The Classman's Guide to the A-Levels and More.

Since the theme for any university application is TIME MANAGEMENT, here is an outline of the US University application timeline: when to start writing, when to submit, and more. Enjoy!

(NOTE: I’ll be referencing to the CommonApp only in this post, not the Coalition or Questbridge. I’ll also be referencing to the A-level timeline. And will be sharing from an International student perspective, not a US student)

(NOTE: I didn’t include UC timelines because I didn’t apply to any of them, so I don’t know any helpful tips I can give on that)

1. CommonApp Essay

Since the CommonApp prompts generally stay the same every year, I’d recommend to start writing for your essay by the summer of Grade 11 (UK Year 12). Choose a couple prompts (3-4) you think you’ve got a good story on, including the “free” prompt, should you choose to do it.

Start reading online examples of successful students for your chosen prompts, and the study the delivery of each essay. Imagine yourself the admissions officer, and ask yourself what each essay shows through writing. 

Remember, delivery is most important in your essays. Not everyone can read your mind or understand exactly what you’re trying to convey if you write vaguely. Show traits that make you a valuable student: perhaps you had organised a charity for a friend with cancer (compassion, leadership), or you began a donation box to start feeding the stray cats in your neighborhood (leadership, teamwork), you vocalised your concerns about your friends’ actions (honesty, courage), etc. 

2. Taking the SAT/ACT

I’d recommend taking the SAT/ACT in the second semester of Grade 11 (Year 12), just to get it over with, or if you get a low score, give enough breathing room for you to retake it. 

I did my SAT in my first semester of my senior year, near my midterms, and while I did get the privilege to study for it for longer, I wouldn’t recommend it, because it was a struggle to balance both the SAT and midterms (which are important for US university applications)

3. Early Action v. Early Decision

The deadlines for these two typically fall around the end of October, results come out by December. 

I personally think that in any case you should at least apply for an Early Action school (if there is no Early Decision school you’re already looking at). 

Why? Because it’ll give you an opportunity to make mistakes. 

That sounds quite bad, to be honest, but I had applied Early Action to a very reputable university, and realised made a bunch of mistakes throughout the essay writing, the additional information section, and even during the interview. 

Mistakes in the sense that my delivery wasn’t how I’d wanted it to go, or there may have been parts where I sounded too desperate, and so on. 

I definitely spruced things up by the Regular Decision round: sounding more confident, having more clarity in my answers, showing curiosity and interest rather than desperation. 

4. Priority Filling

When I wrote most of supplemental essays, I did so a couple weeks near the deadline, where, then, I had only noticed the priority filling dates (e.g. Duke University). 

This was a mistake on my part, and I was definitely procrastinating the writing process. 

In another post, I wrote about how you should tackle the supplemental essays, and I’d definitely recommend to start doing supplemental essays the moment universities officially release the prompts for your application cycle. 

If you send in your application before the priority filling dates, or at least a week or two before the deadline, you’ll get a better chance for an interview. 

While, interviews don’t matter as much, there’s only so much we can show in our essays, and a good recommendation from an interviewer will definitely add character into your application. 

NOTE: Official Regular Decision typically fall around the beginning of January.

5. CSS Profile or Any Other FINANCIAL AID FORMS

If you’re applying for financial aid as an international student, there are definitely many pros and cons to weigh. Whether it be a diminished acceptance probability, or the fact that there would be a mountain of paper work to fill in, that’s your choice and your family’s choice to decide. 

Anyways, most likely, the form you’ll be filling in is the CSS Profile. The profile opens in October and I’d recommend to immediately start filling in what you can. I’m not sure when you’ll be reading this post, but in 2021, the profile was incredibly tedious and long, so I’d recommend to fill in what you can ahead of time, and submit alongside your applications. 

After submitting your CSS Profile, however, the job isn’t done. Some schools will ask for additional information (UPenn, Williams, etc.), and SOME SCHOOLS MIGHT NOT USE THE CSS PROFILE, and have their own system (Princeton). So, make sure to check each of your university portals and list down all the additional documents they’re asking for, get it done asap, and don’t procrastinate!

NOTE: CSS Profile deadlines vary greatly from university to university, with some deadlines being in Early January (Regular Decision) to Early February (Regular Decision). 

