Category: College Applications

Applying to the UK? How to write your UCAS Personal Statement

In a recent blog, I introduced readers to the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service, or UCAS for short. In the article, I went over the elements that made up a UCAS application and briefly described the Personal Essay students need to write. In this blog, I will go into more detail about the essay, what it is and how to write it.

In a nutshell…

Your UCAS Personal Statement (PS) is the one opportunity to discuss why you want to study a particular degree. It is your chance to demonstrate your drive, ambitions, skills, and achievements, making you an excellent choice for the universities to which you have applied. Unfortunately, you only have a limited amount of room to sell yourself, 4,000 characters, spaces, and 47 lines, roughly one page of A4. This limitation means that you must express yourself clearly and succinctly, leaving little room for filler.

Making a start

Often the most challenging part, so don’t sit down with a blank document in front of you; writing your PS should start well before you write your first word. Take some time to understand the courses you are applying to by researching not just what the course studies but how you would study and how you can tailor your time at university to meet your needs.

Using your research, use a mind map or spider diagram to make notes answering these questions.

·      What inspired you to study this subject? Perhaps there was a specific time when you decided that this was an area you wanted to understand better, or maybe you read a book or watched a TED Talk; if so, make a note of it.

·      What evidence can you provide that supports your interest and shows that it is more than superficial? An excellent personal statement will provide evidence of more extensive reading or participation in activities that support and extend your knowledge and understanding of the course you have picked.

·      How can you show that you have the skills and attributes to enable you to do well in the course? You will hopefully have some examples to share inside and outside the classroom.

·      How have your extra-curricular activities helped prepare you for university study? These might be academic exploration, team and leadership skills, or perhaps a prize for a literary competition you entered.

·      What have your studies taught you about the course you hope to apply for? For instance, if using it for an engineering course, what have you done through your high school curriculum that sparked your interest?

Read More: Claremont Mckenna College

Putting it together

Now that you have put all of your ideas in some order, now is the time to start putting words onto paper. A clear structure will help you write a PS with a natural flow and enable you to develop good transitions from one section of your PS to the next. For clarity, I have described the PS under headings; however, the PS you submit with your UCAS application should be written using something other than subheadings.

Introduction

Your role with the introduction is to grab the interest of the admissions tutor; they probably have to read hundreds of these PS, so try to make yours stand out. This might be the point to share a story about when you realized that the subject you are applying for was what you wanted to study.

Academic achievements

This should be something other than a list of subjects and grades; that information will go elsewhere in your application. Instead, you’d like to tell the admissions tutor about the specific things you have done in your curriculum with your interests, the course content, and how they’re doing.

Extra-curricular activities

Showcasing your abilities and interest in school shows how you have pursued those interests through extra-curricular activities. In addition, these extra-curricular activities demonstrate how you have followed your interests beyond the curriculum and different aspects of your personality that a university might look for, leadership, or an interest in broader issues facing humanity.

Conclusion

Your conclusion should tie in all the most critical aspects of your achievements into no more than two or three sentences. Then, finish with a clear, positive statement that encapsulates why the universities reading your PS should accept you.

Final points

You should expect to rewrite your PS a few times, but each time you think you have finished, read it out loud. It’s a great way to test the flow and identify any clunky language. Then, having done that, put it down overnight and proofread it again. Keep doing this until you stop making changes to what you have written. It is always a good idea to ask somebody who knows you well to read it before you add your essay to your UCAS application; they may pick up on something you have missed.

Working with study abroad consultants, overseas education consultants, or, more commonly known, college counselors, can help you plan and perfect your personal statement. Ivy Central offers exceptional and experienced writers that can give you some of the best advice for your PS. Start today!

October 27, 2022
Still Writing Your Common App Essay? 5 Tips to Help You

With the submission deadline for applying in the early round of US college applications rapidly approaching, you will hopefully be well on the way to finishing your personal essay. However, if you are struggling, this article will hopefully help as I share five tips from college admission professionals that can help you create a winning essay.

