Foreword
Hello and welcome to this guide! This guide was created after I went through the arduous application process for the US Universities. I did get in a few for CS (Berkeley, UCLA, Georgia Tech, UIUC); despite not choosing the States due to cost, I do hope that you do not have to duplicate the research efforts that I went through.
Do only take my words below with a pinch of salt, as per every source of advice that you get.
General Tips
Start early
During my J2 year, I spammed many applications, especially nearing to and after my A-Level period. I hadn’t thought that much about what an education in the US entailed, and what I found important in my undergraduate education. It was only after several of my uni results came out that I started regretting certain schools I should have applied to, and others that I wasted my time applying to. I therefore find this stage very important – spend a lot of time thinking and researching on what schools offer, what you seek in your education, finances, and think about your future pathways and values after JC much more in depth. In JC, you’re stuck with one goal, A-Levels, but after JC, things branch out much more and it’s all up to you then. This step of selecting schools is really important – the following are my tips:
Start your research on the schools early. Doing it early will give you time to see which universities you truly like, and think would make it worthwhile for you to study overseas. Studying in the US is not cheap, and think through your finances before you start your entire US application, so that you do not waste your time applying to unnecessary schools. Evaluate the starting pay per school too!
Work Outcomes
If you’d like to work in the US after your degree, make sure your degree name / code is within the CIP list for STEM-OPT! This grants you an extra 2 years after you study to work in the US without the need to ballot for visas, a prominent benefit for many. The same degree may differ in different universities – e.g. UWash’s “Information Sciences” is in the STEM-OPT list, but UT Austin’s is not.
The starting pay in the US is not necessarily higher than SG, due to massive taxes and much higher living costs in the US. In fact, it might be approximately around the same, even if for higher paying industries like CS. However, the US will offer more opportunities for growth in the long term, especially for startups and major companies.
LACs
Some schools are known as LACs (Liberal Art Colleges). Famous ones are Harvey Mudd (a college well-known) for its STEM outcomes, Amherst College, Pomona College etc. In fact, most of HYPSM are liberal art colleges (only excluding MIT)! Liberal art colleges focus on the American ideals of freedom, i.e., being able to study what you wish. Having a wide general curriculum trains your critical thinking skills, allows you to study what you truly enjoy, and allows you to find certain niches between two subjects, focusing on interdisciplinary skills.
Generally, really well-known (T5-10) LACs have really strong employment outcomes. However, STEM-specific schools which offer a strong technical curriculum may offer better starting pay compared to other LACs. See what you value in an education – do you want to be trained professionally / for a job? / does your ROI (Return of Investment) from a college matter to you? → a normal college education may fit better for you. Or do you want to pay to be developed as a person with perhaps worse employment outcomes? → LACs. I personally regret not applying to other LACs, I felt like it would give me a more holistic exposure and education.
Selecting Major
Note that different majors have different acceptance rates within the same school. Note that particular schools may be known for specific subjects, like UIUC is well known for CS, so the acceptance rate for CS is particularly low.
Maybe, you can consider which schools allow you to change your major after admission. (e.g. Harvard, Stanford). You can then align your portfolio to a less competitive major (e.g. physics instead of CS) for a higher chance at getting accepted. Then, just change your major into your desired one after your first-year in the university.
From personal experience: know what you want to study > which school you want to enter. Unless you have one massive massive dream dream dream school that you would die to attend, don’t choose an “easier acceptance” major just for the sake of getting into a specific school. What you’d like to study is quite important imo, don’t sacrifice that merely for the sake of prestige, you won’t enjoy it.
English Proficiency Test
Note that many schools actually do require an English Proficiency Test, even if you studied in SG. Check for the specific requirements of your school.
I would recommend you to do the Duolingo English Test: spend a few hours practising, then do it in one shot. If you can speak English, it is easy.
It is the cheapest (and you can send it to multiple schools). Do note that only mainly US schools accept the Duolingo English Test.
Usually, the DET is just meant to prove a minimum level of English for the university, so you do not have to score overly high in the test.
EA
EA deadline is end-October, before A-Levels.
When you apply for EA, do note that it will clash very closely with the A-Levels. Try not to get distracted by writing essays.
My recommendation is that you apply for a maximum of 3 schools for EA, to juggle your A-Levels suitably. Perhaps apply for 1 private school at least (REA / ED) so that you can get your results in mid-December, and then you can choose to apply for more public schools. Results for public school EAs only come out around January.
