are to register their choices of US & non-UK colleges online via the
Naviance Family Connection, for the purpose of tracking.
First
deadline for this cycle's recommendations requests, especially for early
applicants: 30 Sep.
Final
Deadline for recommendation requests: 30 Nov (You can set your own
deadline for students requests for recommendations.)
Students
have to update their college choices in Naviance, reflecting all changes
by 31 Dec.
In the Family Connection, students can update their
resume, communicate with their tutors via the Naviance Journal, do research on
US universities, view announcements on university visits in HCI as well as have
access to documents with instructions on the HCI process. Students are advised
to log into Family Connection regularly to get updates on universities
application process.
Ex-students are advised to log into
the emb by end of August to get updates on the HCI process of handling
university applications and the guide to using Naviance Family Connection. For
emb login, students who graduated before 2009 are login with their IC no. For
students who graduated in 2009, they can log into the emb with their last login
password.
3. Informing your tutors the list of schools you are applying to and types
of schools
As
Naviance does not provide information to your tutors which schools require/do
not require teacher's recommendation, you are advised to give an Information Sheet to each of your
teacher referees, listing the
universities that require recommendations, the courses and the application
deadlines as well as the types of forms used. The softcopy of the Information
Sheet template can be found in the university apps document in your document
library in Naviance Family Connection.
When you ask your teachers to write references for you, be
polite. They are doing you a favour. Your teachers are very busy in Term 4, so
give them sufficient time to write their reference letters for you. Many teachers are also not in school in
November due to invigilation and in December as it is the school vacation.
Please inform them in advance and give them the paper forms (if any) as soon as
possible if you need them to write reference letters for you. Do not leave your
paper forms on their tables without informing them. You run the risk of missing
the deadline if they do not come back to school during the school vacation.
Types of Schools
(A)
Category
1: Common Application Schools
Students will submit request for recommendations via Family
Connection. Tutors will fill in the Common App forms. The Education and Career
Guidance Unit will be responsible for upload the school profile and result
slips as well as submitting the completed forms online.
The Common Application Forms consist of
1.
Student Personal Particulars Form
2. School forms to be filled in by
(i) The Civics Tutor
Secondary School Report (for Civics
Tutor)
International Supplement
Final Year Report (to be sent with the
A level results)
Early Decision Agreement (for early
decision application)
(ii) The Subject Tutors
Teacher Evaluation Form
(B)
Category
2 Schools: Non Common Application Schools with forms that can be sent
electronically
Naviance does not have online forms
for Non Common Application Schools. If you are applying to a non-common application
school which is a Naviance destination, please submit the paper school form,
with personal particulars filled in and also waived your rights to access the
recommendation, to your tutor.
Your tutor will fill in the rest of
the form and have it scanned and uploaded into Naviance for submission.
(C) Category 3 Schools:
Schools that only require transcripts/result slips (no recommendations needed)
Some of these schools accept
transcripts via Naviance and some of these schools are not Naviance
destinations.
If the school is a Naviance
destination, please submit a transcript request in your Family Connection
account to inform the ECG unit to process and send it via Naviance.
If the school is NOT a Naviance
destination, please bring along photocopies of the result slips with true
copies for authentication to college reception for certification. At the
college reception, the photocopies will be sealed in the school envelope. Then,
you may attached the postage and put down the university's address before mailing
it off yourself.
(D) Category 4 Schools:
Non Common Application Schools that can only receive forms by post
For these type of schools, students
are required to submit an envelope with address and stamps, containing the
school forms (and school profile with certified copies of the result slips for
the civics tutors envelope), to every teacher writing their recommendations.
4.
Submission of Result Slips/Transcripts
To upload
result slips into online forms, it is imperative that students/ex-students should
submit to HCI a set of photocopies of their results from their last four years
of schooling. Moreover, a university fails to receive an applicant's result slips after the
application deadline and request the applicant's high school to fax or email
over. Results slips to be
submitted include photocopies of Sec 3 and 4 results/ 'O' level results, PW
results, JC1 Overall results, Preliminary Exam
results, A level results (if released already), CCA
certificate, IP certificate
(optional) and HCI diploma (if applicable).
Please bring along true copies of your result slips for
authentication when you submit the photocopies to the college reception.
Timeline for submission of
result slips
1 Oct: Submit 1
set of transcripts to College Reception by today (Early applications).
15 Oct: Submit 1
set of transcripts to College Reception by today (Regular applications).
Do NOT submit additional documents to
the college reception because online forms have a storage limit for uploading
files.
5. Submission of HCI Ethical
Undertaking
As of this year, all Hwa Chong
students, including ex-students, who are applying to other universities will be
required to sign an ethical undertaking.
