<p>and Wannadartmouth: I think I know you too (: But I don’t think you’re guessing who I am correctly since I’m not close to you or anything.</p>
<p>stay in raffles , UWC is not very good at all. Plus you know that Singaporeans are not allowed in UWC unless your parents are foreigners or you have studied overseas.</p>
<p>ACSI is a good school as well, it depends which you like more A lvls or IB, and which you think you will excel better in.</p>
<p>lol, only like about fifteen people got like 3.8 and above though it might increase by like ten this year as a result of the scholars and people realising college applications and so on. I am pretty sure about that. It is just that somehow we are surrounded by people, who gets like 3.9 GPA. <em>cough</em> And no one gets 3.9 easily luh. 3.7, maybe. 3.9, no way, they are those people who appears not to be really studying but really don’t procrastinate and all. </p>
<p>They don’t focus that much on Sec 3, so it’s not too bad. Princeton take out your sec 3 year before calculating your GPA. Plus, all the schools dont even care about sec1 or 2(which i majorly slacked off, heh) since it is below grade 9. So, if you have subjects in sec 2 which majorly pulled down your score(mine was lit :/), your GPA will most likely increase this year. I think, provided that you dont slack off this year. If you actually have trouble subjects last year which you dropped this year, it should be good news for you. </p>
<p>Still, your JC is still the most important years. You can get 4.0 for both sec 3 and 4, and then get Bs for your A level and waste all your effort. </p>
<p>As to A levels or IB, choose A levels if you prefer the old-fashioned, secured way of mugging to the As. Whereas for IB, it is more application-based and so it is not that “muggable” in that sense. If you don’t have an idea about what to choose since you like both/ect, then I suggest you stick with RJC. Reputation (comparable to RJC’s) with the Ivies is something that ACSI hasn’t build up yet(or at least 4 years later).</p>
<p>Anyone going for RMUN?
And I was just wondering, will the school actually let you off school during the whole month of July for prestigious summer programmes, say, TASP, that you applied yourself(not through the school)?</p>
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<p>phantompong: Me too, was admitted to NYU Stern. Not too enthusiastic though. I think we might know each other :p</p>
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Lol I don’t think VJ’s write up was very long either. I took a look at other JCs and they seemed pretty brief too. Are you just being biased? ;)</p>
<p>^ Oh no I heart NJ. Haha. Seriously, no sarcasm intended. But i’m always realistic when accessing it. I looked at HC, RJ and VJ’s. </p>
<p>I didn’t send in my Sec 3 result to either the US or the UK, mostly because in IP your sec 4 result IS taken as equivalent to ur O level so we only had to send that in (my result was relatively good, no Bs or B+s or anything). But i believe a certain level of consistency in your studies can only do you good. If anything, you have solid foundations for the later years and build good relations with teachers, which will go a long way in your IP life. I think it’s BS when people say that you’re supposed to “have loads of fun” and “do loads of CCA stuff to build up your portfolio”. If you don’t make the grades, CCAs count for squat. Sure, fun is one thing, but not everyone can have tons of fun and have a glorious result slip. Know yourself, what you want, and plan your life accordingly. I’m all for the fun, God knows i’ve had more than my fair share of it during my 4 IP years, but if it compromises your study then it’s just not worth it. If you’re in a top JC and aiming for a top uni, study (at least study <b>enough</b>) to get good grades because that’s what you’re supposed to do. Laugh at the “nerdy” and “no life” people all you want (i personally think these ppl - the kids who think they are ‘cool’ - are shallow and frankly, quite pathetic. The fact that you have to make fun of others to feel good abt yourself just shows that you have insecurities.), but at the end of the day they’ll be the one going to Oxbridge and HYPMS when you wipe the chairs at some second/third rate schools.</p>
<p>No idea where that rant came from. I feel argumentative these days.</p>
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<p>I don’t know anyone admitted to NYU Stern. In fact, I only know one person who applied there for grad (which, based on your previous posts, probably isn’t you). So… who are you? (if you know me, you can definitely recognise me by my username, eh.)</p>
<p>BTW VJ’s detailed breakdown is up on the website. Overall a little down from last year, but it’s not a big deal.</p>
<p>I got into Caltech, University of Illinois, UC Irvine, and USC!! :D</p>
<p>^ Congrats. Caltech is really good.</p>
<p>Wannadartmouth yeah I sometimes really do feel that way 
luckily for me my class this year is pretty hardworking, not a slacker class or anything so I’m much more motivated to study. And I’m not sure but I heard scholars don’t do that well in sec 3? The new environment + standard of English tends to pull them down. Or so I heard. Though they do really well in math, chem and physics. My problem subject is math :X awesome right? </p>
<p>Anyone knows what’s the O level COP for ACS(I)? I heard it was around 6 points but I’m not that sure.</p>
<p><quote>Orginally posted by izabel
Wannadartmouth yeah I sometimes really do feel that way luckily for me my class this year is pretty hardworking, not a slacker class or anything so I’m much more motivated to study. And I’m not sure but I heard scholars don’t do that well in sec 3? The new environment + standard of English tends to pull them down. Or so I heard. Though they do really well in math, chem and physics. My problem subject is math :X awesome right?