Check for the REA/ED vs RD acceptance rate. For some schools, the acceptance rates are similar anyways (like Harvard), and most applicants are deferred in REA, defeating the purpose of an early application.
There are specific schools that admit a majority of their applicants through EA: Purdue, University of Maryland (DO NOT APPLY TO UMD, their procedure is hellish), UIUC, Virginia Tech. Especially for high demand majors like CS, make it a point to apply EA to these schools, if you are interested in going to these schools.
Specific schools with funny deadlines
- UC system and Texas schools (including UT Austin) only has one deadline: end-November
- UWash only has one deadline: mid-December, which means that you must do the submission in the midst of your A-Levels!
Transcripts
Generally, your school counsellor (usually form teacher) should be submitting your transcripts. I would recommend this for your counsellor:
- Mid-year report: IP Y3/Y4 grades
- Optional report: IP Y5/Y6 grades, Predicted Grades
- Optional report 2: GCE Cambridge A-Level (when you receive them)
But as long as all of the above is submitted in any order or combination, into the Common App, that works perfectly. It seems as though most schools just download all documents and look at all of them.
Note that once your counsellor submits the FINAL REPORT, he/she cannot submit the optional / mid-year reports anymore. He/she will have to email each school individually to submit any additional documents / updates. Therefore, it is recommended that he/she do not touch the final report, and use the optional reports instead!
Recommendations
I would suggest that you start asking your teachers for recommendations around June JC2. You would likely need 1 counsellor recommender (can just copy from SGC content…), 2 teacher recommenders, and 1 other recommender.
Do try and suggest to your two teacher recommenders not to copy the SGC content, as the counsellor recommender might have done so already. Effective US recommenders tend to use specific moments of interaction to recommend a candidate, so you can try to encourage your teachers to adapt to this style of writing, rather than the SGC laundry list style!
Admission Files
Search “Admission Files reddit” and you will find people dissecting their admission files – which often explains what Admission Officers of a specific school prefer in an admitted candidate.
Reddit: How I read 40 apps a day - this one is quite good in understanding how the general AO process is like
For example, Stanford focuses very heavily on “Intellectual vitality”, i.e. curiosity to learn, much more than many schools – although intellectual vitality is an important trait generally for most schools. They have a trait marked as SPIV – along with rigor, SU6 (Stanford-altered GPA), TEST (SAT/ACT).
For example 2, for UIUC essays, they focused a lot on having specific goals that you’d like to achieve.
Reddit: UIUC Grainger CS Admissions File “The only tip I am qualified to give is that for UIUC CS, make sure you show a clear goal and highlight how you want to use your passion for CS to improve society.”
Reddit: Word of advice for UIUC CS “The admissions representative (who was super nice btw) said that although they could see how my essay could connect with societal impact, a lot of people say they want to make apps that help people and that my career goals weren't solid enough. I do want to have a societal impact, I want to make something cool and something big, but I guess I should have emphasized that more.”
E.g. This is a part of UPenn’s admission ratings.
- M/A: (scale of 1-4, 4 is highest) Match and Alignment -- Student's developed interest in Penn, fit with Penn programs, and talent within academic priorities
- E: (scale of 1-6, 6 is highest) Excellence of Mind -- Student's pursuit of academic interests and achievements within school/community context
- I: (scale of 1-6, 6 is highest) Impact in your space -- Student as a catalyst for impact/involvement with school/community context
Knowing this, it might be better to highlight these pointers more prominently in your essays. Make it easier for the Admission Officer (AO)s to pick out these points and grade you higher!
Demonstrated Interest
Most top schools do not consider demonstrated interest. You may investigate their CDS (common dataset) to find out what factors they evaluate.
Extracurriculars
If you still have time to develop your extracurriculars, for US colleges, I would recommend you have an interdisciplinary edge especially for competitive majors (e.g. CS + Geography, CS + Linguistics, Mathematics + Art) — be outstanding at two things!
How to bring out the best in your extracurricular section in Common App:
Focus on what you have to offer. You don’t have to list everything. For every point you’re trying to make, maybe give your best one or two examples. If possible, quantify and contextualise e.g. “I was top X%” or “I was one of a group of Y”.
- Reddit user
Others
For filling up the Common App, I’d suggest using RI’s guide. COMMON APP AND CIALFO FOR STUDENTS
SAT
General Tips
If you have the time and the money, I would recommend you to take the SAT twice. Give it a few months between the two takes. You might internalise the content better and do better on the second try, and you would have had more experience with the content.