It is a reflection of your understanding of the ethical implications of
your actions when you make your university applications. General rule of thumb: you may not hold a
place (i.e. reserve a place for future enrolment) and apply to any other school
under the sun in the following application year. The HCI Ethical Undertaking is available in
the shared document folder in Naviance Family Connection or in the emb. Please
submit the Ethical Undertaking to the ECG centre before you request for your
teacher's reference.
6.
Filling in the Forms
(A) Student Form
This is the form where you fill in all
your personal particulars and submit to the university yourself.
Remember to add the IDD code for
The
Useful
Information:
§
Last name =
surname/family name, first name = given name
Make sure that you fill in your name as it appears on
your passport or IC. The examples below illustrate how to fill in your first,
middle and last name.
|
First Name |
Middle Name |
Last Name |
|
Ming Soon |
|
Tan |
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John |
Ming Soon |
Tan |
|
Xiang |
|
Chen |
§
Social Security
Number: N. A.
§
Email Address:
Choose a sensible one.
§
HCI CEEB Code:
687210
§
Activities:
Attaching your CCA certificate or a comprehensive list of your CCAs may be
helpful.
§
Visa: F1
§
Grade 9, 10, 11,
12 are equivalent to Sec 3 and 4, JC 1 and 2 respectively
§
Counselor: Your
civics tutors name
The "teacher counselor" or the "guidance
counselor" will be your civics tutor. If the form asks for
"Position", you can write "Civics Tutor". For his / her
phone and fax numbers, you can give the school's phone and fax number - (65)
64683956 and (65) 64674366 respectively. You can cross out the section on
ACT since you would probably have taken
(B) Your teacher reference forms (secondary school
report, teacher evaluation form etc )
§
Fill in your
tutors name and the CEEB code 687210
§
Address= HCI
address, fax no. = school fax no.
§
Contact no. =
your tutors office no. or hp no.
§
Sign to waive
your rights to access the reference, universities prefer more candid references
§
Put each
university application form into an envelope, labeled with your name and the
university.
The actual number of teacher references depends on the respective universities. A few of them
might not even require teacher references.
Suggested Timeline
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Time |
Activity |
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Jan - Jul |
·
Take your ·
Do research about US universities to determine the ones
that you are interested in and would like to apply to. · Talk to representatives from different overseas universities when they visit Hwa Chong and set up information booths outside the Education & Career Guidance room. ·
Prepare for and take the AP Exams (in May) if you wish to
do so. |
|
Aug |
·
Identify the universities that you plan to apply to. ·
Register for any tests |
|
Sep |
·
Request civics
tutor / subject tutors to write references, providing them with the appropriate
forms and (stamped and properly addressed) envelopes. |
|
Oct |
·
4 Oct (Early)/15 Oct (Regular):
Submit 1 set of transcripts to College Reception by today
Register on Naviance all college choices.
Submit Information Sheet for Early application schools ( Submit 1 set of transcripts to College Reception by today.
Submission of
Ethical Undertaking. ·
22 Oct: Submit
Info Sheet listing colleges that require recommendations to your tutors. |
|
Nov |
·
1 15 Nov: Universities'
deadline for Early Action and Early Decision applications. ·
1 Nov: Final Deadline
for updating
application list on Naviance and submission of Information Sheet to tutors
with finalised list of college choices that require recommendations . (This includes non-US, non-UK schools.) ·
30 Nov:
Deadline for passing
Category 4 school forms to tutors to be sent by post.
Regular
Decision for |
|
Dec - Jan |
·
By 15 Dec : -
Early application results will be announced. -
Update status on Naviance.
Then your RD school docs will be sent off to your RD schools. -
Deadline for sending Common App school forms via Naviance
for all applications with 31 Dec or 1 Jan deadlines ·
31 Dec: Universities'
deadline for regular admission applications. |
|
Mar |
·
Release of GCE 'A' level examinations results. ·
Leave a copy with ECG Centre on the day of the release of
A level results. For
Common App form, ECG will submit the results with the Final Report For
Paper forms, pass certified photocopies of results slip in the envelope with
stamps and address to your CTs to be mailed to the universities. |
|
Apr |
· Results of
regular admission applications known. |
|
1 May |
· Deadline for
reply to university (for successful applicants). |
After you have accepted a US
university offer, the university may ask for a hard
copy of your A level results. Remember to find out how the university wants
your GCE A level results to be sent to them. Some of them would accept certified
photocopies of results slip of the A level results mailed to them by the
applicants or mailed strictly from the school. The Common App schools would
prefer the A level result slip to be sent along with the Final Report.