I promised a long time ago that I’d write a blog about applying to US Universities as an A-level Student, and I’m really sorry for the wait. Anyways, I’ve generalized this for all three: UK A-Levels, CIE A-levels, and Singaporean A-Levels. Enjoy!

University Groupings

This idea of grouping universities are pretty common among a lot of US university application videos/blogs, so I’m sure a more detailed explanation can be found elsewhere, and I won’t be dwelling so much on this.

Essentially divide your unis into three categories: Reach, Target, Safety.

Example List:

Reach: Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Johns Hopkins, MIT, Caltech.

Target: University of Notre Dame, Vanderbilt, Georgia Tech, Northeastern

Safety: University of Connecticut, University of Arizona, UMass Lowell

You can find better explanations online for how to group your desired universities depending on your individual academic strength, co-curricular strength, demographic strength, and etc. 

Taking the SAT?

When I applied to universities I was in the round where SATs were optional, I don’t know when you’re reading this so I’m not sure for you, but, regardless, I’d always recommend taking the SATs. 

Why? Well, it’d be an easier peg for you to: group your universities, and (in my opinion) get in. 

“Grades don’t matter”. That’s true, but by having an SAT score that is either in their average or 75th percentile range, you’d at least pass “first sorting”. 

Think of university admissions as layers of sifting, the sift gets smaller as you go. Grades are your first sift. While A-levels are a worldly recognizable curriculum, you’d be going against students with curriculums that vary all over the world. By allowing yourself to meet their standards, rather than have them understand yours, you’re ridding yourself of unnecessary uncertainty. 

Personal Statement and Supplemental Statements 

TIME MANAGEMENT. Can’t say this enough. Time management is essential when doing this. Bring out a couple of sheets of paper and start mapping out the due dates of each of your universities (note: UCs require earlier submission) and make a document of all the supplemental essays required. 

Your personal statement will be one long statement written for all your universities. The supplemental statements are specific to each universities and the number of supplemental essays asked of you will vary from uni to uni. 

For your personal statement, the CommonApp will provide you options on prompts you can build on. Granted, there is a prompt of “prompt of your choice”, either way, a personal statement should SHOW qualities of yourself that you value most, intertwined with the experience you’ve chosen to disclose. 

There are much better explanations online for how to write a personal statement and it’d be best you check that out yourself. Remember, when reading a statement example you’re not only reading for inspiration, but also to understand how successful students have presented their qualities and experiences to admissions officers. 

For the supplemental essays, I’d recommend grouping similar prompts together, noting down the required word length. You can start answering the prompts that are similar then sizing the draft accordingly to each university. Trust me, this saves so much time. 

The key to completing all the written requirements have always been the same: studying and understanding essays by successful students (it’s not necessarily about the content per se, rather the delivery)

Grades

When it comes to grades, your general progression over the past four years are very important. 

Whether you’ve been a straight A student all your life, or you’ve seen a general positive climb on your grades, it’s never to late to start working hard to make your grades sparkle in the eyes of admissions officers. 

Now, midterms will be most important. Since, they’ll act as your predicted grades for A2, it’s very important that you DO WELL in them. 

Details on choosing A-Level subjects for your unis is on another blog, there’s a US uni example there.

Interviews

University interviews in the US are very different from what you’d expect from the UK, or Asian Universities. There’s no written examination or topic questions, rather, it flows more as conversation. 

It’s very important that you spark chemistry with your interviewer, whether they’ll be an alumni from the university, or (very rarely) an admissions officer themself. 

Interviews don’t weigh much on admissions decisions. My senior, who attends one of the Reach Universities I’ve listed above, had an admissions officer who said he wouldn’t be suited for the school. 

Nevertheless, you should always try to do well in these interviews. Most questions will follow as: Tell me about yourself. Why did you choose to go to this school? Tell me what one of your greatest accomplishments were.

At the end of the interview, they’ll ask you if you’ve got any questions for them. When I did my interview I’d usually ask them about the school community, or their experience in travelling to the school, one case I even asked what it was like when they experienced their first snow, and etc. 

Try to come up with questions you wouldn’t find on the web or on a forum, something unique and personal to you (perhaps a question about disability accommodation, or whether the observatory is open all year round).