EBRW
For writing, make a list of common Grammar mistakes that you make. There are not that many. Follow the Grammar rules closely, stay grounded to the structures. That said, how you do in the writing section can sometimes be heavily dependent on your English skills.
For reading, make sure that you select the option / answer that is only MENTIONED in the passage! This is a reading comprehension with little inference. All hints to the answer will be paraphrased or very closely mentioned somewhere in the passage.
Remember that the SAT is a standardised test meant for anyone with different base knowledge, therefore, they cannot test your memorised content. They can only test your reading skills. Therefore, read closely to the passages and only use that content to answer the questions!
This is the main, important skill that you should develop by practising SAT QASs - if you grasp this one concept, you can basically handle the reading section easily.
Mathematics
I just remember having to recap myself on Congruent and Similar triangles, as well as the equations part on the “Infinite or 0 solutions” type of question. Just go very slow, be careful.
Resources
Although there are only 4 practice tests for the digital SAT, I would recommend you to practise the past paper SATs too. The question formats and skills are very similar, if not identical, spare the few removed question types. You can search for the “SAT QAS” for such. Box Link - this is one link.
There are various resources from my SAT time that I put in this folder (Google Drive). However, I’d suggest that the only one resource you need is the Black Book. Read a portion of it. Understand how “reading is not inference and is only reading” (see above). Understand the grammar rules. And you’ll be good to go. The rest of the resources are useless.
Essays
Common App (CA) Essay
Note that there are many ways that people view how college essays are important. The following is my critique, based on my own research, teachings from very helpful seniors, and friends.
I find this following excerpt a nice way to see college essays. A holistic evaluation through essays may seem stupid, but maybe it does have its purpose!
Much about life is about finding a sense of purpose in this world, and that purpose often comes in the form of a story. Where did you come from? What made you, you? What events shook you to your core, and forced you to reconsider what life is really about? Stories hold extraordinary power over our lives, and they can grant us strength when all else fails.
At the end of the day, a good story isn't there to get you admitted. It's there so you can face the challenges of the world knowing exactly who you are, and where you are going.
- Some Reddit user
ATTENTION:
This is the most important part: A good story should vividly paint a picture of who you are as a person. It should tell me what you care about – be it certain topics or traits, why you care about the topics / traits (or what are the moments that led to this realisation), and it should bring me through the core moments of the reflections and emotions you made while making something a part of you.
SHOW NOT TELL: you should be brought into the story; I should be able to infer and feel some learnings, to really understand you, to visualize you and your traits.
UNIQUE PERSONAL INSIGHTS: Your story should bring me through your unique personal insights. Unique – meaning that the thought process to your realisation, the “why” you do something, what you learnt from the experience, should feel unique. This doesn’t mean that A!-->B, but rather, what did you think in the process from A→B? I should be able to understand how you arrived at your conclusions of personal growth, you should have a level of depth of understanding in why you do what you do. They’ll be reading thousands of essays every single day. Surprise them, make it easy for them to want to read your essay. However; don’t force the unique part though; better if it’s unexpected, but worse if it comes off as forced. This comes from your daily thinking of how you act as an individual – thinking about your values, what you care about, reflecting on life.
Personal – it should mean something to you and your growth. Your essay should be real, honest, authentic. You don’t have to force sad emotions to have a happy ending; they wish to see maturity.
Quotes from a senior (thank you DhsUSAlumniNetwork):
I don't mean simply stating that you led others, or that you were a hard worker, go DEEPER. How did you lead others? How was it like, confusing, frustrating, perhaps even unexpectedly exciting? How did that change you, were you shy before, did you encounter any roadblocks along the way, how did you deal with that?
It’s not so much the final conclusion per se, but the engine to which you arrive at that conclusion, the story or thing that makes you tick. E.g. maybe you enjoy being a positive-giver cuz you interact on an intimate level with others from disparate backgrounds and it makes you realize people are more alike than you think etc.
You really have to spend a lot of time asking yourself WHY. WHY do I like being xxx? And then another WHY and then another WHY. Keep repeating this until you’ve arrived at insight 1/2 or maybe even 3 who knows. Don’t force it or overdo it, though.
Story and topic does not matter. It matters only to the extent which you can accomplish the above. Whatever story best allows you to show unique personal insight. That is the one.
PASSION: Your essay should show a genuine interest to learn, grow, or contribute. You may end up having a very genuine essay about enjoying life, but that may not get you anywhere – many of these colleges want to see the hunger within you. Along with this genuine interest, you may be referring to your extracurriculars – and it would make sense, because you would be pursuing extracurriculars in areas you feel passionate about – but highlight the unique personal insights, the growths, along with the intellectual curiosity.