For many students, writing a solid personal essay is the most challenging part of the application; its test comes because what is required is significantly different from the types of essays most students have been writing during their schooling. While it may be challenging, you must spend the time to create as powerful an essay as possible; this is the one opportunity you have to help the admissions teams get to ‘meet you’ and understand something about the individual behind the grades and scores.

1. First impressions count

Any student attending college should expect to do a great deal of writing, irrespective of their major. So, the first thing somebody reading your supplemental college essay will ask is, ‘Can this person write?’

When you read your essay, is it well put together? A strong essay will nearly always have a strong theme or story that runs through it from beginning to end, with clear transitions from one paragraph to the next. Write using an active voice rather than the passive one generally expected for an academic essay; try to engage your reader from the very start so that you can be seen through your words. You should always ask people who know you well to read your essay; if they say that they can hear your voice as they read it, then you are probably a winner!

Finally, grammar and spelling count; make sure you go through what you have written and check it with a good spelling and grammar checker. Again, make sure you are using American spellings.

2. You are the story

The college admissions team is reading your essay because they want to find out about you, so make sure that what you are writing about is you. It seems an obvious thing to say, but you would be surprised how often students write essays where they talk about their parents, grandparents, or teachers who have helped shape them into the person they are now. Unfortunately, this sort of supplemental essay rarely comes across well as you will inevitably spend much of your limited word count talking about what makes that person special rather than what makes you special, how you live your life as an individual, in the spirit of the person.

To create a strong impression on the admissions officer, you want them to feel that they know what makes you who you are, your motivations, and your passions.

3. Reflections

Creating the strong impression I just mentioned requires you to reflect on who you are and how you became that person. This is something that many students find difficult, but without sharing that knowledge in your essay, you risk it will come across as shallow or, worse still, clichéd! On the other hand, sharing your reflections can add depth and character, making even an everyday experience, such as waiting for the school bus, into a profoundly revealing portrait of you and your life.

4. Add value

When talking about their work, top college and university admissions officers will speak about ‘crafting a community.’ What they mean by this is that they are not just trying to fill the number of places available; instead, they are looking for people who will contribute to the campus experience. So in your personal essay, try to focus on your genuine strengths, using anecdotes that will best portray them.

5. Be consistent

Be clear about what impression you want to create in the minds of the people who will read your application. Having done that, ensure your application, including your essay, aligns with that picture. For example, suppose you want your essay to portray you as a passionate biology researcher. In that case, you don’t want your activities to reflect a person who loves to spend their time deep into self-published online stories. If your essay does not resonate with the rest of your application, you need to take a step back and consider how you can make the whole application reflect who you are. Ivy Central always here to help you.

Good luck!

September 8, 2022
U.S. Colleges Interviewing this Fall
College Interviews for Admission

Giving a solid college interview can help sway the decision in your favor. If you haven’t already identified those colleges on your list that are interviewing this fall, now would be a good time to do that.

Colleges either offer informative or evaluative interviews. The former means that colleges want to get to know you more and offer you the chance to get to know them more. However, ‘evaluative’ interviews mean that your performance during the interview will affect your admission decision. Also, while most colleges offer an interview, you will be given the option to choose between an in-person interview and a virtual one. However, there may be a couple of those that would only invite students for an on-campus or in-person interview.

Moreover, while some colleges offer an open interview schedule that gives you plenty of options, others will only provide an interview once you have submitted your application to them. Therefore, if you are certainly applying for an Early Action or Early Decision, ensure that you have appeared for the college interviews before your application in case they allow it. This will help them view all parts of the application together, including your interview performance.