To my Year 13s and/or 12s, I hope this blog will help you gain some clarity into university applications, and give you comfort in knowing what should be done. xoxo

1. UCAS Personal Statement

By the holiday of Year 12, you should be ready with what you want to pursue in university. With that said, holidays will be the best time to start your Personal Statement, now you could always postpone this close to your submission date, but it wouldn’t give you enough time for a proper review. 

So, at the very least, plan your Personal Statement during the summer holidays, and read through lots of examples of personal statements under the course you want to study. Remember, you’re not just reading for inspiration, but studying how successful students have presented themselves through their essays.

Quick Tips for what to include in your Personal Statement:

Study your intended course. Not just what you’ll be learning, but learn what is being taught. Ok that’s a bit vague. An example would be Mathematics, learning beyond the A2 curriculum, watch online lectures on university-level maths on abstract algebra or analytic geometry. Read beyond the bounds of the curriculum to show your interest and curiosity in the subject.

Tie experiences to your intended major. Now, if, let’s say, you’re a prospective Veterinary student, you don’t necessarily need to have experience working at the vet. Perhaps you participated in Debate and advocated for animal rights, or you were in Media and began taking pictures of stray cats to spread the word for adoption. If you have none of these experiences, tie everyday activities to your major by showing the values they have taught you. Perhaps being on MUN taught you how to collaborate, or working as a school event medic allowed you to experience the rigours of the field. 

Show ambition. Aside from how you’ve been doing at school, or overloading on your co-curricular list, use your essay to list out the aspirations you have while at university and after. Talk about how you’d use your future education.

2. References 

Timing and choice are very important with this one.

Make sure you ask your teacher, at the very least, a month prior, or even better, two months prior. You want to give your teacher ample time to write you a stellar reference. With that said, make sure you hint to your teacher about certain values you wish they’d show. Be subtle about it, you could say: ...since you’ve seen first hand the progression of my grades over the years or ...like when I’d been a leader for the competition. 

References are out of your control, so make sure you have a teacher who can not only show academic excellence/improvement/perseverance but also values that are highly valued in a university environment (collaboration/initiative/leadership).

3. Oxbridge

Oxbridge will need you to submit by October 15th. Make sure if you are applying to one of the two universities, that you don’t miss any supplemental examinations required for your intended program.

In Biomedical Sciences, you’d need to take the BMAT examination. Make sure to get this done long before the intended due date, in case anything goes south. 

4. Rest of the Universities

Whether you’re applying to Imperial or King’s, if you’re done with your personal statement by now, all you need to do is focus on your grades. 

In my other post, Keeping Up with AS/A Level Schedule, I told you that the first semester is vital. First, and foremost, it’ll be the foundation for your A2 predicted grades, you must do well in it. 

Right, ladies and lads, welcome to two years of pure pain and suffering! Don’t let that deter you, however, because I’m here to help you get your life in check!!

(NOTE: doing this generally for both AS and A-Levels, for more detail on A-Level deadlines and overlapping college applications, I’ll put on another post)

Now that’s out of the way, here are the main deadlines to watch out for:

1. First Semester Grades

Whether your school follows quarters of semesters, your mid-year grades will be most important, in both general progression and later university applications. 

This one, I can’t tell you the exact deadline since it’s, obviously, your own schools’ schedule, but always keep in mind, to have a revision week prior to the exams to review all your material.

Check out my other post for a better way to study so that you’re not wasting time.

2. Registration

Registrations will be announced around December, and the deadline before late registration (typically before February) is around January 31st. Depending on your school’s administration, they’ll request you to submit your payment and subject combination before or by the Cambridge deadline.

Now, if you were to submit late, technically there isn’t any problem with it unless, of course, you aren’t willing to pay the late fees for each subject.

3. Mock Exams

Mocks will probably start by February, and most definitely after registration deadlines. Again, this is something your school decides, but be sure you treat them just as important as any other exam.

Remember, 2020 used mocks for predicted grades, there’s always something that might happen, and Cambridge might ask for supplementary materials. Mocks will near always be used for this grade prediction supplement. 

4. Final Exams

Well, this is a no brainer. If you’re not checking your final exam dates, well I can’t help you, and no one can.

They’ll probably take place around April latest, or for as long as your school can postpone the examination dates. Just make sure you know what subjects come first, and always give one week of study for each exam you’re studying, it’s a foolproof way to prepare for exams. 

1. Pick Based on University Requirements

This is a no brainer. 