More questions below (FAQ)
How should I go about brainstorming for the CA essay?
Don’t brainstorm using the CA essay prompts. Instead, brainstorm based on what you find central / important to you. What are your values? What are integral growth periods? Admission officers don’t care about how accurately you answer the question: their main goal is to learn about you. This is not a General Paper / English essay. Only after you have written your essay, then you can choose which prompt your essay best fits.
Find specific moments. The Common App essay is not exactly a narrative that tells your entire life story, chronologically, every detail, every event. Often, I find that the best CA essays utilise specific moments to illustrate a story. I’d recommend you to think of specific moments that you find important in your life: specific projects that contributed to your growth? Specific conversations / influences? And start writing from there. Combine specific moments, optimally 3, into one essay, and this will bring out a good essay.
My favorite essays tend to be those that are simple narratives, perhaps about a singular moment that was transformative and reflects larger aspects of who you are. Show don't tell. And keep in mind that when you're applying to a school that has 45,000 applicants, and each counselor might read a few hundred or a few thousand essays in a few-month timeframe, there are a lot of common topics your peers are also writing about: stories about service trips, sports championships, and overcoming an athletic injury, for example. Or if you write about those things, write about them in a way that is unique to you. We don't expect essays to be groundbreaking, but if they're authentic, unique, and well-written, they can resonate.
One of the best essays I've come across was a student just talking about having coffee with her Dad at Starbucks, and a reflection on the ways she saw herself in him and how that changed her perspective about herself. It was simple and thoughtful. And great.
- An AO on Reddit
Try to gain inspiration. Talk to people, look at specific items that may evoke specific memories. Keep thinking when you’re walking, engaging in other activities, etc, because inspiration may strike at any moment. To illustrate, I wrote my CA essay about insomnia. I thought about this topic when I couldn’t sleep at 4am. I wrote another essay about probability, inspired in the midst of my mathematics. This method works however because my writing style is very heavily metaphoric, rather than descriptive. You may find your own way of brainstorming more helpful.
Don’t spend too much time brainstorming, spend time writing! Merely brainstorming may not reflect the true result of the essay. A lot is to do with the style of your writing itself.
Minor edits to the same topic will not make major differences. Sometimes, drop the original draft. Pivot to a whole new topic. I know it’ll be tough, but spend some time away from essays. You’ll gain new inspiration away from the original topic. If your original essay is terrible and you edit it part by part to improve it, it might not make the essay outstanding, it will just make it slightly better! Write about many topics first, then when you come closer to your final draft, make your minor edits.
Misconception: Active Voice
It is a misconception that passive voice > active voice. Many times actually, an active voice would be better in bringing a reader into the story, as the reader can be almost “standing in your position”. It is so much more important to be describing your emotions / your position within a story.
Of course however, do not repeat the same “I” sentence structure again and again. Describe the specific moment more, reflect your feelings and thoughts from your actions / senses / how your perception of your surrounding elements have changed. Bring in your reader into the moment to relate to your growth / personal reflections.
Language: Simplicity is key. Not to draw too broad a generalisation, but it seems like many students from Singapore like to use the passive voice and multisyllabic words. Let’s be real, your reviewer probably has 100x your vocabulary due to sheer quantity of life. Don't try to impress by using bombastic words––it’s off-putting. As for the passive voice, I mean stuff like: “The competition compelled me…” or “The class showed me”, etc. You’re not some inanimate object that only feels and thinks because some external forces operated on you. While some of it will be unavoidable, try to switch it up.
- Reddit user
Cliches
Many online sources state that cliche topics include migration, overcoming sports injuries, mourning over the loss of loved ones, etc.
When I’d evaluate the quality of one’s essay, I’d usually look at Personal + Unique. These topics are often cliche because their ending is often overly expected, and the insight gained from the essay is not unique. Furthermore, the writer is unable to bring in insights from their own identity, and is unable to describe specific moments that make the essay specific to self. In this case of not personal and not unique, the essay becomes “cliche”.
No topic is truly cliche. It is usually the conclusion from the event, or the insight (the process of reflection) that is boring. You can still write about cliche topics if you find them important to your growth – just try to deviate from the “expected and not personal” stories. Your thoughts and reflections are critical in your story.
