Pinkpau’s Guide to US College Applications, Part 1

October 2nd, 2008

this is a walkthrough post written for students who are applying to colleges in the United States, mainly geared towards Malaysian students. the US college application process is a long, arduous and confusing one, so i’ve compiled a sort of to-do list peppered with little tips and advice on how to navigate the application process.

at the time of writing, it is October 2008, with about 3 full months to go before the December/January deadlines for most regular decision applicants. so if you’re still a little bit confused at this point in time, fear not! :) i am here to help! in case you are feeling extremely panicky right now, let me assure you that there is time. i only got started on my applications in mid-November during my year, so if i could finish applying to 8 schools in 6 weeks, you definitely can do the same in 12 weeks :)

the forms and requirements differ across the schools, but most schools use the Common App, plus an additional school-specific supplement. for the purpose of this walkthrough, i’ll be referring mostly to the Common App, but forms from schools that don’t use the Common App (eg University of Chicago, Columbia) should be similar anyway.

before i begin, i want to say that my walkthrough should not be read as a sure-fire way of guaranteed acceptance into the Ivy League or your choice of schools. it should be read as a guide written by someone who has learned the ropes of the app process, and it is up to you to extract from this walkthrough what is relevant to you, and then apply it to your own application. the most important thing to remember is that your application is all about YOU. what worked for me and my friends may not work for you, and vice versa. so it is crucial for you, as an applicant, to be discerning enough to pick out from this walkthrough the tips that will complement your application, and discard those that do not. remember that all successful applicants have very different kinds of applications, and that there is no one formula that is ‘the way’ to go.

and with that, let’s begin :)

1. SECONDARY SCHOOL REPORT (ENVELOPE 1)

the big question about secondary school report for most Malaysians is always: “What does Secondary School mean - my high school or my college/pre-U forms?”. assuming you completed Form 5 and also completed some form of post-secondary school education (A Levels, STPM, International Baccalaureate, ADP etc), my advice is to use your high school results in your Secondary School Report (SSR), and then your college/Pre-U in the Mid Year Report (MYR).

If you completed BOTH high school and college/Pre-U:
the best way to go is: High School results in SSR; College results in MYR. some schools require that you send in at least 4 years of high school results, some schools require just one or two years. send in what they ask of you, but remember that this can be tweaked to your advantage. if they ask for only two years, but your Form 3 (PMR) results were really good, send those in as well. trial/forecast results are not necessary if they were bad; what’s important are your final exam grades.

If you completed ONLY high school:
i would strongly advise against this path if you want to apply to the Ivies, because this was pretty much what i did and i think it was the weakest aspect of my application. without Pre-U, you are pretty much at an academic handicap compared to the rest of international students in the applicant pool. plus, college/Pre-U provides a good 1-2 years for you to pick up extracurricular activities and achievements to make your application look stronger. chances are that your application will look very bare with only SPM and high school activities under your belt.

however, if you really dont want to spend 1-2 years doing Pre-U, and you believe that you will be a successful applicant, then fine, apply. i do have friends who applied with SPM only and were successfully admitted into top liberal arts colleges and other top universities, but i only know of one person who did this and got into an Ivy (hello Matt!).

so your forms depend on how long ago it was that you graduated Form 5. if it was a year ago, then you will have your SPM results already. use Form 1 to Form 5 + Trials grades for SSR, and the SPM results for both MYR and Final Year Report. again, you can tweak this to however you want, just make sure that the emphasis is on your SPM results.

if you dont have your SPM results yet, ie you are applying in the midst of your Form 5 year, use Form 1 - 4 as your SSR, and Form 5 Trials/Forecast as your MYR. when your SPM results come in in March, send that in as your Final Year Report.

Navigating the Secondary School Report:

all Malaysian applicants should attach a counselor’s letter with their SSR and MYR explaining that the Malaysian system is very different from the American one, ie we dont use semester/trimesters, GPAs, weighted/unweighted and we really dont know how many people in our graduating class are going to attend a 4-year college. the forms will have a lot of jargon we dont use but the helpful tips are:

a) CONVERT THE UNFAMILIAR: convert whatever you can convert, ie your SPM results to GPA, but make sure you (or rather, your counselor) TELL them in a letter that you did a conversion. for instance, i got 12A’s and 1B in my SPM, so what i would do is convert it to a weighted GPA that would be 3.92 out of 4.00. my class rank would be 2 out of 151, because one girl in my school got 13A’s and i placed second at 12A’s, and the period would be Jan 2005 - Dec 2005.

you can choose to cross out the whole section and write “Not Applicable”, but i think this may potentially harm you if the admissions committee (hereafter referred to as adcom) use a specific formula or index to rank their applicants. remember that converting is not necessary, but it’s what i did and it worked for me and they didnt ask me any questions. if you choose to do this, make sure you WRITE A LETTER explaining that you converted! this is VERY important.

b) MAIL IN INSTEAD OF SUBMITTING ONLINE: instead of submitting the forms electronically, get your counselor to complete a hard copy of the forms. trust me on this one… it’s so much easier to cross out and annotate stuff on the forms. one example would be the list of semester/trimester subjects on the first page. on a hard copy, you can just cross out the semester/trimester and write Final Year of High School and number your SPM subjects to more than 7 subjects. if you do this electronically, you can only fill out 7 subjects ‘per semester’, which is totally not right because we dont use semesters and we mostly take more than 7 subjects a year.

c) EVALUATION ESSAY: after all that technical stuff, comes the space for an evaluation / recommendation letter from your counselor. refer to Number 4 of this walkthrough.

d) TRANSCRIPTS: your high school grades should come attached with the SSR. use paper clips, not staples, make sure all photocopies have a stamp of “Certified True Copy” (obtain stamp from your school), and that all reports in Bahasa Malaysia are attached to an English translation. no, your translation doesnt have to come from an ‘official translator’ even though they say so; just make sure you translate everything correctly and you should be fine. report card photocopies are the norm for the SSR, though you can try asking your school if they print out nice tabled versions of your exam grades over the year. mine does! all transcripts should also come with an official letterhead or official signature from a counselor/exam secretary or teacher.

e) LASTLY: the SSR is filled out by your counselor, not you. so if your counselor has never completed an SSR, you have to guide your counselor through the forms. fill in 00000 for CEEB code if you are submitting electronically and they dont accept a blank field.

2. MID YEAR REPORT (ENVELOPE 2)

the MYR is exactly the same as the SSR.

If you completed BOTH high school and college/Pre-U:
now that your SSR is complete with your high school information and transcript, your college info and transcript should come under the MYR. college counselors are usually a little stricter about the forms than high school counselors, and they would not allow you to convert grades and class standing like in the SSR, so you have to cross out and write NA where not applicable. but if they let you convert and are willing to put their signature to it, then cool.

most college counselors know how to complete the SSR and write evaluations, so no worries there.

attach your latest college grades to the MYR. if you already have your final results, that’s best (in this case you dont have to send in a Final Year Report, but notify them that your MYR and your FYR are the same.. again, in a letter). if you dont have your final results yet, then send in trials or forecasts. dont even think about skipping out on the MYR and choosing to submit only an FYR! it doesnt work that way. most applicants submit an FYR only after they get their acceptance letters, so the FYR has no standing at all in your acceptance/rejection.

If you only did high school:
refer to my ‘high school only’ part of the SSR section and complete your forms accordingly. it’s a tricky one deciding which grades to put in MYR and SSR, but do what you think looks best for yourself :)

3. TEACHER RECOMMENDATIONS (ENVELOPE 3 AND 4)

your teacher and counselor recommendations are extremely important to your application, some say even more important than your academic results, and so it is crucial that your recommendations are well-written and glowing.

the forms are pretty straight forward, so there’s no need for a guide on that. what i will share however is how to help your two teachers write you good recommendation letters. most schools require two recommendations, but if your school only requires one (eg New York University) send in two anyway. refer to Part 9 - Additional Stuff to find out why more stuff is good sometimes.

a) BRAGGING WITHOUT BEING A BRAGGART: the most important thing to know about recommendations is that this is the part of your application where you can shamelessly display your glorious achievements and shining personality without doing it yourself :) because someone else is doing the talking, it doesnt look like you’re bragging, which is good. so if there are any parts of you that you had to hold back from talking about in your essays because you were afraid of sounding braggy, this is where those parts should go.

b) CHOOSE RECOMMENDERS WELL: the first thing you should do is choose two teachers that know you the best. yes, it matters whether or not they are good writers, but it matters even more that the teachers you choose know you well enough to be able to write a very special recommendation for you. i want to emphasize that it is important to have a special recommendation. a letter with perfect grammar but with boring statements like “Su Ann is a good student. she is responsible, helpful, always punctual and turns in homework on time” is not going to do very much for you.