For
the University of California (e.g UCLA, UC Berkeley), the University must
receive an official academic record directly from each institution you
attended, beginning with grade nine and up to and including the school or
college/university you currently attend. In this particular case, you can apply
for a Statement of Results for your O level or A level at the MOE Customer
Service Centre personally. The Statement
of Results costs S$10.00 per copy. Candidates may also request for their
Statement of Results to be sent by mail. A postage fee of S$2.00 (per address)
or S$5.00 (per address) is chargeable for a local address or an overseas
address.
FAQs
1. Early
Action/ Early Decision
Most
Early Decision
Applicants who choose the Early Decision option and are
successful in their application must enroll in the university. Early decision
is a contract between you and the university. It means you agree that if the college accepts you, you'll withdraw
all other college applications and attend the early decision college. Because
of this commitment, you can apply Early Decision to only one college. Failure
to do so can result in punitive measures such as being blacklisted by the
universities. Do not apply for early decision if
you want the chance to compare aid packages.
Early Action
Applicants who choose the Early Action option are not
obliged to enroll in the university if they are successful in their
application. The deadline for them to give a reply to the university is the
same as other successful applicants under the regular admission scheme (usually
around 1st May). Applicants can still apply to other universities
via the regular admission scheme even if they have been admitted via the Early
Action admission scheme.
Restrictive Early Action
Another non-binding
option offered by some colleges. This
plan works the same way as other early action plans, but candidates may be
restricted from applying early (either early action or early decision) to any
other school. The student can still apply to other schools under regular
admissions and are not required to give his final answer of acceptance until
the regular decision deadline.
Check out this chart on the differences among the different
types of early options:
The advantage of choosing the Early Action or the Early
Decision option is that applicants will be informed of the outcome of their
applications in mid-December, very much earlier than those who apply under the
regular admission scheme (usually in April). However, note that the deadline
for submission of all application forms is earlier for those who choose the
Early Action or Early Decision option usually 1st November to 15th
November, whereas the deadline for the regular admission scheme is usually in
January. Your GCE 'A' level examinations are in November. You might not want to
be distracted during this period of time.
Furthermore, many universities (such as Princeton, Harvard and
For more information on the advantages of applying early,
refer to
http://www.nacacnet.org/MemberPortal/News/StepsNewsletter/early_decision.htm
2.
Financial assistance
There are mainly two types of financial aid:
gift aid (grants and scholarships in which no repayment is required) and
self-help aid (loans and work). For grants and scholarships, they may be
need-based or merit-based or need-based and merit-based.
Need-based
Grants
Need-based
grants are given to students who can demonstrate that they are qualified to
attend a certain university but cannot afford to go there.
Merit-based
Grants
Merit-based
grants or scholarships may be given to students who have special talents or
achievements in some area (such as academics, sports, music, or leadership).
However, these scholarships are very competitive and very few in number. You
will stand a better chance of getting a scholarship from the
Need-blind
Schools
Under
need-blind admissions, the school will make an offer of admission to a student
without considering the student's financial situation. If you are admitted, these
schools will award you sufficient financial aid to attend. However, most
List of schools that
are need-blind to international students: Harvard University, Yale University,
Princeton University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
3. National
Service
Most
4 USEIC
To find out more about studying in the
#01-03 Podium A,
You may also wish to contact them:
Tel: 6226 6996
Fax: 6223 4533
Email : inquiry@useic.org
The USEIC also holds introductory sessions to the US
University system.
The details are as follows:
Your first step in learning about
Where: USEIC,
Fees: Free
Topics: Application procedure and
deadlines; Choosing the appropriate school; Testing information; Types of
schools, USEIC services
Registration: Call 6223-4566 to request a speaker
Useful websites
The College Board is the body that administers the
This website allows you to do a customized search for
information on scholarships and universities.
3.
http://www.collegesintheusa.com/
You can learn about education in
the
This website has information on
You can find information ranging from visa information,
travel advice to campus selection at this website.
6.
www.internationalstudent.com/study_usa/financing
Internationalstudent.com provides a list of some US
universities that offer scholarships to international students.
7.
Websites on
Financial Aid:
www.internationalscholarships.com
Internationalscholarships.com is another search engine for
scholarship and financial aid for international students.
http://www.edupass.org/finaid/
This site presents more information about financial aid for
international students than any other publication.
IEFA (International Financial Aid)
and College Scholarship Search is the premier resource for financial aid,
college scholarship and grant information for US and international students
wishing to study abroad. At this site, you will find the most comprehensive
college scholarship search and grant listings plus international student loan
programs and other information to promote study abroad.
http://igfas.wiki.zoho.com/USA.html
(The Incomplete Guide to Financial Aid for Singaporeans)
http://www.finaid.org/ (For glossary and FAQ)
http://www.cois.org/uploaded/documents/HigherEd/CIS_HE_Aid_Table_2008-2009_USA_.xls
(To compare amounts for FA for 2009)