Inserting your extracurriculars into the essay
Some say don’t talk about them at all. Some say you should include some subtly. I’m an advocate for the latter – especially if you can’t talk about your extracurriculars too much in the extracurriculars section, here’s the essay for you to slightly brag / emphasise certain extracurriculars. It’s okay for the extracurricular to sound slightly out of place, because you are definitely bragging. However, don’t make it “too too obvious” that you’re bragging!
Don’t be negative
It is good sometimes to highlight how bad a situation was, to have a greater arc to the story. However, don’t make this view too negative, it can paint you in a pessimistic / negative light of liking to complain. As the story progresses, do not complain, keep the reflections neutral / positive.
Start early!
The reflection and observation parts of your essay are important – it links to your generic, everyday way of thinking in life. Starting your essay writing early helps you to develop this frame of thought. That said…
…continuously working on the same essay may not be optimal!
Sometimes, the less unedited your essay is, the more raw and genuine it is. Start early and practice writing often in order to develop that style of thinking (which [I’d say that] this thinking is important in life anyways), but don’t dwell on the same topic / essay for too long, it will feel too artificial with excessive editing.
Interesting essays
Reddit: Stupidest roommate essay that worked
Conclusion
In my opinion, spend some time listening to different people’s perspectives on what they think is required for the CA essay, then develop and trust your own instinct. (or pay 10k for Crimson counselling or smt)
You will never gain a perfect Common App essay: it is quite difficult to do everything of the above just because they are sometimes conflicting points, or it might be difficult for you to achieve an equilibrium of the above, in 650 words – but try your best to show not tell, to display unique personal insight, and to showcase your intellectual vitality.
Read Reddit posts. If your high school has a department trained in sending students overseas, then perhaps consult them! Otherwise, DO NOT trust your high school department. Trust your seniors who are in the US, they may know more.
“Why school” Essay
Search a few things about why you like a specific school. They can range from:
- What the school is well-known for (strong STEM / research opportunities / strong core curriculum) → although do not be cliche! Note “DO NOT” pointer 1.
- A specific professor that you’d wish to work with in the school.
- A specific class / major that you really like in the school.
Then, I’d recommend you to link a story from your high school experience into the essay. Talk about what you enjoyed in that experience, what your values are, and then link it to the university. Again, unique personal insights. What’s unique about your link to the school – on a fundamental, “why why why” level?
DO NOT:
Explain the university’s culture / traditions and why you like them, to your Admissions Officer. The officer has read enough about the traditions within the school, how does it relate to you? The question is not exactly a “Why do you want to go to xx university”, it is more of a “Why do you fit into xx university?” This question goes both ways in assessing both the 1) uniqueness of the candidate, and 2) the fit to the school.
Show not tell
In this case, you are free to use terms in an active voice much more often instead of having to narrate experiences. Common terms can be “I look forward / I anticipate”. Showing your passion for the school is the most important thing here.
UC essays
Still focus on the same reflections, growth, and your traits in your essays, but it seems that you can bring them out more explicitly here compared to the Common App essay where you may have to do it subtly.
Interviews
Stay chill, it really is just a conversation most of the time (except for Harvard and Penn interviews). Prepare questions that focus heavily on the motivation of what you do, your true passion / purpose. The interviewers tend to go deep into your values.
Selecting Schools
After (or before receiving) your results, you may start to think whether you should be even applying for a certain school. After all, will you even migrate to the States? As always, this decision would always differ from person to person. Factors that you would definitely want to consider include: safety, cost, prestige / job employment outcomes, style of education, style of people / communities, family, food, weather.
Can DM me if you’d like a chunk of text about my own perspective, but I shall not place it here.
Final Words
Start early. You will never have enough time – you will have your own CCAs, non-stop tests, outings to pursue. Set aside some time early in JC1 for researching universities, then start writing your essays in early Q1 JC2. Essay writing is a lot about understanding yourself as a person – what are you passionate about? What makes you do something – why? A lot of this requires a gradual shift in perception as a person, in the way you reflect across your life and what you do. My friends and I seem to reflect much more and understand ourselves better after our US applications – and these are skills that last far beyond the application process.
You can do it! Many people talk about the poor chances of getting into US universities especially as an international applicant, but sometimes they underestimate your power. Show them what you can do.
It seems like you’re making a really big decision for your life. It is a really big one. But after weighing your various criteria, make a choice and don’t look back. Sometimes, the grass always seems greener on the opposite side, so just make your decision and don’t look back.
When you evaluate your US college, just focus on yourself, think about your own values and your desired college / life experience.
All the best! Do reach out if my advice would help in any way :)