what is a special recommendation? it is a recommendation that sticks in the minds of the adcom when they review you and speaks about what a truly unique individual you are. something that i thought about while applying that i would have loved to do, was get my Add Math teacher to write my letter. i absolutely hated Add Math, i never did any of her homework, i skipped most of her classes, failed all the exams (except for the 2nd trial exam), she had nothing but the highest disdain for me, and it is for all these reasons that i think she would have wrote me an excellent letter. it’s a good story to tell, and despite looking like it would have reflected badly on me, i assure you it can be written to become the most perfect recommendation letter ever :) sadly, school was closed and she was on vacation when i went back to get recommendation letters, so i never got to ask her :(

c) NARROW DOWN: next, think about what you want your recommenders to write about you. in order to fully utilize the recommendation concept, what you would want to do is make sure there are no overlaps between what your 3 recommenders (two teachers + 1 counselor) write, meaning they should all address different aspects of you. there is no point if ALL of them write similar letters addressing only, say, your academic prowess - it’s a waste of space.

so help each of your recommenders narrow down one or two aspects (different and varied) of you that you would like addressed. for instance, my english teacher wrote about my debating, public speaking and writing abilities and also about my class participation. my chemistry teacher wrote about narrowed-down aspects of my personality (ie, friendly, helpful, kind etc). my counselor wrote about my leadership abilities and my academics. see! :) very varied and no overlaps. though it would be good for you to have a common thread between all your three letters. it’s up to you to figure out what this common thread should be, but sometimes it shines through even without you having to think about it.

d) SPECIFIC IS BETTER THAN GENERAL: another rule of thumb for recommendations is that specific examples are always better than general statements. anyone can say, “Su Ann is smart, generous, kind, helpful, a thinker, a good debater etc”, but such sweeping statements are forgettable and are not going to prove anything. so once you have picked out the aspects of you that you want in your letters, supplement these things with specific examples.

if you are smart, how smart are you? if you are helpful, when? if you have leadership, how so? let me give you an example. when my counselor wrote about my academics, instead of saying “she is a smart student from the top class”, she wrote about how i insisted on taking Add Math in SPM even though i hated it and was constantly advised to drop it, and also how i took two extra subjects in SPM that weren’t offered by my school, and home-studied for these subjects and eventually got A1’s. besides speaking of academic prowess, such examples also speak of determination and a welcoming of challenge. AND it’s proof that you are indeed smart, kind, generous, a good leader, and all else that the letter says you are.

e) COMPARISON TO PEERS: i think it’s a good idea to somehow work in a relative standing in comparison to the rest of your peers. if you chose for one of your recommenders to write about a certain skill that you have, you could request for your recommender to say that you are THE BEST in your whole school in this aspect, but only if it’s true, of course. for example, my english teacher & debate trainer wrote that i was the best writer and orator that he had ever trained! i was SO grateful for that :D

f) COMPILE A LIST: after having a discussion with your recommenders, give them a short list of what you would like them to address. simply to refresh their memories while they work on your letter :) i would strongly advise against writing the letters yourself and asking them to just sign it. writing a ‘recommendation’ from yourself looks more obvious than you’d think. the adcoms are probably experienced enough to tell a fake letter from an original..

g) NOT A RESUME: remember that the recommendation letters are very subjective spaces that bring out sides of you that the more objective and technical parts of the application cannot. so for this reason, dont ask your recommenders to write about you winning this and that award, you getting straight A’s every year, or even worse, a whole list of all the activities that you participate in. it’s redundant and a waste of space because all this information is already available in other parts of your app.

instead, get your recommenders to write about the side of you that’s not put on paper so far. when my english teacher wrote about my debating and writing achievements, he mentioned only very briefly the awards i’d won, but dedicated whole paragraphs to how diligently i worked to win these awards, how i fostered close relationships with my debate team members, and also how much writing meant to me. things like that :)

h) FORMAT: the format doesnt really matter, as long as it reads like a good essay and has Dear Sir at the top and your recommender’s signature and title at the bottom. you can have your school address at the top if you want, but you can save space by getting your letters printed on school stationery with a letterhead. it looks much more official with a letterhead anyway.

4. COUNSELOR RECOMMENDATION (in Envelope 2)

everything about teacher recommendations can be applied to counselor recommendations. but a few things anyway:

a) WHO IS MY COUNSELOR?: if you dont know who your counselor is, you can pick from any school official that holds some kind of administrative post other than teacher. it could be your principal, your vice principal, your penolong kanan hal ehwal (this was mine!), academic advisor, form teacher or even class teacher. pick whoever knows you best. an awesome letter from a class teacher is better than a boring letter from the principal himself any day.

b) HIGH SCHOOL OR COLLEGE RECOMMENDATIONS?: if you did both high school and college, the other question is: where should your recommendations come from, high school or college? i would suggest that all 3 of your recommendations come from the same institution, but pick the institution that has recommenders who would write you the better letters. i think for most of us, this would be our high school, because we would have spent 5 years there and the teachers would know us better, as compared to college where most admins and professors dont even know we exist.

c) counselor recommendations should come attached to the SSR. you should have two recommendations from two different counselors if you decide to send in high school transcript for SSR and college transcript for MYR.

5. SAT SCORES (Sent online via COLLEGEBOARD)

you should be taking the SAT Reasoning (hereafter referred to as SAT 1) test and the SAT Subject Tests (SAT 2) if you want to apply to american colleges. almost all schools require the SAT 1, but not all schools require the SAT 2. all ivies do require at least two SAT 2 subjects however, and my suggestion is to just take the SAT 2 anyway, because again, if the adcoms use a formula or an index to rank their applicants, you lose out if you dont have the SAT 2.

i’m not going to explain what the SAT exams are because you should know by now. if you dont, go to collegeboard.com and read up! what i will address are:

a) IMPORTANCE OF SCORES: SAT scores arent as important as you think. really. i know everyone always stresses out about not getting 2300 and above, but may i humbly say that i dont think there is much of a difference between 2100 and 2400. if you get below 2000, then yes, time to re-sit, but anything above that should be fine. the SATs are not the best indicator of your thinking skills and academic abilities, and the adcoms know that. a good essay, glowing recommendations and solid academic transcripts will offset a 2000 SAT score easily. so the SATs should really be the least of your worries. but of course, dont slack off lah.

b) SAT SUBJECT TESTS: everyone always asks me what subjects to take for SAT 2. i dont think it’s that important. you can do it two ways: choose to take subjects that you’re already good in and thus get good scores, or you can choose to take subjects that you have never studied before (ie US History) and look like you’re up for a challenge. anything goes, really, but personally i would choose to go with the safe subjects that bring in high scores, because i dont think the adcom will scrutinize your choice of SAT 2 subjects. and if you must know, i did Math 1, Math 2 and English Literature.

c) SCORES SUBMISSION: you choose where to send your SAT score reports either on the day of testing itself or within a week (free for about 5 or so schools), or later when the scores are already out (you pay extra). i chose to pay extra because i didnt know what schools i wanted to go to until very late into the year. scores MUST be sent directly though collegeboard and not from you, so dont send a hard copy of your SAT scores to the schools you’re applying to.

d) RE-SITTING IS NOT ALWAYS GOOD: once you order a score report, Collegeboard accumulates ALL your SAT scores and sends them off in one go. this is where re-sitting over and over again will look really bad on you. so if you got 2300 on your first try, dont go and re-sit until you get a 2400. it’s silly, and looks silly too when you see all the accumulated repetitive scores on one sheet. pardon my bluntness, but it will look like you have nothing better to do with your time than obsess over 100 or so points.

6) TOEFL SCORES (Sent online via ETS)

the TOEFL exam is supposedly mandatory for Malaysian applicants, because we are an English As Second Language country. TOEFL is a very easy test of your writing, reading, listening and speaking of the English language, but it is also very expensive.

you can actually opt out of taking TOEFL if you can prove that you have a high command of english from your school english exam scores, but most importantly, if you can score a 700 and above for the Critical Reading section in SAT 1. this cut-off score varies from school to school, but if you look hard enough, you should be able to find the required minimum score on their websites. regardless, email them anyway to ask how you can opt out of TOEFL.

but if you’ve got money to spare or are under a scholarship, just take the TOEFL. it’s easy. if you really dont want to, make sure you write a letter justifying why you didnt take the test and prove that you can speak English well.

7. ESSAYS (SENT ONLINE)

because this post is looking ridiculously long already, and the Essay section will be REALLY long, i will write about essays in a separate post :) it should be up by next week if you guys want me to write it.

