Co ollege e Co ouns selin ng N News slette er

S U M M E R
2 0 1 3
the
Co
ollegee Co
ounsselin
ng N
Newssletteer
From thee American
n School of
o Milan C
College Co
ounseling Office
Su
ummeer is
fin
nally here!
h
No
ow that seco
ond term is almost
oveer and final examinatio
ons are
herre, it is timee to make pllans for a
pro
oductive sum
mmer and to
t sort out
all of the dead
dlines for neext fall.
Tw
wo months away
a
from school is
the perfect opp
portunity to
o prepare
for the comingg year and look
l
for
collleges of inteerest.
Additionally, students sh
hould sign
up for any SA
AT tests nextt fall.
Co
ongrattulatio
ons A
ASM C
Class
of 22013!
The Am
merican Sch
hool of Milaan College C
Counseling Office
congrattulates our sseniors, the class of 201
13, for their hard work
over the last two yyears in the IIB program – and for th
he last four
years of high schoo
ol. Their haard work hass paid off an
nd we wish
them th
he best of lu
uck as they lleave to starrt the next ch
hapter in
their accademic livees. (See page 4 for tips o
on preparin
ng for
universsity!)
Savve the Daate for Teests Nextt Fall!
SAT
PSAT/
/NMSQT
ACT
SAT
5 October 2013
8:00 – 12
2:45
SAT reaasoning and
subject tests.
t
16 Octob
ber 2013
9:15 – 12
2:10
26 Octo
ober 2013
8.00 - 122.30
2 Novem
mber 2013
8.30 - 12
2.30
ASM Stu
udents onlyy
ACT Asssessment
SAT Reeasoning &
Subject tests
A
ASM COLL
LEGE NEW
WSLETTER
R
SUMM
MER 2013
JJuniorrs’ Sum
mmer
Eleventh ggrade is alm
most over, b
but there’s sstill a lot
more to gget done! H
Here are som
me things to
o think
about and
d work on o
over the sum
mmer betweeen 11th
and
d 12th gradee:
Collegee Open D
Days
Summer is a great tim
me to visit co
olleges of intterest and
to decide w
where to app
ply – especially in the U
UK, where
application
ns are due ass early as 15
5 October (ffor
Cambridgee or Oxford or medicinee).
Many univversities hostt a number of open day
ys, when
prospectivee high schoo
ol students ccan visit thee school
and get a feeel for the caampus, sizee, culture, an
nd courses.
It is importtant to know
w not just ab
bout the acaademics at
a universityy, but also aabout the atm
mosphere th
here.
Colleges ussually post tthe dates of these days u
under the
“prospectivve students”” or “visit” ssections of ttheir main
websites. A
Also, Ms. Caarreras has eemail all Ju
unior
parents a liist of UK un
niversity opeen days!
Colleege Essaays
Alll juniors sho
ould already
y have a rou
ugh draft off their perso
onal statemeents for theiir college ap
pplications,
butt summer is
i a great tiime to imp
prove that draft
d
and to
o refine thee details forr the appliccation. The
perrsonal statem
ment is very
y importantt, especially
y for US appplications w
where moree than scorees are taken
into account; a great essaay can makee an applicaation stand out from alll the otherss, while a m
mediocre or
w blend into
i
the cro
owd. UK essays
e
are aalso a vitall part to th
he UCAS aapplication,
clicché essay will
alth
hough they
y are very diifferent to that of US applications
a
s in structurre and conttent. The UK personal
staatement shou
uld be 4,000
0 words and
d should be 70% acadeemic and 300% personall. It should include the
reaasons for ap
pplying to th
he course off choice, witth referencee to possiblee further am
mbitions in tthat field of
stu
udy; what makes
m
the student
s
a good
g
candid
date for accceptance, in
ncluding accademic an
nd personal
ach
hievements as well as relevant
r
skillls and know
wledge; and
d important academic eexperiences.. The essay
willl be read by
y a professo
or from the department
d
to which th
he student aapplies to, so detailed in
nformation
abo
out what th
he student has learned and
a why thaat makes th
he course off choice app
peal to them
m should be
inccluded. Therre is no prompt for thiss essay, mak
king it vary greatly from
m the US peersonal stateement – for
wh
hich the app
plicant has a choice of five
f
promptts. The US ppersonal staatement is aalso far morre personal,
thee admission
ns department – who will
w be readiing the essaay – want to
o know abo
out the app
plicant on a
mo
ore individu
ual level. Th
he Common App promp
pts are inclu
uded on the next page.
