CIS Reception 2023 2nd Interview

Eva1233

Pm please

DPAM9910

Wanna join wechat group. Please PM

alice1026

請問大家有人已經收到 offer 或者拒信嗎？School says results will come out by mid March? Thanks!

lw122616

PM please, thank you so much

harperko

Pm pls.

camillalei

can you please add me to the wechat group?

7jai

ms.t published on 22-11-30 15:59
We have a wechat group going for CIS 2023 reception 2nd in. Pm if interested to join.

hi all,
Just wanted to reopen this thread to see your experiences with the CIS interview process?  Also interested to know what are they looking for in terms of parents/student?  

Any tips on the interview application would be appreciated!!

Thank you!

Erminator

Parents background and whether there is alumni or sibling relationship.  Most kids should have similar calibre for those who dare to apply, so other factors could make an edge.  You may get a higher chance if you are mixed or you get a soft blessing by the board or members of the founding families.  

7jai

Erminator 發表於 23-9-7 01:52
Parents background and whether there is alumni or sibling relationship.  Most kids should have simil ...

When you mean parent's backgrounds, are you talking about tycoons?  being rich? etc.?
Or are you talking about just good ordinary citizens, with solid careers, with a similar right mindset linked with the school?

If there is no alumni status, or no sibling relationship.... are the chances slim?  Do you know how many openings they have?

964000

For those of you who miss the entrance at reception and if you really like CIS, can try again at Y7 since the chance is way much higher. They accept quite a lot of local students too because of the Chinese curriculum. I personally know 3 kids who just got into Y7 this year, 2 from local school, 1 from a bilingual IS.

Erminator

回覆 7jai 的帖子

Honestly, many family profiles of CIS are just ordinary families with good career and education.  They all demonstrate high involvement and deployment of resources in the upbringing of their children.  If you are not alumni, chance for Reception intake is lower unless you can demonstrate something extraordinary to the school.  Applying for their mass high school intake may be easier as the school always needs to replenish warriors  (students who demonstrate academic excellency) to fill up the gap.  After all, IB result does mean something.  If you are really after CIS, you may consider getting an edu consultant for more advice and tactics.  It is a very good school if you want your child to have genuine bilingual education and a network for his/her future, but if you want your children to speak fluent PTH, you may have to check out other schools

7jai

Erminator 發表於 23-9-7 10:57
回覆 7jai 的帖子

Honestly, many family profiles of CIS are just ordinary families with good career  ...

Thank you for sharing!  It's good to hear that there are many ordinary families with good careers/good family values.  I always thought it was mainly rich people who get accepted in which would be a shame as they do not represent what "real people" are.
Is there really that many alumnis that apply every year?  That's rather shocking as there is 96 seats every year in Reception, and it seems hard to believe that there is that many alumni still living in Hong Kong and applying their children to CIS every year.
Would you know roughly how many of the 96 seats are taken by alumnis/debentures, etc?   Just want to measure the chances of getting in and if it's even worthwhile to apply for a spot.

sainsbury

7jai 發表於 23-9-7 16:13
Thank you for sharing!  It's good to hear that there are many ordinary families with good careers/go ...

It appears that you have a wide range of very different targets in various threads in this forum, from DBSPD, CKY, VSA to CIS. Better make up your mind early and get the right prep as these schools are looking for very different qualities and temperament in the kids.

Erminator

回覆 7jai 的帖子

Interesting that you have such a wide range of picks, but you gonna make up your mind which group you are after; DBSPD & CKY vs. CIS & VSA.  Within each group, I am sure one being the core while the other one being the backup.  

Going back to your question on CIS, according to some parents previously mentioned, the school split into three categories of applicants: Native PTH, Native Eng and non-chinese/minority passport holders (ex-UK, US, Canada, Aust and etc).  Since there isn't a category labelled as alumni, naturally most alumni will belong to Native Eng cat.  It won't likely be an equal split among the three, but places for the Eng cat is definitely less than 96 after deducting applicants from the other two cat and F&F.  If you happen to be fitting in the other two categories, your odds could be higher.  
As a side track, if you are considering DBSPD, getting close to those key old boys could be more useful than having pop up face time in front of the two principals.  

Good luck!

Adiezz

Erminator 發表於 23-9-7 21:54
回覆 7jai 的帖子

Interesting that you have such a wide range of picks, but you gonna make up your m ...

His strategy technically works as these schools has different admission period: CIS Reception first, if fail get VSA offer as a back up, then try CKY and DBSPD in K3

If no FP and no priority, just give up CIS, and try at Y7. 96 seats are not enough to fulfil the demands from the priority groups.

7jai

sainsbury 發表於 23-9-7 17:54
It appears that you have a wide range of very different targets in various threads in this forum, fr ...

I actually think this is probably 90% common strategy across most parents.  I mean, everyone would aim for applying to all the top schools and try their luck right?  At the end it depends which school (if any) will admit them.

7jai

Erminator 發表於 23-9-7 21:54
回覆 7jai 的帖子

Interesting that you have such a wide range of picks, but you gonna make up your m ...

Oh wow that seems like a toughie then if they separate into 3 buckets.  But in any case I think hard to argue if that is how the school decides to admit their students!

7jai

Adiezz 發表於 23-9-8 00:30
本帖最後由 Adiezz 於 23-9-8 00:31 編輯

His strategy technically works as these schools has diffe ...

Thanks for sharing. And yes, this strategy is quite common with everyone I know lol. which is probably why chances are slim, therefore need to apply to everything and hope you hit a jackpot somewhere.  Its so sad that education has become a casino where people gamble. o

bettyc123

回覆 7jai 的帖子

Perhaps everyone you know thinks similar to you or maybe I’m in the minority, but my personal view is that you should only apply to schools where it agrees with you and your family and not the scattergun approach you have mentioned and see which one gives you an offer. So applying for so many schools but not knowing what you truly want can be a problem and not everyone wants the ‘top’ schools (even though ‘top’ is subjective).
Even if you don’t agree with this, I think you have to make up your mind whether you go for local or international schools soon. I’ve seen you talk about many other schools too like CDNIS and HKCA PLK but I suppose good to know more about different schools and explore your options.

But if you’re really keen on DBS and CKY, then you probably wouldn’t even try for the international schools in the meantime (because what if you get an offer, it’ll be a bit hard to join them for a year or 2 and try the local school stream again). And you’d be prepping your kid up in different ways for those local schools if you want a good shot at these schools, I see people preparing portfolios, attending all sorts of class just to get some ‘certificate etc’. It’s a very different game altogether.

sainsbury

7jai 發表於 23-9-8 00:51
I actually think this is probably 90% common strategy across most parents.  I mean, everyone would a ...

You have every right to try every single "top" schools in your definition and you don't have to justify it by a random % and "everyone doing the same" etc. The point is these are very different schools looking for specific qualities in the kids, not a one-size-fits-all game. I am from one of these schools and involved in the process and I can tell that approach won't work at least for our school. Believe you'll realize that too after knowing more. Good luck.