I am sharing below a list of some of the top-tier colleges that will be interviewing this fall –

BABSON COLLEGE

BATES COLLEGE

BOSTON COLLEGE

BOWDOIN COLLEGE

BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY

CARLETON COLLEGE

CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY

CLAREMONT MCKENNA COLLEGE

COLGATE UNIVERSITY

COLLEGE OF WILLIAM AND MARY

COLORADO COLLEGE

CONNECTICUT COLLEGE

DENISON UNIVERSITY

DICKINSON COLLEGE

EMORY UNIVERSITY

FRANKLIN AND MARSHALL COLLEGE

GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY

HAMILTON COLLEGE

HARVEY MUDD COLLEGE

HAVERFORD COLLEGE

KENYON COLLEGE

LAFAYETTE COLLEGE

LEHIGH UNIVERSITY

LOYOLA MARYMOUNT UNIVERSITY

MIT

MOUNT HOLYOKE COLLEGE

OBERLIN COLLEGE

OCCIDENTAL COLLEGE

PEPPERDINE UNIVERSITY

PITZER COLLEGE

POMONA COLLEGE

SCRIPPS COLLEGE

SKIDMORE COLLEGE

SWARTHMORE COLLEGE

SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY

TUFTS UNIVERSITY

TULANE UNIVERSITY

UNION COLLEGE

UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER

VASSAR COLLEGE

VILLANOVA UNIVERSITY

WASHINGTON AND LEE UNIVERSITY

WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY IN ST LOUIS

WHITMAN COLLEGE

I wish you luck with your interviews!

Working with study abroad consultants, overseas education consultants, or, as more commonly known, college counselors, can help you plan and ace those interviews. Ivy Central offers exceptional focus to help you prepare for and demonstrate to college admissions throughout the high school years. Start today!
August 30, 2022
All Change for the SAT… But Not Yet.
New SAT-Changes Announced

The SAT, together with its near relation, the ACT, has been a feature of college applications for many years. As a result of the COVID pandemic most US colleges have moved to a ‘Test Optional’ application format, meaning that applicants can choose whether to submit an SAT or ACT score without it affecting their chances of acceptance. This test-optional format remains in place with most colleges for the 2022/23 round of applications and some colleges, including some of the most prestigious, have already announced that this will be the case for the following two application rounds.

All of this has led to questions being asked about the future of standardised tests and if they are needed. The University of California colleges announced last year that they will no longer consider ACT or SAT good scores when making application decisions and an increasing number of colleges have followed a similar route.

In an attempt to reinvigorate the SAT, the College Board, which owns the SAT, announced at the end of January that, following a trial in November 2021, they are going to make significant changes to the SAT and the way it is administered.

What’s changing?

Going digital – the new SAT will be administered digitally meaning that those taking the test will be able to use their own computers, devices in schools or one issued by the College Board for the purpose of taking the test. The test will continue to be administered in school or a test centre, there will not be an option for students to take the test at home.

Format – when the new test is introduced it will take around two hours to complete, rather than the three hours required by the current test. The reading passages in the test will become shorter and the range of topics will become broader to better reflect what students read in college.

Calculators – The maths section of the current test contains one section where calculators are allowed and a second where they are not. The new test will allow students to use calculators across the whole maths section of the test, indeed a graphing calculator will be built into the testing app.

Test security – the current pencil and paper test has come in for criticism when whole testing cycles in countries have been scrapped because the test has been leaked. The new digital test will enable each student to be set a test that is unique to them while retaining the same level of difficulty. This means that it will be virtually impossible for students to share answers or for questions to be leaked beforehand.

Results – sitting, waiting to find out what score you achieved in the SAT will still be there, but it should only be for days, rather than the current couple of weeks.

Flexibility – as a digital test there will no longer be a need for the SAT to a pre-set schedule. Currently there are six SAT administrations on dates that are set months in advance. The new test will enable schools and test centres greater choice of when, where and how often they administer the test.

What’s not changing

Rigour – there is no suggestion in what the College Board has said that the test will become any easier. The SAT will still seek to assess the ability of the student to meet the challenges of study at college.

Scoring – The SAT will continue to be scored out of a total of 1600, 800 for the English section and a further 800 for the maths section.

