it's one of the worst in the world.
so, my whole fucking asian group is breaking up right now.
not even from arguments or anything. SO MANY PEOPLE ARE LEAVING ST CUTHS.
rebecca got accepted to ACG today, which means shes not coming back in term 3.
maria's taking the entrance test to AIC on friday, and theres a 98.99% chance she'll get in.
rachel said she's leaving to ACG as well, and a lot of people have left our group or just drifted away.
As Cathee said to me on facebook:
EVEN EMOTICONS CAN'T EXPRESS THE LEVEL OF DISTRESS I FEEL.
I kinda want to go to AIC as well, but I'm on the fence about it because all the ass kissing I've done at St Cuths so far would be in vain. Haha. But AIC sounds like a good school for SATs and if you want to go to America for university. I'll go if I can get a scholarship, I guess.
So, er, can any yr13s (cough winnie, yujie) tell me whether St Cuths has any SAT prep or stuff like that?
Uh I'm not planning to go over seas for uni, but you can totally do SATs by yourself o.O
ReplyDeleteSome of my friends have done them, and I know that winnie has so you can ask her about that.
As for unis, I would strongly suggest you/everyone take a long hard and above all realistic look at going over seas for uni.
The general consensus is that going to America, all up, will be about $50 thousand a year including for uni and living costs (<- the big one), and you have to take into consideration that you will not be able to work that much. You would probably only be able to earn enough money for your own expenses like shopping.
Australia is also similar but slightly better, its around $30 or so thousand a year, maybe more.
And realistically the possibility of getting a scholarship to these unis is um. slim to nothing, especially as many don't have that many scholarships avaliable (to NZ students) to BEGIN with. If you're planning to go over seas you might as well go to a good one right, and let me just tell you now, those are pretty damned hard to get in..
So I'm just saying this isn't something you should decide lightly. From my experience many of my friends were considering America uni, right now I know of 2 people definitely going (already accepted), and 1 person trying for it this year. (although its true I don't know /that/ many people)
Similarly a lot of people say that they want to go to Australia for uni, but I highly doubt that most, if any of them will be going - a lot of people underestimate the costs surrounding things like this. Also although we're lucky and get to pay domestic fees for Australian unis (international is like $30 thousand a course from memory - domestic around $10) they have NO student loans and NO student allowances avaliable to New Zealand citizens. If you hold an Australian passport thats a different matter.
So.. yeah. thats just my perspective.
Your friends in high school will keep changing :) don't worry, it's normal. the whole 'group' thing shouldn't really be there in the first place tbh, why would you limit yourself so exclusively like that :O don't limit yourself from meeting all sorts of cool people...
ReplyDeleteAnd, you shouldn't let the fact that you go to different schools put too much distance between you and your friends either; if you're really good friends you'll still find time to hang out. Just this wednesday I went out to dinner with one of my friends who left st. cuths at the end of year 9 :)
Moving on to your specific request:
LOOL "I kinda want to go to AIC as well, but I'm on the fence about it because all the ass kissing I've done at St Cuths so far would be in vain." exactly how I felt. I was offered a scholarship but turned it down.
Yujie's obviously pushing for AUS unis :P
Firstly, I am intending on studying undergrad in the US. St. Cuth's doesn't offer SAT prep, but we have equal opportunity as the AIC people to sit the SAT's. I went to a prep class that was out of school (which was taught by an english teacher from AIC), and there were students in the class from Maclean's, Dio, AIC, senior college, auckland grammar. Sitting the SAT is not limited to AIC students. However, they do get better support when applying for their universities because that's just the way they work; a lot of their students get their application fees paid by the school if they think they have potential.
As for performance, I got the top mark in the SAT for that class after taking the exam, alongside all the AIC students also taking it with me. At a later date (like, a year later) one of them resat and got the same mark as me. My point here is that you don't need to go to AIC to get a good SAT grade cos it's not the school that's important, it's you as an individual. That being said, application fees are only like $75USD per school.
