Daeil Overseas Studies Program (DOSP)

Another set of terms to your repertoire of college nick names. You should already know the Little Ivies, 25 New Ivy League, and a handful of others.

I think wikipedia puts it best:

The Seven Sisters are seven historically women’s liberal-arts colleges in the Northeastern United States. They are Barnard College, Bryn Mawr College, Mount Holyoke College, Radcliffe College, Smith College, Wellesley College, and Vassar College. They were all founded between 1837 and 1889. Four are in Massachusetts, two are in New York, and one is in Pennsylvania. Radcliffe (which merged with Harvard College) and Vassar (which became coeducational in 1969) are no longer women’s colleges.

You can click directly on each schools link below.

• Barnard College - Affiliated with Columbia University
• Bryn Mawr College
• Mount Holyoke College
• Radcliffe College
• Smith College
• Wellesley College
• Vassar College

Follow these additional steps to make sure you have a spot for the January, May, and June tests.

Register for SAT

• Fill out the necessary information - name, address, etc…
• Make sure everything is accurate in order to keep everything consistent- use your passport name
• Have a credit card ready - Your parents’ credit card number, expiration date, and 3 digit cvs code on the back of credit card

1. Click on which ever test you will be taking.
2. Click on “Outside the U.S. “
3. Select your current grade level:
4. Add your school as Daeil.
   1. Click on Search by Code and type in “682192″ then click “Search” and Daeil should show up.
   2. Highlight it and hit “add.”
5. When you get to “Test Centers” click on “Search for a test center.”
   1. Then click on “Search by Code” and type in “65309″
   2. Click “Search” and Daeil should show up.
   3. Highlight it and hit “add.”
6. Click on “Final Review” and fill in the necessary credit card information.

In the event you are offered:

We’re sorry, but both your first- and second-choice test centers have become unavailable. Please choose another test center to finish your registration. You can select one from the list below, search for one that you prefer, or let us choose one for you.

• Choose the one that says “let us choose one for you.”

After filling it out if you have problems- relax and come speak directly with Paul. Everything will be okay.

I have been getting a few requests on how to write a courteous email. Here is how I do it- its not perfect, but at least its a start. You should always write a proper email to admissions officers- and anyone else.

Keep It Simple Sweetie (KISS) - Clear, Concise, and Courteous: Discuss the important stuff and don’t write about tangents or unnecessary fluff.

Here is a sample email with notes in parenthesizes.

To: ABC University

From: John Student

Subject: Question in regards to Supplemental Application (Keep it clear, concise, and relevant)

Body:

Dear Mr. or Ms. Admission Officer (Personalize- It’s best to use their last names and titles, if you know it, if not you can resort to- “To whom it may concern”)

I have a question in regards to my finances. It is difficult for me to get a notarized copy of my financial records. As Korea does not have a notarization system as convenient as the United States. (Explain your situation as clear and concise as possible, avoid adding too much extraneous information, but show enough information to get the point across)I’ve gone through your website (show proof that you put in the effort) and I was wondering if there was another way to provide proof of finances. If I must I can fly to Hawaii to get US Notarization, however I believe a certified Korean balance statement should be satisfactory.

Please advise me on how I can resolve this issue.

I thank you for your time and look forward to your response.

Sincerely, (I personally like “Warm regards,” at the moment)

John Student, Junior at Daeil Foreign Language High School (Try to personalize as much as possible, but without going informal.)

(This is made up and you can get your document notarized at a Law office in Korea, but it is very pricey.)

Other tips:

• Say Thank You and Please.
• Use a positive or neutral tone
• Use proper formatting (No UPPERCASE- uppercase is the equivalent of shouting everything)
• Use proper grammar and spelling
• Read it twice to make sure you catch errors
• Avoid profanity or slang
• Use the default font of your email program- avoid the fancy stationery, not all computers are alike.
• Avoid abbreviations - if you need to use them explain what they mean
• If it is an ongoing conversation leave previous emails in the quoted text
  • Also reply before the quoted text

I hope these tips will help, if you have any suggestions, please add them in the comments.

• Small colleges provide small classes - Faculty and students can get to know each other, generally 15-20 students- for all four years.
• Personal relationships- students don’t “slip” through cracks.
• Faculty will write letters of recommendations.
• Opportunity to lead and opportunity to make a difference.
• Attitude of participation- everyone is involved.

There’s tons of great inspirational and enlightening material on the internet. Let, Steve Jobs, one of the founders of Apple, share some of his insights with you.

University of Washington online application it requires me to Enter the average grade received in your last three years of secondary school or your cumulative college-level GPA using the exact term(s) from your transcript. How should I answer this question?

Just write down that our school does not offer a GPA and that their should be an letter explaining the transcript. The admissions officers should be contacting me if they have any questions.

Here is some highlights from the Stanford Counselor Newsletter.