8. RESUME (ENVELOPE 5)

a resume is not required at all, but i am telling you this is THE KEY TO SUCCESS!!! okay lah not THE key, but definitely a very important key. if you’ve looked at the app forms, you would find that there’s barely any space for you to list down your most important co-curricular activities, let alone expound on the significance of these activities, and to add to that, the forms usually require the category of your activities.

most of us would have a LOT of activities we consider important, and then there are some of us who have activities that just dont fit in any category. this is where the resume is crucial. you get to list ALL your activities as well as explain the significance and your role in these activities (very important), all in one very comprehensive and organized list. one look at it and anyone can tell where your strengths lie.

i am attaching a sample resume HERE, complete with the format. it belongs to Kiasu Andrew, and when you see the resume for yourself, you will know why i gave him that nickname. do not be threatened by how mind-blowingly extensive that resume looks; keep in mind that Andrew is not human!

the resume speaks for itself, but just to give a little bit of advice on resumes for college applications:

a) STRUCTURE: this is a good place for you to give some structure to some kind of hobby/talent that you have developed but doesnt have a place in a traditional application. one of mine, for instance, was event management. back in school and college, i used to organize a lot of events, fundraisers and parties. i organized an average of 3 major events a year, most of which were for charity. it seems like a really random ‘talent’ to want to channel time and effort into, but it was something i truly enjoyed doing and was very good at. so i had a category called ‘Event Chairing and Organization Experiences’ in my resume, and in italics i would put the amount of money i raised for charity though my event. it emphasized the fact that event management is a developed hobby of mine that displays initiative (giving birth to ideas for new events), leadership (chairing of events), community significance (raising money for charity) and diversity of talent (not many people have event management in their resumes!).

b) THE HOOK: when putting together your resume, as well as the rest of your application, a very important thing to keep in mind is whether you are choosing to present yourself as an all-rounder, or a very specific kind of applicant. ask yourself if you have a talent that is SO developed, that it is enough for you to make the adcoms at the Ivies sit up and say, ‘we want this kid’s talent!’. an example would be a sport that you excel in and represent the state/country for, or mathematical and science ability that is heads and shouders above your peers. take this talent and make it the backbone of your resume, but ensure that you have enough awards/achievements to support this ‘main talent’ or ‘hook’ as we call it. it should be so that when someone looks at your resume, they know instantly what you are best at.

if you dont have an extremely prominent hook, it’s okay, but you have to dig around and determine which is the most defined of your talents/achievements. mine was writing and debating/public speaking, and this was the backbone of my resume. but if you ask me, i think i was more the all-rounder rather than the specialized applicant. which brings us to…

c) DON’T CLUTTER: a big mistake for college applications in general is cluttering it up with random activities and awards in a panicked attempt to buff up your application. dont make this mistake in your app, and also in your resume. i’ve seen sample resumes that included silly things like: ‘Delegate at XYZ Event - a participant at a discussion panel on youth study skills by renowned speaker ABC Tan’ when in fact these ‘events’ are SPM ceramahs where anyone can get in with an RM 10 fee. i mean, seriously, putting in things like this and also some random pantun award from Std 6 is going to highlight the fact that you actually have nothing significant to bring to the table, and worst of all, makes you look like an exaggerater who cant be trusted.

do away with small events and awards that have little to no significance. these things only serve to distract from the achievements that really matter. even if you dont have a lot to put in your resume, it’s better to have quality than diluted quantity.

d) THE BULLET POINTS: if you look at Andrew’s resume, which is done in an excellent format by the way, you’d see that the bullet points are what lends the most impact to each activity. this is where you tell the adcom exactly what’s so cool and significant about how you choose to spend your time. should you have the information at hand, here are some things you could put in bullet points: amount of money raised, hours in a week spent developing this activity, national ranking, exclusivity, pioneership if you spearheaded the project, and if not immediately obvious, the job scope.

8. PEER RECOMMENDATION

a peer recommendation is a letter written by someone your age who knows you very well and can vouch for your abilities and character. of the schools i applied to, only Dartmouth required this, and it was the only school that i sent a peer rec in to. early this year, i put this peer recommendation up on my blog for all to see, but eventually i took it down. however.. because so many people have been asking to see it, it’s now back up on my blog. click HERE.

a) USE THIS SPACE WISELY: like the teacher and counselor recommendations, the peer recommendation is yet another avenue for you to show a part of yourself that the other more objective parts of your application can’t. if you read the rec that songjun wrote for me, you’ll see that he did me a huge favor by addressing my volunteer work. most people with significant volunteer experience choose to write about that in their personal statements (essays), but because songjun already did it for me, i could use that space to write about something else :)

b) PERSONALITY: i would think that the peer recommendation is the best area to talk about the softer side of your personality - how you interact with people, what you like to do, what you are as a person from another person’s point of view. so if you could, leave the academic and extra curricular talk to the teacher and counselor recs, and get your peer to write about your personality and how s/he sees you. again, look at the tips up there in the teacher recommendation section, and apply what is relevant to the peer recommendation

c) CHOOSE A SPECIAL PERSON: i really really loved the letter that songjun wrote for me, and it’s so perfect because i picked the one person who knows me best. but here’s my best advice ever for a peer recommendation: it doesnt have to be the person who knows you best, and this person doesnt even have to be a good writer :) it can be someone you share a very special and unique relationship with, someone whose life you truly impacted. think about it!

9. ADDITIONAL STUFF (ENVELOPE 6)

like the resume, there are also additional things that you can put into your application, such as art folios or tapes of music/dance performances. some schools have forms for you to fill in if you want to send in supplements, and sometimes they say explicitly they only want artistic supplements.

i would be very, very careful when choosing to send in additional stuff, especially when there are forms you have to go through or if they say they dont want any additional stuff from you. this could make you seem like someone who doesnt follow instructions and hence work against you, but there are cases where the risk is worth taking.

of course, not all schools are so anal about this; in fact, only one of the schools i applied to explicitly stated they didnt want additional stuff, so i sent in an employer recommendation to my other 7 colleges. i also sent in an additional personal statement (essay) to all my schools.

so if you have something that you feel is crucial to be shown to the adcom, i would say go ahead and send it in. your application is all about YOU, and the more they know about you, the better. just make sure your supplement is something that’s worth their time, or it’s going to be another instance of an applicant cluttering up their folder with too many irrelevant things…

10. FEE WAIVER (ENVELOPE 7)

this is very useful if you are applying to lots of schools (it’s an average of 70 USD to apply to one school), and will offset the money you will spend on courier services to send in all your apps. most of us will qualify for the fee waiver. THIS is the fee waiver that i used when i was applying, which you should get your counselor to sign and either submit electronically or on paper.

———————–

that’s all folks :) i hope i covered everything there is to cover in the US College Application process. this should answer most of the questions that you guys have, but if not, feel free to leave a comment here or email me if you have any concerns.

i actually have two more parts of my US College Application walkthrough - one post is advice for the essays/personal statements.. and the other one is a secret! please let me know if you would like to read either or both posts, cos both posts are going to take a lot of time to compile, just like this one did.

remember, your application is about you, and there is no sure-fire formula that is the one way to a successful application :)

The author of this walkthrough was accepted for the class of 2012 at Columbia University, University of Pennsylvania, Swarthmore College, University of Chicago, New York University and University of Michigan. She is now a freshman at Columbia University in New York, and doesn’t know yet what she wants to major in, but she’s pretty sure it’s not going to be math. Su Ann is also known as Pinkpau and likes ice cream.

Entry Filed under: US College Application Advice

116 Comments Add your own

  • 1. Cherrie  |  October 2nd, 2008 at 2:02 pm

    *eye glazes over*

    that is one loooooooooooooong guide. Very detailed though. :)

  • 2. : olivia  |  October 2nd, 2008 at 2:15 pm

    thank you so much for this! i was just talking to my friends about US colleges and i was starting to get worried. THANK YOUU T__T

  • 3. pinkpau  |  October 2nd, 2008 at 2:16 pm

    hi everyone,

    i’ll be checking the comments regularly for this page, up till january even, so feel free to leave your questions here and i will try my best to get to them.

    you can also email me at pinkpau [at] gmail.com :) i may take up to a couple of days to reply though; i barely have time for homework as it is…!

  • 4. Kevin  |  October 2nd, 2008 at 2:21 pm

    Or you guys can just apply for Wichita State University, no need to go through all this toh toh lan yeh stuff and you’ll surely get accepted..no worries!! Unless you have a cgpa of lower than 2.0 hehe

  • 5. reallybites  |  October 2nd, 2008 at 2:59 pm

    i want to read about the secret!

  • 6. Ella Goh  |  October 2nd, 2008 at 3:48 pm

    OH GOSH su ann, thank you so much. i’ve just been waiting and WAITING for this :):):) even though i have a long way more to my college applications. YES you know I want to read about BOTH the other parts of your college application walkthrough! please please please. and thank you! hehe.

    just a question though, i don’t quite understand the US education system (i’ve tried and tried to, but I never quite grasped the concept) after you graduate in 2012, what would you have graduated with? a bachelor’s degree? in what? how is it that you can enter a college without knowing what you will major in? and where does the master’s come in? and do americans ever call college, ‘university’?

    sorry, but NOBODY seems to be willing to answer my questions. too bad for friends who are pro-UK but not pro-US ed! :(

  • 7. grace  |  October 2nd, 2008 at 3:51 pm

    i’ll add that:

    you want to be EXTREMELY careful when deciding to include additional stuff, e.g. throwing in TWO recs when the form only asks for one. adcoms are generally super secretive about admissions but a couple of nyu admissions people have mentioned not liking additional stuff because it gives them more work to do. if a college asks for one rec, give them one la. no point giving them two because they’re just going to randomly pilih one and throw the other away and that’s such a waste of paper :( i feel strongly about saving the trees because i go to nyu. eh it’s true!

    also….. the resume. i know it’s a good opportunity to show off, BUT carefully consider any restrictions the application form might place on you. when i applied to tisch @ nyu they asked for “no more than one page”. essays were “strictly no more than 500 words”. stuff like that. really scary. i don’t know if they actually have time to count your words so they know just where to stop, but i’m sure they can kind of gauge where the 500 mark is roughly lah. back to the resume: take all your best achievements, ESPECIALLY the ones that relate to your major (if you’ve got one), and try to stuff them into no more than 1 page. internships are a good addition :)

    and to add to su ann’s bit about sat II - the subjects you decide to take are generally up to you UNLESS a college tells you you have to sit for certain subject tests. if you’re going to do engineering you obviously should do math 2 and physics (chemistry also acceptable but physics is much easier). if you don’t have a major yet, do math 2 anyway and something else you think you’re good at. i did english lit too, but if you found sat I a bitch i’d tell you to stay clear of the literature test.

    um, wah. what a long comment. haha. i’m off :D

  • 8. pik  |  October 2nd, 2008 at 4:25 pm

    or you could just donate a lot of money.

