在上一篇推文中，我们为大家介绍了哈罗北京先进的升学指导系统。在本期的文章中，我们邀请升学指导老师们就一些常见的大学申请问题和误区为大家做进一步解答。一起来看一下吧！

升学指导老师

Hamilton

Gregg

Damien Tomkins

Yvette 

Huang

In last post, we introduced Harrow Beijing's university guidance system. In this post, we invited our university counsellors to clear some common misconceptions  and provide further answers to some of the frequently asked questions regarding university application. Let’s take a look! 

University Counsellors

Hamilton

Gregg

Damien Tomkins

Yvette 

Huang

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Q1

学习A Level课程在申请美国大学上有劣势吗？需要另外上一些AP课程来增加竞争力吗？

Hamilton老师：

不会有任何劣势。今年，我们的A Level学生收获了耶鲁大学、康奈尔大学、伯克利大学、纽约大学和许多其他美国著名大学的录取。A Level、AP及IB课程都是受到全球广泛认可的课程。哈罗北京的学生专注于A  Level课程的学习，另修AP课程会分散他们的精力。

Yvette老师：

美国大学会考察学生高中的背景，他们知道哈罗北京开设A Level课程，所以不会期待学生修AP课程。相反，他们想看看学生是如何最大限度地利用哈罗A Level课程的资源。

Damien老师：

哈罗北京今年被剑桥、耶鲁、伯克利、加州大学洛杉矶分校、哥伦比亚大学、南加州大学等大学录取的学生都修了三门A  Level课程。我们与大学招生官交流后得知，他们不希望学生在哈罗课程之外上AP或其他课程。此外，我们不鼓励学生参加额外的AS或A Level考试，因为这可能不利于申请。学校提供多种多样的机会鼓励学生参与到学校的活动中来，让学生更多的从中获益。

Q1

Whether students would be disadvantaged in applying to US universities with A-levels. Is it necessary to take a few APs to be more competitive?

Mr Gregg：

No, they wouldn’t be disadvantaged at all. We have linear A-level students going to Yale, Cornell, Berkeley, NYU, and many other prestigious US universities this year. A-Levels are worldwide in their recognition, along with AP and IB. There’s no reason that a Harrow student should do Aps, it distracts them from their education at Harrow.

Ms Huang：

On top of that, US universities look into the context of your high school and they know that Harrow has a linear A Level curriculum. They wouldn’t expect you to do something (APs) that’s not offered at Harrow. Instead, they want to see how you maximize the resources within the Harrow A-level curriculum.

Mr Tomkins：

Students this year who were accepted to Cambridge, Yale, Berkeley, UCLA, Columbia, USC, etc. all did three A-levels. We talk directly to university admissions officers and they tell us that they do not want students doing APs or external curriculums outside of Harrow. Furthermore, we do not encourage students to take additional AS or A-levels outside. They can be detrimental to students’ applications. We have a wealth of opportunities for students to engage in here at school and  the more students do at Harrow, the better.

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Q2

在哈罗北京，学生需要在11月30日之前完成大学申请。这样做的目的是什么?

Yvette老师：

高中阶段学业相对繁重，我们希望帮助学生减轻在大学申请方面的压力。学生的主要任务还是发展学术，他们需要更多地专注于A  Level课程的学习以及准备模拟考试。许多大学都有早申或在11月30日前截止第一轮申请，进行滚动式录取。我们的理念是，尽早提交一份准备充分的申请，让学生腾出更多时间专注于学业。

Hamilton老师：

我们通常在12年级寒假后就开始准备申请，当学生升入13年级时，压力就会减轻许多。那时学生已经确定了申请的大学，并完成好个人陈述和补充论文，准备提交。大多数名校都有内部截止日期，提前做好准备以免错过机会。

Q2

Harrow Beijing has a deadline that all applications need to be finished by the 30th of November regardless of the deadlines from the universities. What is the purpose of this?

Ms Huang：

The goal is not to keep dragging out university applications during a stressful period. A student’s primary job is school and they need to focus on their A-Levels and prepare for mock exams. Many universities have early or first-round deadlines before 30th November along with rolling admissions and our philosophy is that a good well-prepared application submitted early is the best way to go freeing up students to focus on academics.

