Sending my son, Deniz, to Üsküdar American Academy as part of his journey to attain his goals, was the best decision I ever made. We felt this at every stage of that journey, but now when we repeat with pride that he is considering studying at Yale next year, both he and us, his family, are even surer that it was the right one. Deniz has always been a good student. He has become a self-disciplined child and young man who makes his own decisions, knows what he wants and pursues these to the end. 

 

Üsküdar gave him a wonderful foundation on which to discover his own capacity. Our school provides a just and safe educational environment where all the students, parents, teachers and administration, just like a real family, gets to know and takes interest in each individual on a one to one basis, embraces and supports them and applies the rules fairly to everyone.

 

The highly qualified teachers, in cooperation with the guidance department, monitor the students from the first year until the last, guide the students to do their best in and give justice to everything they do, and give great importance to developing the habits of abiding by the ethical values of their work and being an effective team member. This staff is one that deserves respect for espousing the mission to nurture individuals who are self-confident, embrace their friends with love and kindness, are respectful and disciplined and possess a broad outlook towards the world.  

 

Every student is encouraged to participate in social service, drama, sports, educational events, seminars and conferences held at home and abroad and their performance at these is held as important as that in classes and is rewarded. Through Deniz’s participation and interest in MUN, drama, social service and numerous other activities he has developed his personality, and gained a wonderful cultural background as well as securing an important advantage when seeking acceptance at universities. 

 

Giving information about universities begins in grade 9 and whatever needs to be done each year is planned a step at a time and followed up by the university counselors together with the students and their parents. This is a difficult and exciting time but since you are confident that experienced and interested counselors are at your side the students can focus on the goals they have set whether it is at a national or overseas university. What’s the result? Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Oxford, MIT and a 100% success rate in the university entrance exam. 

 

Çağla Tanyolaç

 

According to me one of the most important aspects of UAA is that in addition to it providing a very strong academic environment, it also strongly supports extra-curricular activities. I already knew that Yasemin would be very well prepared for university because of this academic environment. It seems to me that Yasemin really enjoyed studying her lessons and completing them. But in addition to this, Yasemin also participated extensively in drama and the MUN club and made very good and strong friendships as a result. In my opinion these extra-curricular activities were instrumental in her development socially as is demonstrated by Yasemin’s incredible advancement in her ability to address large groups of people. As a global citizen, Yasemin also had the opportunity to develop her awareness of social and political issues. Yasemin was enriched as a person by her friendships at UAA. The thing that sets UAA apart is this colorful free environment. 

 

İzak Atiyas