  • 9. Matt  |  October 2nd, 2008 at 5:43 pm

    extremely well written su ann :)
    good job! let’s keep passing on the knowledge

  • 10. Lily  |  October 2nd, 2008 at 6:58 pm

    You have just saved the lives of so many blur sotong people out there, including me on how the complex US education application process works. Thank you! XD

  • 11. yosie  |  October 2nd, 2008 at 8:10 pm

    wow so much info for int’l student apps! i guess i had it pretty easy but i’m sure college apps have evolved in the last several years..

  • 12. yosie  |  October 2nd, 2008 at 8:15 pm

    Ella Goh: My comment regarding your questions - I don’t think alot of US students really differentiate between college and uni (see my comment above, where i refer to “college” apps). You graduate with a BA/bachelors in whatever major(s) you choose. Masters is post-undergrad, doesn’t have to be immediately after you get your BA, as some people wait several years after before applying. And, you can enter uni/college w/o knowing your major because you still have to declare (usually happens after you satisfy the prerequisites, at least that’s how it was for me, and i went to berkeley to give you a point of reference)

  • 13. WunMin  |  October 2nd, 2008 at 8:47 pm

    Way to go, Su Ann!! I gave up on advising applicants after my assignments weigh me down. Glad to see someone doing the role well now. :D

  • 14. Jared T.  |  October 2nd, 2008 at 9:17 pm

    Thanks for the effort, sue. Appreciate it..

  • 15. Jared. T  |  October 2nd, 2008 at 9:26 pm

    Sue, regarding the recommendation letter, do we need to get those letter from them or they will write to everyone of us before we leave school.

    Just curious since I’m in my Form 5.

  • 16. Chen Chow  |  October 2nd, 2008 at 9:31 pm

    Su Ann, thanks for the very comprehensive guides… WOW!!!
    Am definitely looking forward to read the other 2 series… :)

    To all US universities aspirants, do read through this guide thoroughly and learn from the experience of pinkpau. I would say that this is one of the most comprehensive guide, specially customized for Malaysians. Thanks, Su Ann.

    If any of you have questions, do post it here. Am sure Su Ann would reply it religiously~!

    My little advice to all the applicants: Do put in the hard work and you’ll be duly rewarded.

  • 17. KY  |  October 2nd, 2008 at 9:38 pm

    longest, post, ever.

  • 18. lind  |  October 2nd, 2008 at 9:45 pm

    thanks a lot su ann!
    btw how do you convert your SPM/ pre u grades to GPA?

  • 19. Youth Helping Youth: Pink&hellip  |  October 2nd, 2008 at 9:50 pm

    [...] in a top US university (I believe Columbia but I could be mistaken). She has helpfully provided a comprehensive guide to US applications for Malaysian students, whether fresh out of secondary school or in pre-university programs. This first part of her guide [...]

  • 20. Ee Vonn  |  October 2nd, 2008 at 10:20 pm

    hey Su Ann,
    great to share out your knowledge.
    wow i’ve been planning to undertake masters in the US after finishing a degree in Australia and work for a couple of years.
    do you think a 3 years Australian degree is qualified for their masters?
    and the application process is also that complicated?
    hope to see your reply soon :)

  • 21. Ee Vonn  |  October 2nd, 2008 at 10:21 pm

    *well i’ve been…

  • 22. Ee Vonn  |  October 2nd, 2008 at 10:24 pm

    oh ya Su Ann,
    why do you choose Columbia in the end instead of UPENN and the others?
    curious. *.*

  • 23. Capablanca  |  October 3rd, 2008 at 12:07 am

    Great info over here. Yes, now I don’t need to answer all those questions about US application and just redirect everyone here. :)

  • 24. cooknengr  |  October 3rd, 2008 at 1:13 am

    Good write up. I want to add something for aspiring students who want a good education in their chosen field, especially technical field . Ivy league or “branded” school is not important, but the availability of facilities, faculties and programs that gears toward your career. For example, Petroleum engineer you’d want to go to Univ of Houston, because the industry is there and they get research funding, plus, opportunity with college recruitment upon your graduation, Geology related field, you’d choose Colorado school of mine, Electro-magnetic compatibility ( a branch of electrical engineering that is getting a lot more attention in the last 10 years), you’d want to go to Missouri University of Science and Technology….
    Do your research, before applying, especially technical field.

    Good luck and make your parents proud.

  • 25. kreazi  |  October 3rd, 2008 at 1:13 am

    Very comprehensive guide.. very useful and handy to those who are gonna need it, you’re such an angelm Su Ann :)

  • 26. skyler  |  October 3rd, 2008 at 1:15 am

    HELLO QUAINTLY.NET!!! I SEE YOU

    ok very irrelevant bye bye

    /clap clap for the very very very long post

  • 27. bjk  |  October 3rd, 2008 at 1:31 am

    oh that was a very detailed post. if i read it 4 yrs back then it’ll be useful. hahahaha. btw why did u choose columbia uni over the rest?

  • 28. kiasu andrew  |  October 3rd, 2008 at 2:20 am

    :)

  • 29. simpleass  |  October 3rd, 2008 at 2:39 am

    omg, su ann. ur guide is awesome and it definitely answered my queries abt the recommendations and all…definitely looking forward to the other 2 parts!!! and yes, it’s undeniable that su ann is a very very good writer. god job pinkpau. it’s a no wonder you’ve gained acceptances frm so many top schs. =)

  • 30. simpleass  |  October 3rd, 2008 at 2:41 am

    oh ya, reading your blog just proves that you’re smart, pretty, sociable and the perfect role model for youths!

  • 31. anon  |  October 3rd, 2008 at 3:19 am

    hey..does this means that i dont have to take ADP but just other pre-U program also can go to US?

  • 32. pinkyboo  |  October 3rd, 2008 at 3:55 am

    this was amazing. Even though I’m no longer in school (i graduated way back in 2003. Lol am I the oldest reader here?!), I think it was extremely generous of you to take time to write this post and share your sucess story with everyone. That was very, very kind of you.

  • 33. keefe chan.  |  October 3rd, 2008 at 4:55 am

    so comprehensive! a true gem of a post which is sure to have high school kids like me weep tears of joy. please please please do the other two parts :D

  • 34. whimsicaljottings  |  October 3rd, 2008 at 4:56 am

    Good gosh, and this is just PART ONE??!! Brava! You’re really selfless.

    Ermm…kinda relieved I’ve finished uni and all that :P

  • 35. vvens  |  October 3rd, 2008 at 5:14 am

    this is oh-so-detailed! too bad i’m not going to us ;p
    i hope i’m, to visit someone. hehe

  • 36. Yi Jean  |  October 3rd, 2008 at 5:49 am

    It’s so cool that you take the time to do this! :) I’m sure you’ve helped many people! Congrats on 12As btw! What subjects did u take? I need to choose what subjects to take for Form 4 next year but i still have not decided.

  • 37. Bunbread  |  October 3rd, 2008 at 5:54 am

    Hi pinkpau,
    I have never commented but have been reading your blog for a few months already. You’re doing a great job! :D

    Anw, I’m feeling quite worried because I used to be a Student Councilor (like a prefect and I was nominated by my teacher so it was rather prestigious) but I resigned early this yr because I wanted to spend more time on my studies. I think it made a really bad impression of me on the teachers who handled my resignation.

    I did a lot while I was an SC, and it was quite impressive because I was given many opportunities to chair the whole event even though I was only a junior. I was even put in charged of my seniors. :O So my records are good but won’t my resignation reflect badly on me?

    Should I even add my achievements as an SC into my application?

  • 38. Chen Chow  |  October 3rd, 2008 at 7:10 am

    Su Ann, hope you won’t mind i help answering some of the questions on admissions posed. :)

    Ella: yeah, after pinkpau grad in 2012, would be bachelor’s degree. She would choose her major maybe in 1-2 years’ time. Essentially, US system is different, where you may only be taking a certain % in a field, when you major in it. Eg: only 20% of my courses are in engineering, when i major in electrical & computer engineering.

    Master’s would come after graduate, if you want to pursue. College is used to call “universities”. Feel free to pose questions here, am sure Su Ann would be happy to answer. :)

    Grace: actually most ivies hope to see more rec letters, but must be quality, and as Su Ann said, cover different things for each one. For essay, general rule of thumb, don’t exceed by more than 10% or so, unless you can keep them engaged.

    Lind: For A in SPM, 4 marks, B is 3 marks. Then weight it. Her case, 4*12+3=51. And then (51/52)*4=3.92 .