When does this happen?

The new style SAT will be phased in over two years. Students taking the test in international centres will start using the new digital test from March 2023, while students in the US will take the new test for the first time in March 2024.

Further information on the revamped SAT can be found on the College Board website.
March 17, 2022
WHY THIS MAJOR ESSAY?

In less than a month’s time, the big reveal of Supplemental Essays will take place. While there could be a variety of supplemental essays that colleges/universities ask their students to answer, one of the most common and prominent is the one about what would you like to study in college. We call it the ‘Why this Major?’ essay prompt.

Voila! The perfect opportunity to prove your love for your major just arrived. So how do you welcome it?

Well, here are 5 tips to help you do that –

1. Your academic subjects and performance

As an example: If you’re applying for Computer Science, you do not necessarily need to have taken Computer Science as an academic subject. However, you would need to demonstrate strong performance in Mathematics. Talking about your strong math skills definitely works in your favor.

If you’re applying for gender studies, then talking about how History and/or Literature have pushed you to think critically about the world around you would help make your case for this major. Did you develop deep reading skills that have allowed you to go beyond the obvious and really analyze two sides of the coin?

2. Your Academic Extracurriculars

Academic Extracurricular activities are those that are related to your major. This is an amazing way to showcase a tangible outcome in support of your choice of major. Students typically would engage in writing a research paper or a book or creating an app. In the UK, these are typically referred to as Supercurriculars. When writing your UCAS Personal Statement, you can definitely talk about them.

3. Opportunities offered by the University

Colleges and Universities offer tons of clubs and organizations to meet students’ interests and talents. These literally range from a simple Robotics Club to something as fancy as the Squirrel Club at U.Michigan. The latter would make sense if you’re planning for the pre-vet track or Animal Psychology major! Thus, ensure that your choice of club/organization is in sync with your major and related interests.

4. Summer Programs

If you’ve participated in any summer programs that demonstrate your interest in the area you’d like to pursue at college, do dive into what you learned and the goals you achieved. This could be in the form of a poster presentation or a talk at a symposium or a full length research paper.

5. Community Service Projects

If you’ve demonstrated strong passion for a subject area through activism or volunteering, this is the time to mention it. One thing to be weary of is that some universities would have a specific Community Essay wherein you may need to use these anecdotes. In that case, it would be best to stick the any of the aforementioned points so that you can use your community project for the community essay, even though this doesn’t necessarily need to be the case.

Final Word

Supplemental Essays for 2021-22 will be declared on 1st August on the Common Application portal. Given the pandemic, you could expect some changes to the supplemental essays this year. Guess only time will tell. Ivy Central always here to help you.

May the countdown begin!

July 11, 2021
Housing at US Colleges and Universities
Housing at U.S. Colleges

Upon accepting your college admission offer, the first thing you want to secure is your accommodation. For that, it is important to do some research into the different options available to you. Understand why you feel one would suit you better than the other based on your personal preferences. This is crucial since you would be living away from home, and you want to be comfortable in your surroundings, which you will use to study, relax, and make lifelong friends! If you are an out-of-state or international student, this becomes a key aspect of college life that you need to adapt to. Sometimes in-staters too avail themselves of on-campus housing if they wish to spend time learning more about the ‘real world.’

Surge in Demand Amidst Limited Supply
- Enrollment Growth: According to the National Student Housing Report – April 2025U.S. colleges and universities experienced a 1.7% year-over-year increase in enrollment, up from 1.2% in 2023. The average advertised asking rent per bedroom reached $897 in July 2024, marking a 4.7% year-over-year increase. National Student Housing Report – April 2025 – Multi-Housing News
- Occupancy Rates: Despite a 5% decrease in new bed deliveries compared to the previous year, occupancy rates remained robust, with 58% of institutions reporting rates above 91%.
Special Interest Houses

Sometimes also called ‘Themed Housing’, Special Interest Houses are those that make room for a student community with a shared interest. These could be focused on an academic area such as Engineering or Computer Science, in which case, SIHs are called Living Learning Communities. SIHs also exist for those who share a passion for the Arts or Languages. Additionally, some SIHs are culture-focused, such as those based on sexual orientation, ethnicity (Latinx/’Desi Americans’), or one designed for those working towards the acceptance of diversity.