If you’re already set on what you want to study at university, whether in the UK or elsewhere, go through the A level pre-requisites (or if they don’t have any, map out what that program wants from your studies).

Write down your top 3-5 universities, and go through each of their requirements.

 UK Example: Oxford, PPE

Maths, History and AAA

Since you’d need at least triple As, or, since it’s Oxford four As, I’d recommend additionally choosing subjects such as GPR, Economics, Law, and English Literature.

US Example: Yale, Environmental Engineering 

No Specific Highschool Requirement

For highly competitive US universities I’d recommend you take 4 (or 3 A2 and 1 AS they’re a bit more forgiving that way) unless that is you’re choosing the SAT route and opting out of A-levels. 

Essentially, for this program example, I suggest choosing subjects such as Environmental Management (AS), Biology, Maths, Further Maths, GPR, Chemistry, Physics.

US Universities are much more fluid to your subject combinations, so as long as your studies can be applied to your program, don’t sweat the choice!

I’ll give more tips on applying to US Universities via A-levels in another blog.

Singapore Example: Business Administration

Higher Level Pass in Maths 

Because Singapore A-levels are more difficult than their UK counterparts, for this, I STRONGLY RECOMMEND that you take 4 subjects. 

Maths, Further Maths, Accounting, Economics, GPR, Business.

2. Picking under Restricted Conditions

Slightly more tricky this one.

But to manage it, once again, go through the pre-requisites of your universities.

For the UK:

There are going to be three categories of suggestions, ESSENTIAL, RECOMMENDED, and HELPFUL. 

Universities will know what subjects are available at your school, so it’s alright if you miss some recommended and helpful suggestions. 

ESSENTIAL subjects are most important, however, if your school does not provide the subject that is essential to your program of study (which is really unlikely), email the university admissions and explain your situation. 

For the program itself, make sure you complete the entrance requirements, whether that be AAA or A*A*A, GET THE GRADES.

So again, Oxford, PPE.

Choose Maths, GPR, Economics/Accounting/Business, English Langauge.

For the US:

US Universities are very lenient with your combination since a program of study is only set once you “announce” your major at the university itself. 

They focus more on the level of difficulty you are taking your subjects, which is why I’d recommend taking 4 subjects, all A2 or mostly A2. 

Yale, Environmental Engineering.

Choose Biology, Chemistry, Maths, GPR, Physics.

1. Time Management 

If you’ve got yourself 3 or 4 or (as moronically as I did) 5, time management is key. 

Set up some sort of schedule that you can REALISTICALLY follow (remember never to overexert yourself, you aren’t going to study 8 hours a day on top of school luv) and follow that schedule religiously!

This was my afterschool schedule:

16.00 - 16.30 wash up

16.30 - 17.30 nap

17.30 - 18.30 jogging + shower

18.30 - 19.30 dinner

19.30 - 23.30 study 

QUALITY OVER QUANTITY!!! Don’t forget to walk around every now and then, and give yourself a half-day on Sunday for minimal burnout risk. :)

2. Train for NO PRETTY NOTES

I know, to all the very aesthetic ladies (or lads) out there, this may sound blasphemous, but seriously it’s a waste of time!

Key Word: Train.

I too fell for the temptation to make all my notes look a specific way, but then you become fixated on the way the notes look rather than the content.

Whenever you can, during class, or on your own, take notes with keywords. Don’t fixate on how they look and keep your eyes on the board. Anything you want to look back on write it down: any questions, any definitions, any key details. 

Don’t take notes on content, you can always read the book it’s less time consuming that way. With that said, you should always TRY to read your books before class (or briefly skim), try to ask your teacher ahead of time what they plan to teach. This will make sure your focus is on the lecture itself rather than noting down every word and not knowing what information is most valuable.

3. CONSISTENCY is KEY

Obviously, it is. 

I suffered from senioritis and began falling behind on classes. It’s better to do 4 hours of study a day, instead of a week of all-nighters, believe me, I know. 

Lectures (especially online ones) are definitely going to be tiring, so make sure to really use your in-between breaks to TAKE A BREAK. 

Put your phone away, and as many possible distractions. If you begin to lapse, take a break, it’s fine, as long as you come back ready to do quality work. 

These are your last 2 years before uni applications, you’ve got to make every effort count.