Like most highly selective and competitive universities here is what they request- directly from the admissions officers perspective.

Why do your students do what they do? What motivates them, what excites them? What do they LOVE? As admissions officers, we are trained to read between the lines- after reading four essays, a list of activities, and three letters if evaluation, believe me, we can differentiate a student who is going through the motions from a student who is actually deeply engaged in what he is doing! There is no need for students to play every sport their high school offers or be in every club from Amnesty International to Zoology Club. We want students to do what they love and do it really well. (Emphasis mine) –Erinn Evans, Assistant Director of Admissions

Remember colleges want you to find your passions and help you develop them. Find a few things you like doing and explore, experiment, and play- most importantly have fun. I know many of you have the pressure of “study-all-time” syndrome that Korea forces on you, but if you can only be brave and think outside the box and differently. Stop being a study robot. They don’t want that.

Now, if you don’t have a passion, still explore, look, take an adventure and look for one. You don’t have to have a passion, but it’s nice to show that you are trying.

Statistically here is the typical Stanford Freshman Student:

GPA: 4.0 or higher - don’t worry at our school, I explain to them that our school is a very challenging environment.

Top 1-2% of class - Again, don’t worry about it our school, but it doesn’t hurt if you actually are in the top 2%.

SAT Verbal - Above 680

SAT Math - Above 680

SAT Writing - Above 670

SAT Total - 2030

9.6% is international

Everyone has the foundation of high quality academics, so now you have to show to them how can you differentiate yourself and show them what you love.

Occasionally you’ll come across a university with the following requirements:

In addition, students born in or after 1957 must provide proof of immunity for the following:

• Two doses of live measles (Rubeola)
• One mumps
• One rubella

http://www.unlv.edu/admissions/frImmunization.html

Which means all you have to do is show proof that you have had your shots to prove that you are immune to them.

Its fun to use a game to increase your vocabulary. Why not help end world hunger in the process?

Check out: http://www.freerice.com/

Via: Seth Godin

This article is taken from:  http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200711/200711060025.html. This explains why there is so much private institute dependencies. I’m not saying any education system is perfect, but I think the US has an edge, because the government does not interfere as much as the Korean government.

President Roh Moo-hyun’s son is attending business school in the U.S., and the president’s son-in-law is also going to law school there. Grand National Party presidential candidate Lee Myung-bak sent three of his four children to schools in the U.S. United New Democratic Party presidential candidate Chung Dong-young sent his son to a private school in the U.S. and then to a prestigious university there as well. There is nothing wrong with sending one’s children to good schools overseas. It is human nature to want to provide a good education for one’s sons, daughters and sons-in-law. This is something Koreans agree upon.

The key to resolving Korea’s educational problems is in finding a way to provide affordable and quality education in this country — the kind the president and presidential candidates were able to offer their children — regardless of financial or social status. How can that be done? It can be done by strengthening public education. If the educational pledges being made by the candidates fail to address the need to normalize public education, then they are fooling voters.

UNDP candidate Chung has announced a campaign pledge to replace the College Scholastic Ability Test with high school graduation competency tests, while banning universities from administering their own essay tests. Chung intends to use the new tests to determine whether a student is fit to receive a high school diploma. And universities will use not only grades, but extracurricular activities such as volunteer work, special interest activities and leadership work as standards to use in admitting new students.

If things go as Chung plans, pretty soon public education as we know it will cease to exist. In Korea’s present educational system, no teacher is encouraged to excel. Due to a curve system, 4 percent of all students fall into the 1 level category, while another 7 percent fall into the level 2 group. Teachers are not allowed to provide extra lessons to students who fall behind or to offer in-depth classes to gifted students. That’s because when one student’s academic rank goes up, another one’s rank will drop. To be called fair, a teacher must stand on the sidelines and just watch without emotional attachment. In the end, the parents and students bear all of the consequences of poor education rather than the teachers or the schools.

Chung’s educational reform pledge threatens to lower the quality of public education, which affects the children of ordinary Koreans and lower-income families. Wealthy Koreans and those in high places can simply send their children away to schools in other countries. And Chung’s educational reform plan threatens the very existence of special purpose high schools and self-supporting high schools, which were islands of quality schooling in Korea’s barren educational landscape. If Chung’s plan becomes reality, then parents will be forced to send their children to schools with relatively lower grade point averages that will be easier for their kids to succeed in. Such a policy is like forcing parents to leave the country with their children in search of better education.

In order to improve public education, schools and teachers must be allowed to compete in terms of the quality of their classes. We must let schools and teachers race against each other to come up with lessons that develop the abilities of students. Quality schooling must be available in Korea in order to keep ordinary parents from looking at overseas schools, like the president and presidential candidates did, and instead open the way for top-notch education to be received here in this country. This is what true educational reform should be all about.