    Ee Vonn, master is equally complicated. On 3 year degree, you can write in to justify, but usually they want 4 year degree.

    anon, would say to get into ivies, better track is either ADFP, A Level, STPM, IB.

    bunbread, you can definitely turn that into a positive one. The track record, and even talk about your mistake. Have seen many essays that talk about weaknesses and got in. Everyone does make mistake and main thing is you learn from it.

    Su Ann,am still overly amazed by your fantastic article… It has practically everything that I have in my mind or what I would advise others, but you have managed to put all in words. So now, before anyone asks me any question, I want to get them to read this 3 times first word by word and make sure they really understand it.

    Sorry for this one being very very long…

  • 39. Patricia  |  October 3rd, 2008 at 8:30 am

    hey suann, thanks for this. it’s a great help for my brother, thanks!

  • 40. Jasmine  |  October 3rd, 2008 at 8:51 am

    Despite your heavy schedule you still took time to do this. I am touched. Although I’m not planning to apply to the US anytime soon, I think everyone who comes across this will really really appreciate the effort put into it.

    Thank you so much and take care.

  • 41. lind  |  October 3rd, 2008 at 9:07 am

    ooh one more question.
    about those application essays, what if i dont know what major i want to do yet? do i still need to write why i chose that major and stuff?

  • 42. xiao  |  October 3rd, 2008 at 9:46 am

    i didn’t know we could just fee waiver through a simple letter. that’s great T_T (combined app fees would probably go up to USD700 T_T)

    I’m applying to columbia! =)

  • 43. annoymous  |  October 3rd, 2008 at 9:47 am

    oh pls DO the other posts!! (part 2 and ur *secret* post!) ;D

  • 44. martian  |  October 3rd, 2008 at 10:32 am

    fuiyo. have you got a guide on how to apply for jobs?

    the writer of this comment needs to decide what he wants to do with his life.

  • 45. Benjamin Franklin  |  October 3rd, 2008 at 12:07 pm

    swt.

  • 46. Ting  |  October 3rd, 2008 at 1:06 pm

    Hi!

    Just wanted to say that I really admire the effort you put into writing this post. Most people probably couldn’t even be bothered writing a post on college admissions for people they don’t know, let alone such a detailed one.. I’m sure this post will be of great help to those who are applying to the states.

    Well done! =)

  • 47. makcik  |  October 3rd, 2008 at 1:16 pm

    good girl. a great job. uplifting to see such effort and helpulness.
    “what goes round, comes around”

  • 48. sha  |  October 3rd, 2008 at 2:03 pm

    omg i need that too. - guide on how to apply for jobs lol.

  • 49. pinkpau  |  October 3rd, 2008 at 3:12 pm

    everyone : thanks all for your comments!!! it’s my pleasure to write a guide for the many malaysians students out there who want to apply to US colleges. all this information isnt readily available, and because there’s such a wide gap between our system and the US one, i just want to help msians gain some access to information about US colleges. thank you for all the kind words :) they are very encouraging and i’m very happy to know that my little effort here is recognized and appreciated!

    ella goh : i think a few people have answered your question very well! but well a quick answer from me anyway. college in the US is where high school kids go to after finishing 12th grade, which is our equivalent of Form 5, only they study 12 years whereas we we study 11. which is why international students usually have to make up that last year by doing some form of Pre-U or college elsewhere before we apply to US colleges. when you enter college, you spend 4 years, and you graduate with a bachelors degree in whatever it is you choose to major in. with a major, you can also choose a concentration, and a minor. the US system is such that you have to complete credits (basically, take subjects) in many ‘main fields’ ie math, sciences, history etc. it’s a requirement. so even though let’s say you are pretty sure you want to major in chemical engineering, you would still have to complete credits in subjects not related to your major, ie music or history or psychology. so a major is what you can declare when you have X amount of credits in a certain field, usually 20 -30 credits, cos you kept taking different subjects in the same field. assuming in the span of 4 years, you kept taking lots of psychology subjects and lot of math subjects, and both fulfilled the 20-30 credits requirement, then you can choose between both which one is to be your major, or you could double major. so in essence.. you dont have to decide what you wanna do just yet, because when you enter college, you have to do a lot of different subjects anyway :) people usually change their ‘intended major’ 2-4 times during their college years. gosh what a long answer. hope it wasnt too confusing

    grace : thanks for the emphasis on having to be careful with the additional stuff! it’s actually quite important to not send in too many irrelevant things, so guys, please take note of this. as for the recommendations however, i did actually apply to NYU and i sent in a total of four recommendations (2 teacher, 1 counselor, 1 employer) even though only two were required (1 teacher 1 counselor). no problems there for me :) i took the risk because i felt that it was very important for the adcoms to see my recommendations. as for essay word requirement, i think a 100 or so words in excess is okay sometimes.. but dont terlampau la :)

    jared t : no no they dont write letters for everyone. when you graduate high school you get your leaving cert which is just a list of your grades and what your extra curricular achievements were. for letters like these, you have to approach your teachers direct. and my name is not sue!

    lind : a GPA is out of 4.0, usually. A’s are 4 points, B’s are 3, C’s are 2, and D’s are 1. you add them all and divide by number of subjects. so because i took 13 subs and got 12 A’s 1 B, my GPA is (12 x 4) + (3 x 1) divided by 13. hence 3.92 out of 4 :)

    ee vonn : it’s the same app process but with a couple more sections. yes as long as you graduated with a degree you can apply for grad school here in the US. but this is an area i’m really not too familiar with. as for why columbia over the others, it was the city of new york, politically charged environment of columbia and diversity in culture that made me choose columbia :)

    cooknengr : excellent point :)

    bjk : it was the city of new york, politically charged environment of columbia and diversity in culture that made me choose columbia!

    anon : okay this is a subject i know a lot about. haha. ADP is the cheapest, quickest, easiest way to get into the US, butttttt it’s very hard to get into the top schools, because most top schools (ie the ivy leagues and others of equal caliber) do not take international transfers. essentially the ADP is a transfer program which i am sure you know, but you will find that even if you take ADP and wanted to transfer to a second or third tier school in the US, sometimes they dont take all your credits because they feel that the subject matter covered in our local ADP is inadequate. if you ask me.. the best pre-u to take if you wanna apply to the Ivies are A Levels and the International Baccalaureate. i wish i’d knew this :)

    yi jean : i took the five core subjects, english for science and technology, physics, biology, chemistry, additional math, computer science and english literature.

    bunbread : it’s no problem at all because in your application you shouldnt have to state that you resigned. just put in your roles and achievements as an SC within the X number of years that you were one, and it should be fine :)

    lind : dont worry, it’s completly normal to apply to colleges without knowing what you wanna major in. that is the whole point of the american college system. they usually dont ask yout to write essays on what you want to major in. if they DO ask, just pick the one major you think you would like most, and explain why, and explain what you have done or achieved that is significant to this major.

    xiao : awesome :) hope to see u here next year

    martian : okay two months ago i would have definitely said come to wall street, but now i think the most moneymaking to do is parody wall street on youtube

    ben franklin : what! and thanks for ignoring my text!!!

  • 50. just curious  |  October 3rd, 2008 at 3:22 pm

    Thanks for sharing. However I see that you applied to eight universities/college and got acceptance to six. Just curious to know why two did not accept and be even more useful if you can disclose the names of the two universities. That would really be most useful information. Many thanks in advance.

  • 51. Ee Vonn  |  October 3rd, 2008 at 10:57 pm

    Thanks to Chen Chow for your reply :)

  • 52. Ee Vonn  |  October 3rd, 2008 at 10:58 pm

    Su Ann,
    you are still the coolest blogger on earth!
    Thanks for the reply :)

  • 53. CY  |  October 3rd, 2008 at 11:16 pm

    Well…good post you have….
    If possible apply more well known University because they have more funding.
    If engineering recommended:
    MIT
    Georgia Tech
    Purdue
    Penn. State
    Stanford and many more

  • 54. Curious George  |  October 4th, 2008 at 12:19 am

    You’ve been very kind to share with us your experieces and advice.

    It costs a lot to attending any of these ivies, even the second tier ivies would start at US$30k to about US$50k for the top tier, and wondering if you receive any financial aid, scholarship, grant and/or college work/study, and would like to share with us your experiences.

    If this is not too personal, did you sit for SAT/ACT and what are your scores.

  • 55. Michelle  |  October 4th, 2008 at 1:21 am

    The last paragraph is way too funny.

  • 56. michellesy  |  October 4th, 2008 at 3:06 am

    Thorough as ever Su Ann!

    And of course, kind-hearted as ever - this will be a godsend to anyone’s who’s planning to go to college in the US =)

    ps: I love the blurb at the end - how’s calculus going hahahah? Okay, that was kinda cruel. But you’ll be okay Su Ann - scale the calculus mountain thou shalt!

  • 57. hw  |  October 4th, 2008 at 3:26 am

    For people that are kinda tight on budget, you could always apply for a community college in the US, and then transfer to the uni of your choice. Community colleges are much cheaper, and you can usually do your first 2 years there and then final 2 years in the uni you want to transfer to. It is also easier to get into a community college, and for some unis, it’s easier to transfer from a community college to uni as some unis take in more people from community colleges than from straight-up international applicants. So if you don’t have a 4.0 gpa or super results coming out of SPM / Pre-u, might want to consider this approach.

