CHINESE: Please HELP!

[xokandykyssesox]

<p>I'm chinese and I went to highschool in the states, and next year I'll be going to Wellesley... (it's not harvard, but hey, Hilary Clinton went there, and if its good enough for her its should be good enough for me) </p>

<p>But anyways, I have a cousin in china, and she wants to come here for college. she will be starting highschool in the fall, and she turns 14 in May. She was thinking of going to Wellesley since if I go there it might help her chances, but I want her to go to a better school. I feel kind of bad that I didn't get in Princeton, Yale, Stanford... but now that I have a little bit of experience with the essays and SAT and stuff, I want to help her.</p>

<p>I am completely lost on how the international system works. I heard of

A levels, IB

but I don't really know what they are and how one takes them or go about preparing for them... she is in Xian, Shaanxi, China right now attending the best middle school and presumably after her middle school exams the best highschool in the city. I think it would be easier if she was from Beijing, but that issue cannot be helped. I really need some help and advise on the international process. I can help her with the SAT and essay and such, but I don't know what else to guide her on. I know you need some extracurricular and humanity volunteer work, so I'll tell her that, but academics or anything else I am missing I am compeletely lost on, so PLEASE! any help would be appreciated... THANX!</p>

[vanillaice]

<p>i'm a chinese too but i'm applying from singapore since i'm studying here. the thing about internationals is that you have to be really really good in order to compete with americans. good english is a plus, and you need to have fantastic grades in other areas as well. also, ask your cousin if she has financial needs. if she does, like me, then she needs to work even harder. international fin aid and scholarship are hard to get, really really hard. in china, i know it's damn hard to do any extracurricular work but well, she needs to try. competitions would be good i guess. she must know how to choose her schools as well. you can't be too picky, since you're at a disadvantage from the beginning. i know for a fact because well, been there, done that and believe me i've had my share of rejections and waitlists.
congrats on your admission to wellesley! i was going to apply, but i decided i really cannot stand an all-girls school again because i was in one in singapore. not fun, i can tell you that. i'm going to lake forest, this small, generous LAC which gave me full tuition scholarship. it's in chicago. did you get any financial help?</p>

[CC_Admin]

<p>cmon intls always have this little ivy obsession... wellesley is an excellent school and i think academically its up there with the ivies really. as for ALs or IBs, they're not really necessary if your cousin is already doin that u prep exam now, but she does need to take the SAT. there's a wesleyan freeman asian scholarship that provides 2 students from China each yr with everything, rangin from tuition, room, board to books and even monthly stipend. so think abt that.</p>

[swtswtdreams]

<p>vanilaice: yeah hehe its easier for me since i went to school here in the states and i got an almost full scholarship that includes room and board also, so i have to pay for books and "personal expense"... i think that means toothbrush, clothe...</p>

<p>(different screenname for xokandykyssesox)</p>

[zetsui]

<p>"but I want her to go to a better school." define better</p>

[vanillaice]

<p>xokandykyssesox: o gosh that's awesome!! i wish they also covered my accommodation expenses..but oh well, i'm satisfied. i'm not even supposed to go to college now. bit early you see, i only took my O levels. haven't taken A levels yet which is required, usually.
have you ever been to a girls' school before? i thought it'd be like a convent and stuff, with ladies and all. boy was i wrong...you tend to forget that you're a girl in a girls' school. it gets a bit crazy after the initial shock of so many girls and no guys.</p>

[xokandykyssesox]

<p>hehe i've never been to an all girls school, and my parents really wanted me to visit because they don't think i can actually handle it, but i didnt see a need to visit. i dont really care if it was an all girls school as long as i get a really good education, and i thought wellesley is a lot better than UMich, which is where they want to make me go.</p>

[aroundthecorner]

<p>Her English will need to be very strong. My cousin immigrated here, and her English was not as strong as it should have been and that pushed her back a few years in high school and in college. </p>

<p>I think like all kids in the US, she'll need to find a college that's not necessarily "better" then yours, but one that fits her needs. I know my cousin took the TOEFL instead of the SATs. </p>

<p>Check the intl requirements for where she wants to go and call the colleges, I'm sure that'll have better advice. And see if they can get you in contact with an intl student there, who could give you personal advice.</p>

[xokandykyssesox]

<p>wellesley is a really conservative school, especially for a LAC and a girls school... i think u are thinking of mount hoyolok or smith... mainly smith gives the allgirlschool the bad name</p>

[vanillaice]

<p>there are relatively more lesbians in a girls school i guess...in my previous school, you see a lot of girls who look totally like guys apart from the uniform skirt they're wearing.scary...some are actually quite cute,if they were guys of course. don't get me wrong. i don't get that kind of tendency at all.</p>

[Fallinwater0328]

<p>I got an invitation from Wellesley, all I know about this school is came from<<mona lisa's="" smile="">>, it's a great movie.</mona></p>

[xokandykyssesox]

<p>some really famous women graduated from wellesley</p>

<ul>
<li>hilary clinton</li>
<li>madeline albright (secretary of state for clinton - first women secretary of state)</li>
<li>song mei ling who lived to be like a billion years old and then died</li>
</ul>

[thehammerspake]

<p>so? what's your point, xokandykyssesox?</p>

[thehammerspake]

<p>btw i don't think those women are as famous as "really famouos". I think Britney Spears, Jennifer Lopez, and Marie Curie should really be in the category of being "really famous". And so, if you want to be really famous, you either don't go to any college or become a supergenius.</p>

<p>p.s. God, please don't take offense. I am going to get banned if I have another TOS violation! Pelase!</p>

[Fallinwater0328]

<p>No matter how famous those Wellesley graduates are, they are still Mrs. or Madame so and so.</p>

[xokandykyssesox]

<p>haha, funny thehammerspake, i wont report u.. but anyways, i only said that as a response to fallingwater's comment on not knowing anything about the school other than what's in the movie</p>

<p>okay, so maybe a little more history</p>

<p>wellesley belongs to a group of schools called the seven sisters, originally 7 schools that were created in parallel to the ivies, or ancient eight. each school was built near an ivy, and it specialized in education for women. i think they were: wellesley, vassar, barnard, redcliffe... i cant name anymore, but anyways, barnard joined with columbia and redcliffe became part of harvard. when yale offered to join with vassar, vassar disagreed and became independent co-ed. i think there are only 2 or 3 of the 7 remaining still all women, and wellesley is u could say, the leader or best one out of them. seven sisters has really close ties with the ivies, and a lot of social events occur between them; dances, parties, celebrations... especially during the old days, when supposidly, wellesley girls go "fish" for soontobe prestigious husbands from ivies like in the movie mona lisa smile. now days, its a lot more liberal, but it is still by far one of the most conservative schools, and also one of most sober school.</p>

[williamzhang]

<p>Applying from mainland is extremely difficult. One problem with your cousin is that even she attends the best high school in Xi'an, it's still non-comparable to schools in big eastern cities in terms of reputation and prestige among the admission officers eye. This year, more than half of the Ivy league acceptances fall in Shanghai (Shanghai Foreign Language school and Fudan University High School alone have produced 12 ivy individuals). And famous schools like Yale, Dartmouth, Bowdoin, Amherst, Williams, Middlebury, Duke, UChicago frequent Shanghai and Beijing. Such a tendency will be more drastic for the following years. As for SAT, inland students are placed on disadvantage of not being able to collect as much useful information as possible. So most of your part lies in how to help her prepare a wonderful application, the only thing to make her stand out.</p>