Mr Gregg：

We typically start right after the winter holiday in Year 12. So, they get a lot of the stress out of the way when they come back for Year 13. When they come back, they have determined their application list and are ready to finalize their personal statements and supplemental essays and to submit. In addition, most ‘good schools’ have internal deadlines for university applications just like Harrow. It is simply what good schools do.

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Q3

哈罗北京升学指导团队帮助学生获得顶尖大学录取。我们的优势是什么?

Damien老师：

没有人比我们更了解哈罗和我们的学生。我们与大学招生官员一对一地交流哈罗北京的教育理念与体系，为我们的学生争取更多机会。比如Hamilton老师在几个月前去西雅图参加了大学招生会，今年7月Yvette老师和我去迈阿密参加了相关会议，与大学招生官交流，了解大学申请最新趋势。

Hamilton老师：

大学招生官和大学升学指导沟通密切。我们非常了解我们的学生，也很了解大学招生官。在大学申请过程中，学生必须真诚地表达自己的兴趣所在。如果学生是为了进入某一所学校而有针对性的完成某件事情，却与自己真正热爱的方向相背离，那么，这些信息会在在文书中体现出来。

Yvette老师：

大学申请是整个哈罗北京学术团队、家长和学生共同努力的结果。申请过程中，学生不仅有升学指导团队的支持，也会受到各学科老师们的支持。老师们会为学生提供学科推荐信、扩展阅读或独立研究建议、论文反馈、个人指导等方面的支持。”

Q3

Harrow Beijing counseling team support our students to receive the best university offers. What are our advantage?

Mr Tomkins：

Nobody knows Harrow and its students like us. We talk one-on-one to university admissions officers about Harrow Beijing and advocate for our students. Hamilton went to a conference in Seattle a few months ago and in July Yvette and I went to a conference in Miami where we met with university admissions officers and attend sessions on latest university trends and updates.

Mr Gregg：

There’s one thing that’s really interesting: admissions officers and college counselors all speak the same language. We know our Harrow students well and we know the admissions officers. We believe that students must be genuine in their passions. If you are doing things for the sake of getting into a school, it’s completely different than driven by your passion. This can be reflected in your essays.

Ms Huang：

It is also worth to emphasize that the university application process is indeed a joint effort that involves the whole Harrow Beijing academic team, parents and students. This process not only includes the university guidance team, but also the teaching staff who are very much engaged in this process. They are committed to support students with subject recommendation letters, advice on extended reading or independent research, feedback on essays, individual mentoring and so on. 

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Q4

哈罗北京是SAT考点，学生可以在本校参加SAT考试。如果SAT成绩作为可选项，学校还鼓励学生参加SAT考试吗？

Hamilton老师：

我们建议学生在11年级和12年级参加PSAT考试（学术评估测试预考），为SAT考试做准备。我们要求学生在12年级的12月或3月参加SAT考试。如果学生表现尚佳，我们会鼓励他们在必要时再参加一次。我们不建议学生参加三次以上的SAT考试，因为大学不希望看到学生在提高标准化成绩上花太多时间，更希望看到学生专注于学校课业和其他课外活动。

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除了校内的大学申请指导，哈罗北京升学指导团队也在积极探索未来带领11、12年级学生去往英美大学参观的可能性，为学生拓展更多的资源与平台，帮助他们升入理想的大学，实现人生梦想。

Q4

Harrow Beijing is an official SAT Test Centre for currently enrolled Harrow Beijing students. With the test-optional policy, are students applying to the US still encouraged to take SAT?

Mr Gregg：

We recommend students to take the PSAT in Year 11 and Year 12 in preparation for the actual SAT. We ask students to take the actual SAT in December or March of Year 12 and  if a student is looking strong, we would encourage them to take it again if required. We do not advise students to take the SAT more than three times as colleges don’t want to see a student spend too much time to just increase the standardized grades rather than focus on school work and other extra-curricular activities. 

Looking ahead, our university team is currently exploring the option of taking interested Year 12 and Year 11 students on a university tour to the United Kingdom or the United States next academic year.