As an example:

University of Oregon’s “Gender Equity Hall” is one where students share rooms regardless of gender or sexuality. This includes transgender, gay, straight, bisexual, and intersex students who are treated with utmost respect, as everybody should.

I have also come across SIHs for healthy living, women in STEM, and gaming. Frat and Sorority Houses also fall under the category of SIHs.

As you can imagine, this option is open for students with a common interest to come together and share their ideas and grow together as a community outside of the classroom. However, the bonus is that you get access to specialized facilities catered to your interest, whatever it may be.

SIHs have a governing body with a Director and run as a fully functional student body who makes their own decisions. If this interests you, feel free to sign up for a leadership position. Additionally, you may be required to pay for the specialized amenities you’d be using. This could range from 50$ to 175$ on an annual basis.

You can apply to a SIH as a freshman, and your application is carefully reviewed by a committee. Given the limited accommodation options, especially if you’re applying to a medium or large-sized school, you may not be accepted by Ivy League colleges. But don’t worry! An interesting fact is that you can still be part of a special interest housing group when you’re not living with this community. This means you can be part of all of their events, activities, community service events, weekly meetings, and weekend parties as an “off-floor member.” The benefit of being a part of an SIH is that you are with like-minded people and therefore, your college experience can initially be less intimidating if you’re one from the introverted tribe.

Fun Fact: SIHs do not always mean entire houses; they could also just be a single or a couple of floors combined! Don’t fall for the literal meaning of the term ‘houses’. Check the university website for more details so you know what you’re signing up for. You may be required to submit an essay to demonstrate your genuine interest in living in an SIH, given that there are limited rooms available.

Innovative Housing Solutions
- Modular Housing: California Polytechnic State University is undertaking a $1.2 billion modular housing project to add 4,200 on-campus units by 2030, aiming to alleviate housing shortages.
- Tiny Home Communities: High Point University in North Carolina offers a tiny home community known as University Landing, providing students with fully furnished 500-square-foot homes as an alternative to traditional dorms. The US Sun
- Intergenerational Living: Programs like Nesterly connect students with senior citizens for affordable housing arrangements, addressing both housing affordability and social isolation.
Residence Halls/Dormitories

Very simply, these are on-campus houses that accommodate students regardless of their major. Generally, these would be divided into co-ed or single-sex dorms and floors. You may apply for a single-sex dorm or floor if you’d feel more comfortable living away from home in this way.

A dorm could mean a single room, a room for two or three people. Perfect Colleges also offer suites that accommodate two, three, or sometimes, more students. If you have lived in a hotel suite before, you would know what this means. Unlike a single room, a suite has a common area which makes the accommodation feel more spacious. Sometimes this could include kitchen facilities and also include a private bathroom.

Off-campus Housing

Most of the medium or large colleges and universities in the US will have tie-ups with off-campus housing options. These are rented by the university and then let out to students. However, a lot of commuter schools (i.e., public schools, especially those as big as the UCs) will give you the option to stay wherever you want off-campus. Sometimes students choose to live with their parents or their peers from high school, so this could also prove beneficial if you have that option open to you. This makes you independent in a different way since you have to manage your bills and food, preparing you for post-college life. Also, you get more space and freedom to do things you’d like to do without worrying about who your roommate would be or which party you would next be dragged into.

Final thoughts

Start your college house hunt sooner rather than later. It is always best to reach out to the university or college housing office to learn more about the housing options open to you. It is recommended that international students utilize the International Office so that they can enquire and make the most of the housing choices available.
May 23, 2021
Importance of Pictures and Videos for College Applications
Why Pictures and Videos are Important for College Applications
As unexpected as it may sound, clicking pictures and videos of you engaged in extracurricular activities can help you stand out in your college applications.

