<p>Hi all, a brit here. From this forum, (and I’m sorry if I miss anyone) Poppy Atlas, Jonny Morrison and stuffzhappenin got to interview stage. However, sadly I was the only one to get a place. I have a place at LPC, but no scholarship. Which means I will probably also have to decline. Unless anyone has any knowledge of how to raise £40000 in 3-4months? I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news haha</p>
<p>Oops, I got to interview stage as well, obviously haha</p>
<p>Applesauce21, I am so sorry you didn’t get a scholarship! My son was offered a non-scholarship place at AC or CR last year but we couldn’t do it. He’s trying again for a scholarship this year. Can you reapply?</p>
<p>I’m from British Columbia. I’m not quite sure how to explain, so I won’t, but I’m in a unique situation so my chances are a little bit different than the average student. We’ll see how things end up! The only possible colleges for me are Pearson and Mahindra in India</p>
<p>Firstly, I’m so sorry Poppy Atlas, Jonny Morrison and stuffzhappenin are not offered any place; but well done for getting the interview. Your essays, academic reference and community reference are indications that you are very good candidates. The UWC ethos and ideals are admirable but there are flaws in the execution. You were judged (at times) by a group of young adult volunteers during selection day; not educationist or professionals. It is very upsetting but their judgement is not a true indication of your capability and potential. Also, the selection process was not as fair and transparent as we were made to believe. Apparently, they looked at the nominee list again after the financial assessment.</p>
<p>applesauce21, congratulations on getting a place at LPCUWC. They must have had the confidence that your family can afford the fees. Your best bet is to persuade your parents. Based on our income, my child would have been entitled to a very big scholarship based on affordability. Unfortunately, they decided to reject my child at their final decision. We know people who are very closely involved with LPCUWC and are of the opinion that my child would be a very good match for the environment there. I was persuaded to let my child apply (which was the biggest mistake I made this decade). Because we were very confident after the selection day, we managed to raise more than twenty thousand pounds in the last few days (before the rejection) from generous sponsorships. You may want to phone up Ms. B in the Atlantic College Admission department or her assistant, Ms. H, for information on fundraising.</p>
<p>The true environment in the college may not be as friendly and wonderful as expected. My child (and I believe many others) was very impressed with the experience at the selection day. My child kept talking about the great friendly social environment that represents what is in every UWC college. The national committees do try to select the candidates they think best fit in a particular college but there are still tensions between the students. There are only a few UWC current students/alumni who are willing to voice this problem (or any other problems) but they do exist. Many of the students are very rich and their parents are willing to pay the fees in the hope that their children will make “connections” with other very rich students.</p>
<p>The other thing to consider is your future vocation. At the interview, my child was told that she will need 42 points in IB if she wants to study medicine in the UK. That is enough to make anyone think twice about IB.</p>
<p>Best of luck to the rest of you.</p>
<p>Oh, so do you have better chances than other applicants? Anyways, good luck, I hope you get in! It turns out the scholarships for Ontarians are only for Pearson, which is a little disappointing for me as I wanted to go to Mahindra</p>
<p>Dear DoctorY, </p>
<p>Thank you very much for your congratulations, and also for voicing problems! I also believe that the best thing for UWCs is for people, to…well, complain! If no one says anything, then the flaws in their very good plan will never get fixed, and instead just get worse. </p>
<p>On interview day, my mum was horrified that there were no teachers there, or any one slightly senior. I think she felt that it was bizarre for teachers to have no role in accepting children into a school, no matter how special a school - and I must admit I agree. It all felt quite odd, although fun that the selection day was run by people who were only three years older than myself in some cases. They were bright, kind and lovely individuals, but they held the fate of many many students in their hand. Is that right? Maybe I’m not the one to judge, but it left me feeling insecure about the selection process.</p>
<p>Furthermore, you’re right - transparency is non existent! haha. We were told that there was a points system, where the students who scored the most points got priority for scholarship money, but that it was still done on a sliding scale depending in parents income. However this was only mentioned in brief and in passing, not something stated from the beginning, or locatable on their website. And I did actually mention this in my application. I believe the turn of phrase I used was “Don’t UWCs subvert their own desire to bring education to the world by only offering it to a select few?”. Furthermore, that select few must have first heard of it! The idea of the best kept secret in 6th Form education seemed dreamy to me at first, but I now realise that they can’t possibly expect many people who most need this opportunity to hear about it if it is only spread through word of mouth.</p>
