Applying to University - Top Tips from DCIS Guidance Counsellor

Sixth Form is an exciting part of the students' educational journey and opens up endless opportunities after graduation. DCIS Careers and Higher Education Guidance Counsellor Hani Rahman shares her top tips for university applications.

• What are the key points a student should consider when choosing a undergraduate degree?
  Students should consider overall country and what they are hoping to get. Different countries can have very different styles of teaching and education systems, beyond just cultural differences, so students should do their research and understand if the education style matches them as a learner. A big thing students often miss, as well, number of years towards a degree! In some countries, undergraduate degrees can take three years and others it can take four. Then, finally, cost, but not in the way you may think. When researching universities, the cost can be determined by number of courses a student is enrolled in, the course they are in or number of years their degree will take. Beyond just the listed cost, students should realise the “sticker price” listed may not be what they pay in the end, thanks to scholarships, which can be based on financial need or merit. Scholarships are becoming more and more common for international students; this can greatly affect cost.
   
• As a student at an international school, where can I study? Do I have to study in my home country? And how should you decide where to study?
  As a student in an international school, the world is your oyster! Many students feel they need to return to their home countries to study for university, but really, with a student visa, students can study anywhere. Student visas are granted to students who are in class over a minimum number of hours per week, so any full-time university course load would definitely grant one. Therefore, students should keep their options open and base their research on learning education styles and opportunities available to them. A great start is to talk to your counsellor, teachers or guardians about their experiences.
   
• What advantages does a student at an international school have when it comes to university applications?
  Being a student at an international school allows for so much fantastic exposure to so many different cultures and ideas. Students at international schools can hear about their friends applying to universities in Japan or Canada or Australia or anywhere in the world and can see how accessible universities around the world truly are. Additionally, universities are getting more and more familiar with international students and have found that there is a great benefit to their campuses as they admit more international students, especially in universities where discussion and seminar style learning is common. The more diversity of viewpoints, the richer class discussion can be, and professors feel the school as a whole is much better off for it.
   
• How does the school support its Sixth Formers in their university applications and when does this start in the academic year?
  The school supports its students before even reaching Sixth Form. We want students to feel comfortable with their course options in Sixth Form, so the best counselling should start ahead of time. Students should have a basic idea of what courses can help them with their end goals, if they have those defined. Then, once in Sixth Form, we provide students with virtual opportunities to meet with universities and one on one meetings with their guidance counsellor, which starts as soon as they start in Sixth Form! This continues all through submitting applications and as they receive decisions from universities.
   
• In light of travel restrictions, how can students best ‘visit’ their university and what questions should they be asking on a virtual tour?
  One of the beautiful things to come out from the recent restrictions is the quick adaptations to virtual visits. For most universities, this was a rare opportunity where they may offer virtual sessions once or twice a year, if at all. Now it’s not uncommon to see universities offer weekly virtual visitors or virtual campus tours. Students can access pretty much any university now and get chances to speak directly with representatives, whereas before this, students could only access what was local to them or somewhere they had the means of travelling to.
  
  When attending these sessions and campus tours, it’s important that the student really takes times to picture themselves in this environment, and ask questions that naturally come up when thinking through things. For example, think of what you want to get out of university (hopefully many things) and what questions can you ask to identify if this university matches your goals. If you want to ensure you get access to research and internships, ask questions about when students have an opportunity to partake in such things. If you know that you want to make sure they have the extracurriculars you want, ask what they have and if they don’t have what you want, what opportunities are there for students to start their own programmes or clubs? As an international student, you may have different things to adapt to than students who are locally from a place, so your questions may be related to this unique experience. Your questions could range from accessibility of resources in different languages to food options on campus to the proximity to the airport!
   
• When would you recommend a student to apply to Oxbridge?
  Students should be aware of the deadlines for Oxbridge which are standardly in October, as there are some unique deadlines that affect international students specifically. For example, Cambridge has an optional earlier deadline for international students who wish to conduct their interviews in their home country/home time zone, but they will need to apply in September. Should they apply by the standard October deadline, their interviews won’t necessarily be adjusted for the international context. Therefore, students really should start preparing for their application and personal statement a few months before, to give themselves time to compile what they need and organise how they want to present themselves on their application. In all my years of experience, I’ve never seen an application that wasn’t greatly improved with more time and planning, but it’s easy to identify rushed ones. 
   
• Have you noticed any recent changes in where students are studying and what they are studying?
  Absolutely. In the last few years, politics have greatly influenced where international students feel comfortable going. That also has lead to changes in visa opportunities for recent graduates. Students these days are so savvy and well researched that they look and see how long after graduation someone on a student visa can stay in the country. This can vary anywhere from 30 days to 3 years, which can be a big difference depending on their goals.
  
  In terms of what they are studying, we are seeing things broaden in such a lovely way. We definitely see students diving deeper into the fields of tech and computer science, especially as universities provide more niche areas of study from programming to IT to artificial intelligence. We are also seeing students excited about the arts, humanities and social sciences as we can see so many wonderful career and personal paths students can pursue in these fields. Students now are so much more open minded with their options thanks to exposure of so many fields not just from their immediate families, but with the internet.
   
• What are the advantages of taking a gap year?
  Gap years can be wonderful opportunities for students to take time to either slow down or deepen their experience in specific ways. Some students use it as an exploratory time to better understand what they want to pursue. Most use it as an opportunity to gain practical and non-academic experience in a field, often through work, internships or volunteering. Not only can this be beneficial for helping a student determine what they want to do before they start university, but it can also greatly benefit students who apply to countries where applications look beyond their coursework when determining admission, such as the United States, United Kingdom or some universities in Canada. Students usually come out of gap years with a level of maturity that they had not even expected! One thing to note about gap years is to be very mindful if a student is choosing to take any academic courses. Enrolling in specific types of courses may count as university coursework and could negatively affect a student’s admission status into a future university.

Ms Rahman
DCIS Careers and Higher Education Guidance Counsellor 

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