For most colleges, recommendation letters are a required component for application. While at least one (oftentimes two) letter must be written by a high school teacher who have taught the student, one can submit additional letters from other faculty members (principal, advisor, coach) or even outside of high school (PI if you are working in a lab, manager at local pet store you are interning at, etc.). In a nutshell, the recommendation letter should reflect aspects of yourself beside academic achievements and materials aforementioned in your application. Therefore, it is advised that students ask for recommendations at least 2 months before application deadline so that recommenders can better prepare writing.
Financial Aid and Fee Waivers
While colleges have different policies on granting financial aid, most schools provide grants/scholarships/loans/work-study programs for students with low-income backgrounds. In general, students are required to complete the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid). The system is opened from October 1st to June 30th if students are incoming fall students. In addition, there are fee waivers for applications on CommonApp and CoalitionApp to further reduce financial stress for applicants. QuestBridge application is widely used by FGLI students and sustains partnerships with many elite colleges to help applicants match with their dream universities.
GPA and Extracurricular Activities
GPA and extracurricular activities should be the focus when preparing for college application. While colleges consider academic rigor, class rank, and many other miscellaneous factors, it is worth noting that an admissions officer spend 10 minutes at most on your application, and might not be able to take into account everything. Therefore, it is important to stand out when it comes to academics and extracurriculars. Here at Kira, our team would organize tutoring and brainstorming sessions for students.
Application systems
Seniors have a multitude of application systems to choose from when applying to college. Common Application, the most popular application system, is used by over 900 schools and include most of the top colleges. Other application platforms include the Coalition Application, the University of California Application (specific to UC schools), and UCAS (for study abroad in UK). It is worth noting that some schools develop their own systems for application (MIT, CalTech, NUS, HKU, and most schools outside of the US). For more details, visit school-specific websites beforehand.
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