Strategy get into hot professional programs in the University

ANChan59

In high school, the target of most students is getting into the local universities, particularly hot professional programs like Medicine, Accountancy, Law, etc.

Parents can share their strategy, planning and positioning how to get into those hot programs.



[ 本帖最後由 ANChan59 於 11-5-29 20:12 編輯 ]

ANChan59

Global Exposure -

Visit developed, developing and under-developed regions and countries. I particularly mentioned regions because our kids can see different development regions even in China.

Not just overseas language summer camp, some working camp, mission trips or volunteer works etc can expand our kids exposure in culture, social problems etc......

Wider exposure can have better and more topics for admission interview, as it's your kid's personal experience, it's much easier for them to present in the interview. I strongly recommend my son to write down the trip report or summary in ppt format to share with others and group them together become an impressive portfolio.... of course, he can't do every trip.

[ 本帖最後由 ANChan59 於 10-9-22 22:57 編輯 ]

KWT

原帖由 ANChan59 於 10-9-22 22:55 發表
Global Exposure -

Visit developed, developing and under-developed regions and countries. I particularly mentioned regions because our kids can see different development regions even in China.

Not  ...

可否pm d ppt report給我?

因為大仔目前仍未決定讀什麼?對外exposure又少,成績中間.尾班al.如果有多些資料,入u機會會大些.謝謝.

ANChan59

原帖由 KWT 於 10-9-28 12:38 發表
可否pm d ppt report給我?

因為大仔目前仍未決定讀什麼?對外exposure又少,成績中間.尾班al.如果有多些資料,入u機會會大些.謝謝.

I need to seek for his consent, he may not wish to share with others.

I mean exposure can be local, regional or overseas. Do as much as you can is fine.

ANChan59

My son turned it down due to privacy, I respect his decision.

[ 本帖最後由 ANChan59 於 10-10-2 10:35 編輯 ]

ANChan59

From September onward, many universities either local or from overseas have orientation day for admission or exhibition.

My friend's boy is in a local Band 1 EMI school at F7, his parents recommended him to attend the admission seminars of HKUST (18/9), but he preferred to study instead of seminars.

My son was also there, after the gathering, I asked him would you like to go and know more about the non-JUPAS application procedures and programs offer by target universities. He said he would like to know more and has more time to plan for that, so we will go for CUHK (9/10)and HKU (30/10).

His school also notify them to attend seminars of different universities, either in his schools or even other schools or HK Convention & Exhibition Centre.

On Wed, they have Ivy League Fair in-house, they invited some old boys to share about their experience in those universities etc. They can ask different questions to evaluate which school is or are best fit their ability and interest.

Know the admission officer face to face and exchange business cards, we can keep the contact and ask more appropriate questions.

[ 本帖最後由 ANChan59 於 10-10-1 18:23 編輯 ]

WYmom

原帖由 ANChan59 於 10-10-1 18:22 發表
From September onward, many universities either local or from overseas have orientation day for admission or exhibition.

My friend's boy is in a local Band 1 EMI school at F7, his parents recommended ...

Your suggestion is very valid.  I see that students in IBD are really too busy to find so much info. and attend many admission talks from different U themselves.  So we start getting info. earlier for our child so that we can select IB subjects next year in a way matching better with the target universities and career.

My kid now starts to think about what she will be interested in and realises that she has to put more effort in those subjects which are pre-requisite for entering the desired U and faculties.

[ 本帖最後由 WYmom 於 10-10-2 08:37 編輯 ]

ANChan59

原帖由 WYmom 於 10-10-2 08:35 發表
Your suggestion is very valid.  I see that students in IBD are really too busy to find so much info. and attend many admission talks from different U themselves.  So we start getting info. earlier f ...

Let's work and practise together, pls share with us here also.

IBDP aims at universities internationally, not just 7-9 local universities. Collect more info, analyse and finalise the decision as per our kids interest, ability and predicted scores. It's the team work of the whole family.

mattsmum

good web sites for those prepare to go for IB:

http://www.ibsurvival.com/

http://intensecogitation.info/20 ... b-grade-boundaries/

http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?f=10

ANChan59

原帖由 mattsmum 於 10-10-2 12:20 發表
good web sites for those prepare to go for IB:

http://www.ibsurvival.com/

http://intensecogitation.info/2010/07/14/questions-about-ib-grade-boundaries/

http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/forumdisplay. ...

Thanks for your recommendation.

We better focus on the title - hot professional programs in local universities.

mattsmum

Sorry, I am so careless in notifying details.

ANChan59

原帖由 mattsmum 於 10-10-2 14:34 發表
Sorry, I am so careless in notifying details.

Not at all, you always contribute and share some insightful info and comments here.

mattsmum

I do have a little contribution to this topic: if you are interested in certain faculty, you should pay attention to that profession/ industry's organization / guild / institute to see what sort of activity they offered for general public so that you would learn more of what these people would do. Maybe a summer job also helps.

ANChan59

原帖由 mattsmum 於 10-10-2 18:18 發表
I do have a little contribution to this topic: if you are interested in certain faculty, you should pay attention to that profession/ industry's organization / guild / institute to see what sort of ac ...

Thanks for your input, if you don't mind, I will consolidate your input in the coming strategies.