    However, not all unis accept transfers from community colleges, probably will be competitive / difficult to transfer in some cases, so as in any other decisions one makes in life, please do some research =p

    Also, one advice when choosing a university to attend is to choose one that is highly ranked for your intended major. Ivy schools might be prestigious, but might not be the best for a certain major/field. Harvard is probably the best for business but not necessarily for other majors, ie chemistry.

    Every year, USA Today ranks colleges and unis in the States and is generally regarded as the ‘best’ rankings you can find, and many corps/companies use them as well. Link: http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/college

    or you can try Princeton Review: http://www.princetonreview.com/college-rankings.aspx?uidbadge=%07

    The US education is great in the sense that you get to pick your classes as long as you satisfy the requirements for your major and graduation. I think all universities also have a broad general education requirement for the first 2 years, so at least when you graduate from uni you know some history, chemistry, physics, music etc and not just whatever you’re majoring in. Basically as many others have pointed out, in the first 2 years is mainly general education and satisfying requirements for your major. Then in your sophomore year you declare for your major and depending on your results in the first 2 years, you might or might not get admitted to your major. In the final 2 years is usually when you do your major classes and finishing off whatever classes / technicals you need to graduate.

    As for the college/university confusion, in the US as far as I know a university is a collection of colleges. I went to the University of California - Berkeley, which comprises of Haas School of Business, College of Letters and Sciences, College of Engineering, etc.

    Also, Pre-U is a good thing to have, but not necessary IMO. I went to a community college in California (De Anza College) right after my high school , using my SPM trials results (because official spm results weren’t out when I applied), and then transferred to UC Berkeley after 2 years at De Anza, and did my final 2 years majoring in Computer Science at UC Berkeley and graduated. Saved me a couple ten thousands usd, and also time (graduated 1+ years before some of my friends, would’ve graduated 2+ years earlier if I took summer classes), though like mentioned earlier ivy league = pre-u at very least

    Oh, and the Malaysian American Commission on Education Exchange (MACEE) is a good place to go to learn about colleges/unis in the US. http://www.macee.org.my/

  • 58. Kiran  |  October 4th, 2008 at 3:26 am

    Pinkpau to the rescue as usual! You are a great person! So warm and encouraging! These tips would surely work out for those planning studies in future.

    http://wescribble.blogspot.com

  • 59. lind  |  October 4th, 2008 at 5:03 am

    whooo su ann rocks =)

  • 60. sylvanna  |  October 4th, 2008 at 5:15 am

    ohmygod. =O what a comprehensive guide, thank you for writing them for us. this made me realize how lengthy application process to US universities. it kind of discourages people from applying even.

    i look forward to part 2 though. :) keep writing!

  • 61. carol  |  October 4th, 2008 at 5:48 am

    calculus homework! =P

    re: what hw said about choosing the college that is best for you and your major - i totally agree with it. I took my chances with a “lesser-known” college but one that has a great track record in my major, i.e. fashion marketing and management and i totally do not regret it. :) be brave enough to follow what you truly love doing. the US is one of the rare places that has people who will take non-traditional course majors seriously and not regard them as second-rate talent, but rather, help to groom their talents and abilities.

    we go for ice cream tomorrow okay? haih now back to my 1 inch pile of readings >.<

  • 62. boon kheng  |  October 4th, 2008 at 6:56 am

    so leceh la wanna apply to US universities…

    I’ve better apply for Australia or Singapore.. less documentation needed.

  • 63. pik  |  October 4th, 2008 at 8:16 am

    i would be ever so grateful if you gave advice on personal statements. :)

  • 64. diana  |  October 4th, 2008 at 8:32 am

    omg pinkpau. i’ve been a silent reader until now but for this post, i just got to say something!! thank you for the awesomely long and marvelous guide. now i can save a few hair strands. and do post the other two parts if you can :)

    again, thank you so so much! you’re the best!

  • 65. fern  |  October 4th, 2008 at 9:55 am

    yayy! will worship this when it’s time for me to apply to uni

    thank you so much su ann for your time and effort in sharing this :D so super uber nice of you

  • 66. Brenda Wong  |  October 4th, 2008 at 10:19 am

    wow, this guide is amazing.
    I’m probably applying to usa, uk and australia
    so this helps alot, the american system is so complicated!
    thank you for taking your time to write this.
    x

  • 67. gnawww  |  October 4th, 2008 at 10:58 am

    Thank you thank you thank you so much pinkpau!!! You’re so great to write such a detailed guide to help us…many malaysian students are going to benefit from your effort~ T.T
    Truly indebted to you….and just at the right time too! coz tomorrow i’m going to my secondary school~

    m(_ _)m *bows gratefully*

  • 68. joiz3  |  October 4th, 2008 at 11:46 am

    i think it’s really awesomely nice of you to this. :) though i don’t know if i’ll be needing it or not.. i might be cos i haven’t made up my mind of where to go yet. i’m sure a lot of ppl are benefiting from this. and i’m feeling super super super inferior now. andrew is not human. o.o

  • 69. Rainbow  |  October 4th, 2008 at 12:40 pm

    Thanks a lot. Pinkpau, this is a great post ! thumbs up !!!!

    By the way, can I summit spm report as the MRY ans yet use the same test result as the international supplement ?

    thanks in advance ! ^@^

  • 70. anon  |  October 4th, 2008 at 1:14 pm

    you’re awesome =D

  • 71. Rainbow  |  October 4th, 2008 at 2:00 pm

    Hello ! I have more questions here.

    If I were to convert my GPA of my SSR, how should I convert as I had 5 years of GPA.

    Or I should convert them 1 by 1, and calculate the CGPA ?
    Then, fill only the CGPA in the common app form ? Do I need to attach a letter explaining this ?

    Thanks in advance…… thank you !! just feel say thanks to you again and again !!

  • 72. MIchelle C  |  October 5th, 2008 at 4:02 am

    The last paragraph tickles my funny bone, if it ever exists!

  • 73. booyah  |  October 5th, 2008 at 5:22 am

    hey, what if teachers that know me well aren't proficient in English? with no due disrespect or anything, do I ask them to send me their testimonies so I can grammar check them and then later on revert the testimonies back to them for printing- or do I ask them to write it in BM and then translate it myself later on? i'm hoping i won't have to do the latter cause that intended meanings may not come through once translated. :s sigh, how?

  • 74. chuan  |  October 5th, 2008 at 1:58 pm

    very looong post..Anyway, thanks for sharing.

  • 75. yoke ching lee  |  October 5th, 2008 at 2:14 pm

    yeah su ann, tq for your comprehensive guide!!really really want to read more of it!!!!!!

  • 76. Catherine  |  October 5th, 2008 at 7:12 pm

    Su ann? Lim Su Ann?
    Were you in sonatina club back then?
    Catherine here from malaysia?
    And you know dennis as well??
    Get back to me as soon as u read this!

    if ure the wrong Su Ann, then juz ignore this comment!
    thanks! =)

  • 77. cS  |  October 5th, 2008 at 8:52 pm

    hey sue ann :) , i was just wondering. ive been involved in things..but some i.. sorta quit halfway through.=/..outta sheer exhaustion and laziness. like say, ive been the operational mic for st john, head of gathering between two neighbouring schools, a probate(quit after 3 days of torture, haha!), in the f1inschools team(went for regionals and won, got tired, backed out, now my friends would be continuing on nationals) , involved in the editorial board etc etc..

    so do some of those posts still count..since ive let them go before i leave sekolah menengah?

  • 78. cS  |  October 5th, 2008 at 8:54 pm

    whhoops. i mean su ann* sorry!

  • 79. yeejie  |  October 6th, 2008 at 12:51 am

    wow i think i should make a shrine of you and worship it everyday =D

    thank you SO MUCH for all the info.

    would love to read the other 2 parts please and thank you, even if they're lengthier than this.

  • 80. Koh Sin Yee  |  October 6th, 2008 at 12:26 pm

    Hi,
    I have been reading your blog for a few months. I look up to you. Thanks a lot for sharing your knowlegde. Besides, I will like to know the other two parts of the US college application walkthrough.
    Thank you.

  • 81. pinkpau  |  October 6th, 2008 at 12:51 pm

    nope wrong su ann

  • 82. -p  |  October 6th, 2008 at 9:03 pm

    frankly speaking i do think the conversion from the grading system is kinda unnecessary since they mostly do understand the A-E.
    btw did u have any sort of interviews like perhaps they phone u in and ask for some questions after they received ur package?
    thanks

  • 83. blue nowhere  |  October 6th, 2008 at 9:44 pm

    hi, just wondering if they'll need us to send them our activities cert or just a few of the important ones? and when we do certify it, it'll be in malay. Will they understand then? Also, for the sch transcript, I understand that we'd only have to submit our final exam grade. So does that mean final yr grade for form2, pmr for form3 and final yr grade for form 4 and spm for form5? btw, take pmr for example, most of my friends scored straight A's and how do we convert it to class rank then since the case is not like urs where a gal got 13 A's and u got 12. pls explain. thanks in advance!!! =)

  • 84. Jeanette  |  October 7th, 2008 at 10:42 pm

    Hey, I would like to ask about the actual mailing of the application to US. The instructions tell us to include a stamped envelope for our teachers (for SSR, MYR, etc). Does this mean they must send the reports on their own? Or do I collect the reports back and send with the rest of my application in separate envelopes? Confused..