<p>You raised £20,000?? That’s incredible! And if you don’t mind my directness (I am in a similar position) could you specifically tell me how you did it and where the money was from? For instance, the website of the sponsors. How, what Ms. B and Ms. H said that helped you?</p>
<p>As for harmony among the students, I heard a rather disheartening report that in Africa, the fee paying non-UWC students don’t mix with the UWCers since they view them as “naive and idealistic”. Furthermore, you have to question the charitable work being done. How does visiting children who have AIDs help them? You shake their hand, and walk away. Plus, rather amusingly one woman on my day (at the Q and A, she was a parent) said that “The girls would love the baby turtle orphanage in Costa Rica, where they let loads of baby turtles into the ocean!”. What she didn’t mention, was the reason baby turtles are so carefully cultivated: protein. Turtle meat is a good source of protein and income for local fishermen, and so the babies are precious to the locals as they’ll keep them alive. I didn’t tell her, since she was obviously under the impression it was for the turtles’ benefit, not the humans’ :L</p>
<p>IB expectations are also craaaaazy. I want to do Chinese, and I’m looking at 95% (40) at most universities I’m interested in (Durham, Cambridge, SOAS).</p>
<p>Just thought I’d get that out there, to make people aware - it’s important to know EVERYTHING before you move abroad with UWC. I mean, I still applied! But I think you have to be realistic</p>
<p>@Graschi I attended the one i Aarhus, and yes, fortunately I was accepted to attend Atlantic College.</p>
<p>@moramora, in my province people are only accepted to Pearson too, but because of my situation it is very likely at this point that I will be attending Mahindra next year. I’m sorry that your province doesn’t offer you abroad scholarships! I know when I found out I was really upset, because Mahindra and RCN were tied for first place for me.</p>
<p>Hello, everyone. Good luck to everyone who’s waiting to hear whether or not you have a spot!</p>
<p>I’m a likely applicant for next year and was wondering - could you guys post your stats (GPA and test scores) and whether you got an interview? I’ll have about a 3.75 UW, 4.2 W GPA and about 2100 SATs, and I’m afraid my GPA is going to hurt me (I’ll have received all As except for one C that I’ll be attaching a reasonable explanation for). I’m trying to get an idea of the kind of stats people apply (and receive interviews with).</p>
<p>to be honest, I don’t think grades affect things. So long as you are able to continue education up to an IB standard then it’s all. They care about how you think more than what you know. A girl this year got into Atlantic College who’s a B student (I’m English so I don’t know that in GPA haha). really though, don’t stress about going from amazing to perfect: it won’t help you here :P</p>
<p>@garyoak: wow, I really hope you get in, that would be an amazing opportunity!! I was upset when I found out too, but every UWC student I’ve talked to has said that you come to love whatever college you get sent to, and Pearson has grown on me since I found out.
@liliana16: I’m Canadian, so I’m not sure if this will be helpful, but I had about a 92% average this year and higher in grades 9 and 10. However, I don’t think grades matter all that much- I had low marks in math and science last year, and I think that they mostly just want to know that you will be able to handle IB. It sounds like you have really good marks so don’t stress out about it!</p>
<p>Thanks applesauce21 and moramora! I’m thinking now that the C won’t kill me as an applicant (: I’m going to attach an explanation though, as I’ve done very well in science/math other than that dang AP Bio, haha. </p>
<p>Has anybody else watched the lipdubs? I watched every one I could find, haha, and I feel like the impressions I got of the students and campuses are factoring into what order I’m going to rank the UWCs next year. They’re helpful, though, because you kinda get to see what the campus and area are like.</p>
<p>@moramora WOW congrats!!! we haven’t gotten our emails/ letters yet here in BC 
how do they tell you anyway? should i be expecting something online or by mail?</p>
<p>@dinogiraffe, definitely by email. I’m expecting that they’ll start sending them out tomorrow! I know they did last year on the 3rd as well.</p>
<p>@garyoaks wow ! now i’m really nervous! thanks for information though 
and good luck!!</p>
<p>Are there any US students still waiting for interviews? With admissions notifications coming out on April 23, it seems like they should be getting these done!</p>
<p>I know they are conferring in Denver on April 19th to finish selections</p>
<p>I have my interview in Atlanta this saturday, April 6th. I am guessing that is the last interview location. Is anyone else headed to that interview site?</p>
<p>Does anyone know what we will do on second interwiev?</p>