2
ASM COLL
LEGE NEW
WSLETTER
R
SUMM
MER 2013
3
A
ASM COLL
LEGE NEW
WSLETTER
R
SUMM
MER 2013
Senio
ors’ Su
ummeer
Are you ready
r
for collegee?
Sch
hool is overr, IB exams are finally done,
d
and
d our seniorrs have grad
duated. Now
w there
is ffinally time to relax and
d prepare fo
or the
nex
xt chapter in
n academic life: collegee; and
theere sure is a lot to prepa
are for!
Go
oing away to
o study and leaving hom
me for
thee first time iss a scary exp
perience an
nd
beiing prepared
d will make it much eassier,
allo
owing every
yone to relax
x and have fun
wh
hile meetingg new peoplee and seeingg new
plaaces.
So what shoulld seniors do
o to get read
dy?
Firrst there is th
he issue of housing:
h
stu
udents
sho
ould make sure
s
that theeir residencee
situ
uation is sorrted as early
y as possiblee to
avo
oid stress neext Septemb
ber.
If students kknow what kind of
accommod
dation they’lll have next year, necesssary then
packing willl be made m
much easierr. Students sshould
check whatt is availablee at their accommodatiion before
going out aand buying tthings. Ofteen student housing
offers appliiances and ffurniture, an
nd occasionally
bedding.
Also, in thee situation o
of having ro
oommates, m
make sure
that not eveeryone buys tthe same thiings. After aall, no one
wants to en
nd up with ffour blenderrs in one hou
use! In
addition to this, studen
nts should fi
find out if th
hey have
catered acccommodatio
on or if they
y need to sett up a
monthly bu
udget for foo
od.
For a moree complete llist of thingss to pack forr college,
visit:
http://ww
ww.thestudeentroom.co.uk/
wiki/Whaat_To_Takee_To_Univeersity
G
Goo
od L
Lucck
Seenio
ors!
4
A
ASM COLL
LEGE NEW
WSLETTER
R
SUMM
MER 2013
Cho
oosingg You
ur Colllege C
Courses:
T
There are so many
y college courses to
t choosee from, h
how do y
you know
w which
one is right
r
for yyou?
Th
here are literrally thousaands of posssible coursess
to choose from
m when app
plying to un
niversity, butt
thankfully theere are many
y ways to fiind the one
f
thing yo
ou should
that’s right for you. The first
think about iss the career that you wiish to pursuee
d, then you
in the future; if you’re stiill undecided
sh
hould think about
a
which
h field of stu
udy interestss
yo
ou the most.. After you’v
ve chosen a main field,,
letts say law ass an examplle, you shou
uld then
ressearch areass of that sub
bject to refin
ne your
ch
hoice. You might
m
want to look at in
nternationall
law
w or civil rigghts or crim
minal law. After
A
you’ve
fou
und a couplle that interest you, you
u can enter
them into the search secttions of Nav
viance (US))
(httpps://connecction.navian
nce.com/fam
milyconn
nection/, cliick on “colleege search” under
the ““pages sectio
on”) or UCAS for UK schools
(httpp://search.u
ucas.com/). The search
h tools
will ggive you infformation o
on schools th
hat have
thosee courses avvailable, and
d will even
recom
mmend sim
milar coursess to consider.
Naviiance even llets you com
mpare two sschools of
choicce, showingg informatio
on about diffferent
aspeccts of the scchools. Thiss is importan
nt because
choo
osing the rigght course w
will lead you
u to
findiing a collegee that suits y
your academ
mic needs
and tthen you can
n think abou
ut things lik
ke size,
locattion, and feeel of the cam
mpus!
5
A
ASM COLL
LEGE NEW
WSLETTER
R
Hav
ve a greaat
sum
mmerr!
The ASM College
C
coun
nseling officce wishes alll students, tteachers,
and parentss a productiv
ve and relax
xing summeer! Juniors, d
don’t
forget to use the time off
o to visit un
niversities and
a work on
n your
personal staatement for your appliccations next year. Fresh
hmen
and sophom
mores, it’s never
n
too earrly to think about
colleges thaat might app
peal to you!
Seniors, GO
OOD LUCK
K AT
COLLEGE
E NEXT YE
EAR!!!
See you
y neext
year!
y
T
The ASM College
C
Counseling Office.
A warm thanks to th
he college counseling
c
g
C
CAS studen
nt for all her
h help th
his year!
SUMM
MER 2013