    Also, is the teacher's evaluation (TE) and counselor's evaluation (SSR ,MR) the same? For example, if the uni requires two TE do I still need to find two other recommendations since I already get recommendations in my SSR and MR?

    Many, many thanks, this site helped me a lot :-)

  • 85. pinkpau  |  October 8th, 2008 at 1:03 am

    just curious : eh i noticed you like to ask questions but never leave any identity. why?

    hw : well said! :)

    rainbow : ahhhh i knew i forgot something. the international supplement!!! if i remember correctly, we should submit the international supplement in place of the SSR right? in which case you should use SPM in your international supplement and Pre-U for MYR. i'm assuming from your questions that you didnt do pre-u? i only converted the GPA for the actual SPM, because that was my “final” grade. for the rest of Form 1-5 grades, i just attached transcripts without converting anything. definitely write letters explaining whatever you're doing. all of us should write at least one letter just on the grounds that our system is different from the american system. most adcoms know what the malaysian system is like, but it's always good to explain anyway.

    booyah : ooh tough one. did you know that actually you're not supposed to look at your recommendations? you're supposed to sign a waiver of your right to view the letter, and then your recommender is supposed to give you back the letter inside a sealed envelope for you to mail out. so translation by yourself is definitely out of the picture. you COULD edit grammar for them… but know that this is “illegal” and you do this at your own risk. the adcom could call up your school and ask to speak to your teachers (for whatever reason), or email them, and if they find out that your teacher's english is not good, but the letter displays perfect grammar, they're going to think you wrote your own letters. i dont mean to scare you.. but it's something to keep in mind.

    cs : that's definitely not good.. :( US colleges are particularly keen on weeding out people who join clubs and then not contribute (ie “activity collectors”) or people who are lazy and give up quickly. it would definitely be obvious to them when you are filling out your application, because the duration of all your activities are like only days or weeks long.

    -p : well i already said that what works for me may not work for you :) i thought the conversion was important especially if the adcoms were using a specific index to rank their applicants. yes i got interviews.

    blue : you shouldnt have to send any certs at all, because you will 'declare' all your activities in the application forms or your resume. yes thats right, i sent in my final year exams for Form 1,2,3,4 with a letter explaining our schooling system (that in the first 3 years we do the same subjects with progressively more difficult syllabi, and that we have a mid year exam and final exams, and then a national exam in form 3, followed by form 4 and 5 where we choose a stream of subjects for two years.. then SPM.. blablabla). hmm you shouldnt convert anything except your SPM results. remember that converting is not necessary, but it was something i chose to do. you can just cross out those sections and put Not Applicable, and attach another letter explaining your ranking in school, how many A's you got, what the highest number of A's in your school was, etc.

    jeanette : ok you see the headings for all my sections? some of them have Envelope 1, Envelope 2 etc. these are the envelopes that you send in by mail. at the end of the day, you should have something like 5 to 7 individual envelopes for one school, so what you do is put these 5 to 7 envelopes into one big envelope and mail it to the school you're applying to. so yes you would collect sealed envelopes from your recommenders to put into your Big Envelope. as for the letters… if you looked at your forms properly you would see that the SSR and MYR evaluation space is only for counselors, not teachers. so teacher recommendations should not even be in the SSR in the first place. if you did both high school and Pre-U, you should have 2 teacher recs and 2 counselor recs. if only high school, then 2 teacher recs and 1 counselor rec.

  • 86. blue nowhere  |  October 8th, 2008 at 1:34 am

    thanks su ann! btw, since they don't require certs to be sent, aren't they worried that applicants might 'declare' activities that they weren't even involved in? and oh yea, ur guide is really cool!! it's so kind of you..=)

  • 87. Bunbread  |  October 8th, 2008 at 12:23 pm

    Oh, thank you, Chen Chow and pinkpau, esp. for taking time to reply to my comment/questions. :)

  • 88. -p  |  October 8th, 2008 at 7:58 pm

    ivies are still, kinda expensive imo
    did u apply to others btw, say like toronto or mcgill, up north?

  • 89. Jeanette  |  October 8th, 2008 at 10:42 pm

    Thanks, thanks!
    Ok, but I got more questions…
    I'm intending to apply to more than one university so I would need duplicate copies of all my reports. But if like you said the teacher/counselor recommendations have to be sealed, then I cannot photocopy them on my own? Do they even accept photocopies of SSR and MYR? Little technicalities… >.<

    Uh… I was also wondering if you could please send me a sample of the explanation letters you were referring to regarding the Malaysian school system, grade conversion etc. as I am not sure how to go about it. (Ya, I know you gave an outline but I'm still lost)

    *grateful eyes…

  • 90. pinkpau  |  October 9th, 2008 at 12:21 am

    nope i only applied to US schools

  • 91. pinkyboo  |  October 9th, 2008 at 12:24 am

    hi there. I thought i'll share some knowledge / my own opinion in this. I wont say Im 100% certain, but a 3 yr australian degree should be sufficient to enter a Masters program in the USA, however, this is assuming that you did some sort of Pre-u beforehand (Form 6, SAM, CPU, A Levels, etc) or, if you did not study in Malaysia, then this is assuming you did Year 12 in Australia. Because, if you add up your Pre-u or Year 12 with your 3 yr bachelor degree, it totals up to 4 years, which makes you the same level as the other US degree graduates. I hope I make sense :) Whoever who's reading this, if Im wrong, pls feel free to correct me thanks.

  • 92. pinkpau  |  October 9th, 2008 at 12:27 am

    give your teachers several envelopes, ask them to photocopy their letters after they've written them, and then seal the envelopes. yes of course they accept photocopies of the SSR and MYR :)

    as for the explanation letters… my school actually had a kind of booklet explaining the malaysian system and also the school-specific system, so i sent that in. my letters mostly went to explaining the difference between my pre-u and high school, which was sent thru the common app Additional Info, so im afraid i dont have a copy of that anymore. it's not that difficult so dont be daunted :) we all have to work hard to make our applications the best they can be.

  • 93. camy  |  October 9th, 2008 at 12:30 am

    I used to have a report book in my SMK dulu. Is that the transcript for form 1, 2, 3 and 4? See.. the thing is, they're asking for TRANSCRIPTS and they dont want a photocopy of the transcript. Then, I cant sent them my ori Report book. I need to send a few transcripts to a few unis. What do you suggest? My school is in Miri and I have now moved to KL. It might be hard getting in touch with my previous school.

  • 94. Rainbow  |  October 9th, 2008 at 1:55 am

    Hello, pinkpau.

    Thanks for your reply. But I have somemore questions here. As I do not do any pre-u, and I am in the midst of the FIRST sem in ADP, what should I put for my MYR ? I have no results to be summitted. That's is wat made me insane !!!

    Oh ya… did you write the cover letters under your own name ? or you write it on the behalf of the so said counselor ?

    I am quite curious about how many cover letters have you sent in ? Including the secondary booklets explaining education system. Haha, do u mind to tell us about this ?

    Thanks for sharing !!! Grateful……….. ^@^

  • 95. -p  |  October 10th, 2008 at 5:07 am

    very nice post here
    i appreciate u for posting very much

  • 96. pinkpau  |  October 11th, 2008 at 3:05 pm

    you can try applying this year with your first semester grades, but perhaps it would be better to apply after you have one full year of ADP? then again i know ADP is undergoing a bit of a change, now that JPA and Mara scholars have their own american college preparatory… so if that's the case, one semester should be fine.

    what cover letters? do you mean my for resume, or just the letters that i attached to my transcripts to explain certain stuff? i wrote them under my own name, of course! but my college did send in two letters explaining the ADP program and how it's not a valid pre-u. complicated! i dont remember how many letters i sent in.. probably 3 or 4, explaining the school system and resume cover letters.

    aiya it doesnt matter how many cover letters i sent in. it differs from person to person. if you feel like you have a lot of things to explain, ie why your grades were really poor for a certain year, or why your attendance was poor, then you should write letters. but most importantly there should be a letter explaining the grading system of your school.. like what the subjects offered are, what subjects you took, when the exams are, how students are graded, what's the percentage for A's B's C's etc. some colleges even specifically ask you for that letter.

  • 97. pinkpau  |  October 11th, 2008 at 3:07 pm

    transcripts doesnt have to mean it's on a specific piece of paper that says TRANSCRIPT. a report card is totally acceptable, as long as you translate everything from BM to english. um of course you can have photocopies of transcripts.. just so long as you have a “Certified True Copy” stamp on each photocopy.

    i would suggest photocopying your report book if it looks neat and professional enough :)

  • 98. Oyico  |  October 11th, 2008 at 5:41 pm

    heyy thanks for writing such a helpful post!
    Good luck in your life and i'm sure all of us are looking forward to your 2 other posts! : )

  • 99. passer-by  |  October 13th, 2008 at 5:13 pm

    Wow, an Ivy-league. Impressive :)

    By any chance, do you know whether post-grad applications carry the same steps as you mentioned?

    Thanks in advance!

  • 100. pinkpau  |  October 13th, 2008 at 5:44 pm

    nope i'm not familiar with post grad applications.