Here’s why we recommend it:
1. Personal website
  
  A lot of our top students are able to effectively showcase themselves and their work through developing a personal website. It acts as a great visual résumé when they document their high school journey through photographs and videos. While the cliche ‘A picture is greater than a thousand words’ stands true, it is also key to have a blurb accompanying the photo. Here you can talk about what motivated/inspired you to undertake this task. Remember to keep it short.
  
  Most admissions officers will click the link to your personal website, so be mindful to put your best foot forward. These could include everything from your top extracurricular activities whether it is lab experiments, research papers, theatre, dance, music, or sports.
  
  Read more: College Application Checklist
2. College Application Questions
  
  Sometimes, universities ask their applicants to share one of their defining moments with them. For instance, by asking “In keeping with Rice’s long-standing tradition (known as “The Box”), please share an image of something that appeals to you,” Rice University wants a photoresponse to learn about one of your beliefs or inspirations. You need to pick something that is meaningful to you, and so there is no right or wrong response to this. Avoid sending a picture of rice, for obvious reasons. No surprise, it has been seen to put off admissions officers.
3. Pictures & Videos prompt great essays
  
  If you haven’t realized yet, your college essays need you to weave in a story. Looking at photos/videos of you in action will help you go back to what you felt in that moment, and how far you have come. Pictures act as an effective springboard for reflection.
Compiling these pictures will make you feel you have achieved so much in recent years. They will remind you of perseverance and how you stood up when things got tough.

So go out there, and capture your moments because you have earned every bit of it!

College Application Submitted What’s Next
November 11, 2020
Who to ask for a Recommendation Letter?
It is normal for colleges to ask you to send one or more letters of recommendation as part of your college application. Applications for competitive summer programs are another occasion when you may find yourself asking Who should I ask?

Normally, what the college or summer program is looking for is an academic reference, an insight into your scholarly capabilities from those who have taught you and can comment on your approach to your academic pursuits and your overall presentation as a student.

This article will provide you with a step-by-step guide on how to go about identifying who to ask in a letter and how.

Who to Ask?

Sometimes you will be asked to get a letter of recommendation from a specific subject teacher. For example, if you want to attend a summer school looking at an aspect of physics, you may be asked for a reference from either your physics or maths teacher.

More often than not, you will be asked for one or two teacher recommendations. You have probably had several teachers each year throughout school so there are lots of possible teachers to choose from. So who to choose?

You might think that the teachers in the subjects you get the best grades in should be to ones to approach, and that may well be the case, but you should think more about which teachers know you best and will be better able to describe what you are like as a student, beyond your academic grades

If you didn’t speak much and just sat in the back of the class during those classes, your teacher might not have much to say about you that couldn’t be inferred by transcripts. Instead, you should go for teachers who best know your personality, ambitions, and work ethic. These teachers are more likely to be enthusiastic about helping you out, and can probably craft a genuine, compelling letter of recommendation.

A teacher you have had across several different grades can be an excellent choice as they have overseen your academic progress for a long time and can attest to your achievements and growth more than teachers who have only had you for one year or semester.

Other teachers to consider could include:
- Any teacher that is in your intended field of study, for instance, if you plan to pursue biochemistry on a pre-med track, your biology or chemistry teacher could be a strong contender, as they have probably seen your passion in the classroom.
- Any class in which you participated more than usual, talked to the teacher after class or regularly asked questions can show how dedicated you are to learning.
- Even if you weren’t the top academic performer, the teacher may have recognized your tenacity and your strong work ethic – important qualities for a college student to have.
Whoever you choose, you need to be sure that they can write a great, personalized letter for you.

Embark on a transformative higher education journey and elevate your path to academic success with the expert guidance and personalized support of an Ivy Central college counselor.

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September 28, 2020