AIC lacks the resources (right now) for extensive extracurriculars. I think a really good thing about St. Cuth's is that it takes teaching beyond the classroom; we have a lot of opportunity here to do community service, sports, cultural activities etc that universities will be looking for in their apps. HOWEVER, this may change because AIC's campus is moving from town to blockhouse bay next term, where they have a much wider campus with... well, grass and trees and stuff, so they may be getting better at that stuff, idk, I can't speak for the future.
Also despite our school's lack of SAT prep specifically, Ms Scott the career's advisor knows what she's doing when handling students' applications for the US; in the last few years that I can remember off the top of my head we've had students going to Northwestern University, Amherst College, University of Pennsylvania. If you're willing to put in a little more work yourself without extra guidance into your college apps (and extra guidance you can always find outside of school if you need it), then Ms Scott will honestly take care of the fundamentals :)
Another thing I worried about when deciding if I should go to AIC or not was that going there would put me on the same level as everyone else. The asian demographic at AIC is huge; I was worried that I'd be overlooked as just another part of the group. However they still get a ridiculous number of acceptances based on their individual merits because universities know how to distinguish between students so it's probably not an issue. idk if itwould be a factor for you or not, just something to think about I guess.
Feel free to FB me at any time if you wanna ask some questions lol.
OH WOW did not realise I typed an essay HHAHAHA SORRY.
ReplyDeleteoh yeah just another thing concerning cost, if Ms Scott tells her that there are no merit scholarships for top US unis except MIT, IGNORE THIS STATEMENT; MIT does NOT give merit scholarships. not that it would affect us either way because you'd have to be a fricken child prodigy to get one.
ReplyDeletemost universities in the states offer financial aid, which is basically, if you get accepted, the school will pay for whatever you can't. most students in those universities are technically there "on scholarship", because the school has paid for what they can't afford themselves. it's more complicated for international students though, because a lot of them are not need-blind, which means that they will see whether you need financial aid when they read your application will take that into account when they decide whether to accept or reject you. that being said there are universities who ARE need-blind to international students, one of which is princeton I THINK, do not quote me on this one as I am not 100% sure.
also the line about applications being only $75USD in my previous comment was meant to be on the end of the previous paragraph, in case you were wondering why it didn't make sense.
lol tbh I know next to nothing about American unis so I decided to keep my mouth shut hahaha
ReplyDeleteBASICALLY what *I* think (feel free to completely ignore what I think) is that
- yes you can definitely get into an American uni if you don't go to AIC - its just they give more support for it, which is helpful I guess. Probably depends on the people, for some people it might have made a huge difference, for others maybe not
- maybe I'm just being idk pessimistic, but I bet not everyone thats saying they wanna go overseas for uni will go, (because of what I said before) and then out of those people a lot will go to Auckland Uni anyway, or maybe at least for under grad,
so based on those two things I wouldn't put so much pressure on the changing schools thing
but in the end, if you really wanted to stay friends with them, the different schools thing won't matter :)
believe me when I say there will always be new and awesome people to make friends with (although we know its hard in yr 10/etc)
woah that was a lot to read, haha.
ReplyDeleteTHANK YOU FOR WRITING ALL OF THAT! i'm not even sure how to reply :S
well, i know i'll make new friends and i will keep in touch and stuff, but still, it's reeally sad :(
and yeah i havent really thought about money as being an issue, even though it definitely will be.
i like that st cuths has all the extra curricular stuff, and it's funny cuz my mum read this thing about how US unis care about what extracurricular stuff you do more than just your SAT scores, yet AIC barely offer any. my friend was at the AIC entrance interview and the principal told her that they didn't care about extracurriculars at all in their school - they just wanted you to get good grades.
i've never really been keen on aussie unis bcuz i feel like it's pretty much just like nz unis, so whats the point on leaving nz when i've grown up here and have a life here.