  • 101. Rainbow  |  October 13th, 2008 at 7:12 pm

    Thank you very much. I got the idea already.
    thanks a lot ya….
    really learn a lot from here.
    Solved many of my doubts !!
    Thanks you very much !!!

  • 102. hahaha  |  October 14th, 2008 at 8:22 am

    Hi ya there! Thanks for sharing your walkthrough with the rest of the world, not many people would do that you know so thanks a lot!
    Just wondering: some universities mentioned they prefer online application. So can i still apply not through online application? If i do anyway, can i send in the hard copy as back up?

  • 103. pinkpau  |  October 14th, 2008 at 9:04 am

    no never ever send a 'back up'. you either choose to send the forms online or send a hard copy. this is something that is mentioned many, many times throughout the application websites.

  • 104. Uni Stress&hellip  |  October 16th, 2008 at 4:29 am

    [...] Malaysian yesterday. She gained admission into so many unis it made me envious of her. Read it here if you are [...]

  • 105. surrealist  |  October 17th, 2008 at 9:06 pm

    Wow. Wauw. Hwau!

    The guide's really amazing, detailed, well-formated, informative, 'yadaa yadaa yadaa', quite frankly I could go on but it'd be pointless because it'd only be repetitive (looking at the comments above =O).

    Oh, but I did notice you never use capital letters, and sentence structures are very informal, feels like I'm reading a transcript of somebody's conversation.. Humbleness and colloquial, much better than reading those bland websites or listening to my advisers (mum included).

    And sorry, I'm sorta going off-topic. Stating such things as though I'm sorta superior, yet another guality, er quality, of self-imposed and false confidence..

    Anyhoo, just wanna say thanks lots (oops, repetitive!), as I will most defiintely, waittt slash that, definitely be referring to this for my application! Which quite sadly may, or may not happen.. Reason being because it depends on my SAT I scores coming out on the 23rd of October aha! Worrisome..

    And a bigger worrisome is 24th of October, Cambridge interview! Any tips on that? Suppose you do, considering you pulled through one already, right!

    Erghh, re-reading and editing my blob of text, it still seems very convoluted and silly. Ah, a little sorry for given troubles ploughing through this!

    Will come and kacaaau more, given my fate on 23rd.

    Wow!

  • 106. John  |  October 29th, 2008 at 11:58 am

    hey, how about the “Bank Letter”?

    is there any format?

  • 107. sara  |  November 2nd, 2008 at 7:23 pm

    hi.. i have a question.. is it compulsory to register through common application before apply online through the university website? because i had started my application in several universities ( penn state, tulsa, missouri, southern california..) and i did not register in the common app..

  • 108. pinkpau  |  November 3rd, 2008 at 4:38 am

    no i never went through the cambridge interview process :) but like with all interviews, the best advice i can give is to a) research well and b) be yourself

  • 109. pinkpau  |  November 3rd, 2008 at 4:39 am

    if your school uses their own application system instead of the common app, then you dont have to register for the common app.

    if your school uses both their own app system AND the common app, you can choose which one you want to use. usually, people go for the common app because it's less work to send out the same app to multiple schools.

  • 110. heliosi  |  December 12th, 2008 at 1:46 am

    hi im in need of some clarification here
    quote: c) counselor recommendations should come attached to the SSR. you should have two recommendations from two different counselors if you decide to send in high school transcript for SSR and college transcript for MYR.

    i have a pre-u head that i really want to write a teacher rec for me, prob is she’s nvr taught me subjects, so i plan to have her as a counselor. But, my college will not be giving out transcripts; they will submit just the A-lvls forecast or results. So, does this mean i cant have her as my counselor? I would have to get my counselor from my high school instead?

    If the above is true, then i could just ask her to write me a rec letter in addition to the two teacher recs and my counselors eval (the one from high school) right?

    sorry for going round i circles lol but the true question here is can my counselor still be my pre-u head although no college transcript will be submitted?
    .
    .
    .
    my other question is: the reason why my college isnt giving out college transcripts but only the a lvls/forecast result is because they think it will confuse the adcoms….should i try to negotiate with them to give out the transcripts anyway? since i;ve read that its better to just give out whatever results u have
    .
    .
    .last last question….can i submit one teach rec online and the other one and also the counselor eval by mail?

  • 111. pinkpau  |  December 12th, 2008 at 3:32 am

    1. have you taken your AS or A2 yet? if you have, and you already have your results, i dont see why you are not being issued a finals transcript. if you havent taken your AS / A2, then well yes obviously you will have to make do with a forecast results? i’m not sure i see the problem here. regardless, you HAVE to have your MYR (or both MYR and SSR, if you should choose so) filled out by your pre-u admins. that means, yes, of course you can have your pre-u head fill in ur forms / write your recommendation as a counselor.

    2. again, not too sure what you mean by “no college transcript” will be submitted, because even a forecast result is a transcript.. and no matter what u have to have proof that u are doing ur pre-u.

    3. no. u either send both online or send both by mail. but some schools have differing policy.. like i have mentioned again and again, email your schools to ask what their policy is.

  • 112. heliosi  |  December 12th, 2008 at 9:02 pm

    hi…wow…that was an extremely quick reply

    1) ok it seems i was confused there…anyway, the transcripts i referred to in the previous post was my sememster results in college but it doesnt matter now, i’ve gotten the sem results already. So I’ll be submitting that along with my A-lvls forecast. I actually have my AS results already but it wasnt really good so i thought i would use an overall A-lvls forecast instead (is this wrong?)

    2) How is it possible to have two counselors when you only state one in the commonapp? Because i plan to ask one of my secondary school counselor to fill in the SSR while my College Counselor fills in the MYR. I heard that since this is the case, the secondary school counselor should just fill the SSR in indirectly. Also, since my college counselor will be doing everything online, this means only she will have online access to the SSR and MYR forms. How on earth do i get my secondary school counselor to fill in the SSR? Would I have to print the SSR out in PDF format and leave the MYR to my college counselor to do online?

    3) I am still not sure on how transcripts are to be submitted if the teachers and counselors will be doing their part online

    Thanks in advance for taking the time to answer, again.

  • 113. pinkpau  |  December 12th, 2008 at 10:18 pm

    1. sigh i dont know why msian kids always think that it’s ok to omit bad results completely from a transcript. it’s wrong, and works against you. i really feel that if pre-u is a requisite, then bad results are better than no results at all. what you CAN do however, is explain why you got bad results. dont over-do it to the point of being whiny, but a simple concise explanation will do. you can also choose to submit the results, but present yourself as an individual who’s more than just academics. i would personally choose the latter.

    remember that if you choose not to submit your AS, you are at a severe disadvantage compared to other international students who WILL be submitting their AS, even if they did poorly. like i said, bad results are better than no results at all.

    2. you are confusing me.. if you are asking your sec school to fill in SSR, and college to fill in MYR, doesnt that automatically say that you are going to have 2 different ppl filling up 2 different forms? which means that you have 2 counselors? this is basically the configuration that most malaysians choose, but a good thing to do is always to explain in a letter that your secondary school is different from your college. as in, different levels of education. the US college that you are applying to may probably already know this, but it’s good to reassert it anyway. a little initiative never hurt anyone :)

    as for the case of online/offline, either get your sec school teacher to fill in the SSR online, or get your college counselor to do it offline. i would choose to have both forms sent by mail. so yes, if i were you, i would print out the 2 PDFs and get both counselors to fill in the forms by hand.

    3. you send in by mail la :)

  • 114. heliosi  |  December 14th, 2008 at 4:40 pm

    haha my problem here is that I will be flying back to my hometown real soon…so im having lots of dead-ends.
    Yes, it is a must for me to have two counselors (one to fill in the SSR and the other to fill in the MYR), since my high school transcripts arent with me at the moment and it is required for the transcripts to be attached to their respective forms. And also my high school counselor will be completing my international supplement.

    1)But im just very unsure whether I will be able to convince both my counselors and teachers to either submit everything offline or online. Sigh…i guess this is what I have to deal with for being so last minute. So, let’s say la…what if…they are submitted partially offline and online although the unis mentioned not to…what would happen realistically?

    2) Is it possible for my College Counselor to send in the SSR, MYR and college transcript herself while I mail the high school transcript by myself?

    Thanks in advance

  • 115. heliosi  |  December 14th, 2008 at 4:42 pm

    eh what?? my 2nd question doesnt make sense. ok im going to sleep

  • 116. Xianjin Teo  |  December 16th, 2008 at 3:29 am

    heliosi: you could send your high school transcript separately but have you gotten them notarized? Furthermore, it would incur much extra cost if you sent them yourself. May I suggest you notify your college counselor and upon reaching your hometown, courier your transcripts to your counselor to get them notarized (if they haven’t been) and sent off together. Regarding your problem with the online/offline submission, most colleges have told me explicitly not to submit a partial application online or offline. You will have to email the colleges you intend to apply to and specifically notify them of any special circumstances and appeal to them for permission for partial online submission if you intend to do so.

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Pinkpau

pinkpau cam!
    Pinkpau is Su Ann. 19, Malaysia. Hostile when hungry. Sometimes a shapeshifter, always an optimist with a penchant for pessimism and shoe-shopping.
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    Contact at : pinkpau[at]gmail[dot]com

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