ANChan59

Strategy 3 - Summer job or attachment (Pay or no pay)
(Suggested by mattsmum)

Work experience related to the professional subject definitely help to improve the advantage of the applicants. Through the experience, you may know the career more, understand the industry norm, know some influential people as mentor or supervisor (My son's school has the mentorship program for seniors), know the process and precedure to get professional qualification etc.

Some extreme examples as follow:

My ex-boss his eldest son studied in HKIS, summer job in Goldman Sachs and finally admitted to LSE in UK.

A friend of mine, his daughter got a summer job in HSBC and an International hotel chain, admitted to LSE and finally work for Investment Bank.

For ideal case, I would like my son can have overseas summer job experience , eg. US, Germany or even China (Beijing or Shanghai), Fortune 100 even better . I don't mind no-pay, I will pay for tickets and provide maintenance fee for my son........ Anyone have contact???

For science or engineering, self-nomination to universities as volunteer. Age may be a concern, too young is difficult to get insurance coverage and cannot get into laboratory or operating machinery.

As volunteer to serve some professional bodies or trade associations........you can know some influential people, VIP, potential boss. Don't treat me wrong, I mean networking not polish the apple.

[ 本帖最後由 ANChan59 於 10-10-5 12:58 編輯 ]

ANChan59

In the admission talk of Medicine Faculty, CUHK, one of the speaker Dr. Lee, he shared with us what he did when he was in International School, he sent email to Professors in HKU and CUHK to ask for attachments. He was lucky enough to have 2 attachments in QMH and PWH respectively.

In the attachments, he understands the life of a doctor in hospital, the urgency, the life and death, emotional ups and downs, difference in Medicine and Surgery etc. He found the passion to be a doctor and go for it. He emphasis the career can be lasted for 40 years, if you can test it out before the final decision is a good move.

The same principle applies to other professional. Take an initiative to seek for opportunity by yourself, understand the career, pros and cons, other opportunities, hardship and rewards etc.....

[ 本帖最後由 ANChan59 於 10-10-12 23:54 編輯 ]

ANChan59

Strategy 4: OLE/ECA/CAS with focus or theme(s)

Last Saturday, my son'e school organised an University Day with over 30 old boys came back and shared their overseas universities studying experience to their juniors.

As they were from various background and countries, they provided an important idea for us to reconsider my son's CAS.

OLE/ECA/CAS are based on hours and achievements, but most students won't leverage with their dream programs. Say medicine, your ECA or CAS are piano and or swimming, it's good but if you can related that to your program which make a difference. E.g. run a concert as fund raising to sponsor a mini-medical check up program for the elderly in a public housing estates like in Shamshuipo, still related to music, but add more elements into it: aging population, medical check-up, leadership and creativity.

Wow, they challenged us and also opened our mind to do something more meaningful and challenging.

[ 本帖最後由 ANChan59 於 10-11-20 13:08 編輯 ]

hog.wash

Just because you mentioned your boy is going to apply to local universities using IB results and you mentioned the other day about something about the quantitative finance programs, I feel some more words may be necessary as insurance.

The quantitative finance programs in local universities are very mathematical as I mentioned. The first maths course and the first economics course use textbooks which are intended for master students elsewhere. The maths background from IB is not adequate for preparing your boy for the maths requirements of the course. Worse still, you are competing  with people most of them got A in pure mathematics in HKAL, not to mention the NDS (mainland students). Historically, few EAS students (with 6 to 8 As most of them) and non-JUPAS students can perform as well as the A-Level students in their first two years. The final straw is that the students in these programs are separated from general business students. That means it is difficult to get good GPA which is a must if you consider going overseas for master studies. You are basically competing with the mathematically best students in Hong Kong beside GBus students who, on the hand, are taking classes comfortably with hundreds of general business students.

If you really want to go overseas afterward, go for a general business degree, an accounting degree or even an economics degree. You will end up with far better GPAs, other things being equal.

[ 本帖最後由 hog.wash 於 10-11-23 01:54 編輯 ]

hog.wash

原帖由 ANChan59 於 10-11-20 01:57 發表
Strategy 4: OLE/ECA/CAS with focus or theme(s)

Last Saturday, my son'e school organised an University Day with over 30 old boys came back and shared their overseas universities studying experience to ...

One suggestion for future doctors: do volunteering work in hospitals.

ANChan59

hoq.wash

Thanks for your useful advice.

My son will sit for IBDP in 2013 and Maths go for HL and aim at grade 7, as no more HKAL, only HKDSE, the competition may not be so keen (My expectation only).

His Maths is excellent in HK standard and took some gifted programs in Stanford and Imperial College before. His strength is Maths, he attended the program in Imperial College 2009 and visited Barclays Capital in London. The speaker from BC explained to them that how to apply maths to financial market and how to write a good business proposal to borrow money from the bank.......... he loved that....

We recommend our son opt for professional degree rather too general like BBA and GBus. Quantitative Finance can be a good choice, as we think CFA is professional (Any comment?). He will have 2 more years to plan as we start to evaluate different programs locally and overseas.

LSE may be a good choice, BSc in Finance and Account or BSc in Economics, IB predicted score 38+, HL 7,6,6 and Maths must be HL and Grade 7.