</quote>
Lucky you. My class has at least six sports DSA students, that makes up one-fifth of the class. They are awesome people, but in terms of results, it is rather self-explainatory. Yes, scholars don’t do that well in Sec 3 due to their english and the new environment, but their results in Sec 4 soar. Afterall, their written english is still pretty good, since for them, it’s the spoken english that hurts. And they don’t simply do well in math, chem and physics, they get like 90 percent. I doubt the math and physics average for the china scholars is anything below a 95, so expect our math medium to increase this year. Plus, my senior mentioned that in Sec 4, when the china scholars get 3.7, they cry, since they expect at least 3.8. <.< Whereas for your Math, you should get tuition, they say it helps a lot(though I honestly think it only works for math and physics and chem).</p>
<p>Cut off point for ACSI is around 4 or 5 points dear. 6 points is before they had half the world’s IB scholars. It’s getting harder everywhere. RJC this year’s cut off point is 2 for science stream and 3 for arts stream. That means they would have to get like all As and take higher Mother Tongue and have really good CCA records. HCJC is no where better, 2 for humanities programme,3 for arts stream and 4 for science.</p>
<p>wow congrats lettersfrompluto! what are you stats like? haha XD</p>
<p>LOL @ the comment on scholars. If the perfect GPA is 4.30 and you get 3.7 (which is like a B+ average) then you should cry. Lol. I’m kidding. Maybe not, I know the sec 3 me did cry because i fell ~1% short of an A+ on a whole bunch of subjects. But hey, i’ve matured majorly though the years haha. In my JC1 year i didn’t even shed a tear when i saw that D for Chem (1st CT) glaring at me from the result slip…</p>
<p>But i agree the china scholars can be very…intense… Almost all of them are hardcore muggers from day one, whereas people like me sidetracked, derailed and never went back. Sigh. Their English (both written and spoken) leaves a lot to be desired though. I’m gonna leave it at that. Their SAT might be relatively high because they studied so blardy hard. Like memorized every word and grammatical rules or something (there are stories). But there are exceptions to everything. This Chinese guy i know is so good at English, his essays ranked among the best i’ve seen ever. China is so taking over the world.</p>
<p>Basically, I’m Singaporean but I moved to California halfway in Sec 4 to start 11th and 12th grade of high school. I applied to colleges as an international student, except for University of California, where I was considered a Californian resident.</p>
<p>Anyway, I was in the IP program in Singapore, so no ‘O’ levels for me.
SAT I: 2210 (660 CR, 750 M, 800 W)
SAT II: 800 Math II; 770 Chemistry
AP: 5 Chemistry; taking 4 APs this year
GPA: I think ~3.8 unweighted</p>
<p>Essays: Either talked about Odyssey of the Mind, my love for lacrosse, how a certain internship has changed my view on Engineering, how I want to find the cure for cancer, or why I want to study Engineering
Counselor Rec: My counselor is the most amazing person in the whole wide world.
Teacher Recs: Very strong.</p>
<p>Extracurriculars: Varsity Lacrosse, Internship at IBN in Singapore, Internship at UC Berkeley, Volunteer at Stanford Hospital, Japanese NHS, Piano, School choir
Awards: Odyssey of the Mind National Champions 2005 to 2007, JLPT Level 2, HSK Intermediate, NYAA Bronze, ABRSM Piano Exam Grade 8 Distinction</p>
<p>I can’t remember the silly format, so that’s it for now…</p>
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Well. Lol. The thing is that our perfect GPA is 4.0. hehe. Sometimes, I stay away from the china scholars. For one simple reason, they cry when their GPA is 3.7/4.0. >.<</p>
<p>phantompong: So you’re definitely going to Stern? I might not, I’m waiting for a couple of Ivy League acceptances/rejections. Also am hoping that I can get into law here… Sorry though, I don’t recognise the nickname. Wasn’t particularly social in secondary school. You might know me though!</p>
<p>I don’t have any China scholars in my class. Thank god hahaha. But wouldn’t they technically epicly fail orals? Orals have the capacity to pull your English up LOADS. My spoken English is pretty strong so I usually get high 4.0s in orals which really pulls up my English. Which is good because my comprehension and compositions aren’t that great. 3.6ish standard only ><
My class is made up of humanities people which is a good thing because they’re all like me but it’s also a bad thing, cos last year I was in a math-ish class which wasn’t that good at humanities hence I’d score wayyy better compared to the rest of them. Big fish in small pond hehe. Now I’m back to being a small fish in a big pond >(
and confused_venese that sort of thing does happen to me like REALLY OFTEN. Missing that 4.0 just by one mark gets so annoying! I guess I’m just unlucky that way lol.</p>
<p>Eh I heard china scholars have some minimum GPA? Not so sure whether it’s true though, but I heard it’s around 3.6? ><
And you know AKL apparently marked the scholars super strictly for the first Graded Assgn for math. They all got around 2-3 marks because they lost a lot of method marks. They were all in tears ><</p>
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<p>Tisch - wouldn’t dream of applying to Stern 
I’ll be going, in the sense that it was my first choice so the outcome of my other applications doesn’t matter. But I’m still applying for scholarships - if I don’t get at least the MDA scholarship, I won’t be able to afford it.</p>
<p>I’d flip, though. I know MDA gave out around 11 overseas last year, so… I’d feel pretty hard done by if my work is good enough for Tisch but not for MDA. (Sad, but true…) Also MDA claims the media industry will grow by 6000 jobs over the next few years so I doubt they’ll be cutting down on the number of scholarships.</p>
<p>Hmm. Which year are you - graduated in 2008? DHP, VIP, VJC? Which CCA?</p>
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My class don’t have any scholars at all. Yeah, they do. But I think they are not so strict in sec3. Sec4 is at least 3.6. Well, that’s because if AKL don’t do that, they will get super high and I guess he want them to write in Singapore’s system since in china, they only need to put down the answer and all. And haven’t they be briefed about how only 5 out of 8 GA is graded? Sigh.</p>
<p>Hehe, and it doesn’t matter if your class is good or not. The colleges see as a level.</p>