i'll probably go to an SAT prep class then. Winnie, did u start going to one in year 11 or in year 12? and can you give me the details about it (like the address, times etc)?
wth does need blind mean? :S i googled it and i'm still like, wut. you kinda lost me there in that whole paragraph on financial aid...
and i get that entrance into a US uni is a long shot, but if others can do it, why can't I too? :)
oh, and another thing. both of you do NCEA, which is something that St Cuths is really good at teaching. but i want to do IB, and thats something that AIC is really good at. so that's why I kind of want to go to AIC. i hear that IB is really good to do if you want to become a doctor, because the IB course is a lot like studying at university, and theres so much competition the first year of uni, so you need to be able to do well the first year without the professors 'spoon feeding' you everything like our teachers do in the NCEA course.
"i've never really been keen on aussie unis bcuz i feel like it's pretty much just like nz unis, so whats the point on leaving nz when i've grown up here and have a life here." that's exactly how I feel hahaha
ReplyDeleteI did my SAT prep class in the summer between y11 and y12 and did the SAT that january. It's only 8 lessons over 2 weeks. It was like 3 hours per lesson I think. I did it at Mt. Hobson Middle School on remuera road, it was really expensive but you get dinner served to you cos it's afternoon to evening, and the teacher is really good (altho idk if she will still be teaching when you do it haha). you can call them to enquire on 6230366. the receptionist speaks mandarin (probably cos a lot of asians go there. the SAT prep teacher is a romanian English teacher, she doesn't do any prep on maths because, her words, "you're all asian so you can get 800 on the maths section easily already." she focuses on writing and reading.)
Basically when u apply for universities you say whether you need financial aid or not (like, if u can pay 100% of the fees if you get accepted, or if you'd need extra monetary assistance). Need-blind schools do not see whether you need money when they consider your application. Schools that are not need-blind will see whether you need money or not when they look at your application, so obviously if they have 2 identical candidates and 1 needs money and 1 doesn't, they would be more inclined to accept the one that doesn't need money. Need-blind schools wouldn't be able to tell the difference.
I can't speak for what IB is like obviously, however I have taken a uni paper and know people in uni; I think that if you are originally an independent person who works hard then it won't matter that much whether you have had the extra experience or not, as long as you have self-motivation and drive. But I do think that it is probably an advantage to have done IB so that the jump to uni isn't as shocking; I know for eg that stage 1 maths papers at auckland uni cover almost the same things as HL maths in IB.
I was actually originally intending to take IB (3 sciences, english, economics and french), I even did the interview process and got everything validated but I realised that I hate bio and I began pushing for 2 sciences+art, but they just refused to let me, which is why I changed my options for y12 back to NCEA. I haven't regretted it, although I am really jealous of TOK classes (but its k I just borrow TOK suggested reading from the library LOL).
I just don't get it, I mean so many people are moving schools when they're quite lucky to be at St Cuths in the first place. People say it isn't a good school but honestly? If you can't settle for a school like this you're going to be pretty hard to please.
ReplyDeleteI do get that there is more academic focus at other schools but I think St Cuths has a really good all-round experience that is hard to come by. And quite honestly most of the teachers care if you do well. I am damn lucky to be at the school and even though it's hard to adjust to the exclusivity of the friendship groups and all that, I don't think I'd ever think seriously about moving unless I lost my scholarship. Which I hope doesn't happen...
Anyway, I'm not talking directly to you and I'm not lecturing you or anything, even though it might seem like it, but still, I feel like lots of people are starting to take advantage of the school. I feel like I've got heaps of opportunities that I wouldn't have anywhere else.
As for university...
Well...
I'm just going to wait till I get there. That's my style. I'll try to do well in exams but my future is not entirely in my own hands. I know pretty well that anything can happen.
And please don't move!!! Too many people have. You're an awesome friend so if you move I will be sad. :'( <---- Understatement :)
Love,
Soph
Oh and btw, I have a friend who went to Mt Roskill Grammar. She did NCEA, got scholarships to Auckland Uni and is now in her 3rd year of medicine. And I think medicine is what you're aiming for? Anyway, she got like, an A+ grade average for her mid years this year. So I'm just saying that if you have enough motivation, which I'm absolutely certain you do, you can do well whatever you come from. Even if you don't want to study at Auckland Uni, it's good for undergrad. Anyway, I'm not that experienced so you don't have to listen to me, just kind of saying whatever I know. It's coming out like word vomit at the moment so sorry :(
ReplyDeletelol there are a lot of reasons to consider aus unis over america, I find that generally if people go to uni over seas they plan to stay there, at least for a while, some people may not want to go to the US (for their own reasons - too big too far away dont like it) and aus is a choice which is close to nz (close to friends and family) however the size of the cities is also significantly larger/bigger country/better economical situation means that some people feel there will be more options there and more opportunities.
ReplyDeletealso moving from nz to aus is a significantly smaller change than from nz to america,
and the costs may factor in to other peoples decisions
esp if they want to go overseas but do not have the financial capability to go to america (uni fees)
approximately twenty thousand more a year is a lot, thats like a year of st cuths school fees ON TOP of the (approximate) 30 thousand of australia
SO HI GUYS, I'M GOING TO JOIN THIS CONVO.
ReplyDeleteI dislike how people are so set on the idea of 'America'! Imo, Australia and UK unis are as good as US. There are all these people leaving St Cuth's (*cough* Maria) who think that going to AIC will maximize their chances to get into an American uni. It will improve her chances, maybe, but I still think she could do fine here. :/
Y'know, there's always the option of Auckland Uni for your bachelor's, and then you can do your master's somewhere overseas!
And I've got a bunch of SAT study books (well, the pdf files) if you ever need them. And two PSAT books. :D
And thanks for mentioning me in your post. I appreciate it. :D
^"I dislike how people are so set on the idea of 'America'! Imo, Australia and UK unis are as good as US."
ReplyDeletewhy dislike it though if it's their choice? if someone was really set on the idea of 'Australia' or 'UK' would you still dislike it as much? Or is it just the country? :/ just wondering.
faslkdjf;lj I didn't explain it properly. More, like, how I haven't found anyone who'd be satisfied with the idea of going to Aus or UK, or even NZ? Like, how America is the only possible outcome or otherwise nothing.
ReplyDeleteI don't think so. I think part of it is still you subconsciously singling out America. I mean I bet if you asked 50 random people you know, most of them would be planning to stay in NZ for uni. Why's that overshadowed by the smaller percentage of people aiming for US?
ReplyDeleteBut apart from that I know where you're coming from. However, actually it fully makes sense to me why people would aim for US over Aus or UK. Honestly let's face it, Australasian universities are not up there with UK/US. Yes they are good, but they just aren't the best alongside the Ivy Leagues (top rated Australian uni is ANU at #20 which is mainly graduate, one under that is University of Sydney at #37). (http://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/world-university-rankings/2010)
Talking about ILs actually brings me to the next point, being that people want to be part of this elite group 'the ivy leagues'. It's just in human nature to want to belong to something exclusive.
Finally, why not UK? Many people still end up aiming for Cambridge or Oxford btw. I think the reason more people aim for US though is that UK is simply too far away. It's literally on the other side of the world, it takes about 40 hours of flying to get there compared to US only about 20. It's a practicality issue, same as if you asked why not Switzerland or Canada (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology #18, McGill University #19, both above ANU). Actually some ppl still choose Canada tbh.
Plus another reason being a lot of people choose to stay in the country they're studying in. Switzerland is relatively isolated. As for UK/US, many people have relatives who already live in US as opposed to UK, or they want to live there after they graduate because the economic situation there is better than in UK.
Just sayin, don't hate on America; even if half of the population is retarded and over half is obese, I can see some merit in why people would choose to study there. :P
Must be harsh. I felt everyone already left in yr 9.
ReplyDelete