Advice for Students
Prep Year
Welcome to UAA! You are in a school that offers a wide range of academic and extracurricular activities that will help you grow both intellectually and personally. One of the main goals of the prep year is to work on your written as well as your spoken English skills. A good knowledge of English will help you immensely in the years to come. Enjoy your year and all the wonderful clubs and activities! This is a great year of exploring, explore different activities, explore your strength, explore your potential.
Summer is a wonderful time to further explore your interests, hobbies and your English. Concentrate on your hobbies, work on your English skills, attend a summer program, do volunteer work or get a part time job. These activities will help you grow personally, make you happier people and also will help you in your international university applications.
Meanwhile make sure that you attend ICCO events, check out the bulletin boards and e-mails.
Grade 9
Keep enjoying all that UAA has to offer and keep exploring! Concentrate on your academics; remember that international universities pay close attention to your grades and all grades from 9th grade on will make up your Grade Point Average that you will send to every single university you are applying to.
Are you joining clubs and activities? Is there something you’ve always wanted to try but never had a chance? This is the time to fully engage in your hobbies, activities and interests. Do you play an instrument? Why not join the orchestra? Or arrange lunch time concerts? Are you a good illustrator? Why not talk to the performance club to design the next poster? Possibilities are endless and all the staff is here to support you.
Also in 9th grade you will need to decide whether you want to join the IB Diploma Program at UAA. Our IB coordinator will be giving lots of information to you and your parents, and college counselors are always ready to answer any questions.
Plan your summer well, engage in meaningful activities. Summer is a wonderful opportunity to do things you do not have time for during the school year. You can explore your interests, work on a second foreign language, do volunteer work or do internships. You may want to attend a summer program and explore a university campus, or an academic field you are interested in that you may not have a chance to explore at UAA.
Make sure that you sign up for the PSAT and or Pre-ACT in spring time. You will be taking the exam next fall, but the sign up occurs during spring. Also it is really important that you attend ICCO events, check out the bulletin boards and e-mails.
Grade 10
Do your future self a favor and don't leave anything to the last two years of high school. Don't forget the importance of grades while enjoying all that UAA has to offer! Universities will see grades for each term and each course starting 9th grade onwards. Give 100% to your coursework and do your best. Meanwhile, keep making UAA the wonderful place it is, choose 2-3 activities you want to improve and concentrate on those for the following years.
In October, you will take the PSAT and or Pre ACT exam and decide which one is for you. You should have signed up for this exam last year.
In 10th grade you will see that your international university counselors will be visiting your guidance classes more often, giving information about different education systems and their expectations, and explaining testing requirements. If you are thinking about applying to the US, make sure you have worked on your testing plan.
Many universities visit UAA and Istanbul. Make sure you attend the presentations during lunch time and afterschool, and attend university events in Istanbul. This is a great way to start learning about different universities around the world, even about different majors that may be you didn’t even know existed—believe us, there are many more wonderful universities than the 10 universities you have heard about!
Start thinking about your future career. You can do job shadowing and internships. We recommend that you apply for selective summer programs and research opportunities, or at least research and get ready for selective summer opportunities for the following year, deadlines are usually in December. Explore your skills, strengths, weaknesses, interests and values. 10th grade is also a very important year to think about your university preferences. You and your family need to start making decisions about which country your priority will be.
In 10th grade you will also be choosing electives for the upcoming year. Your course electives are closely related to your university plans. We will be offering advice and signing your course selective sheets individually so that you are on the right track.
If you want to attend a summer school next summer, we advise that you take an English proficiency exam. Not all, but many summer programs, especially ones which offer credit, require a TOEFL or IELTS. Talk to your counselor about these exams to get advice and tips.
Make sure that you are receiving e-mails from our office and that you are keeping in touch with your counselors!
Grade 11
University process has started for real! It is essential that you keep your grades up, stay involved in your activities, pursue your passions and do career-related activities. We will have many meetings, presentations and events for grade 11 students. Make sure that you are receiving e-mails from ICCO, attending our presentations, workshops and meetings.
Organization and responsibility is key for success in international university applications.
In 11th grade you will be studying for and taking examinations, meeting with representatives, attending information sessions and workshops, meanwhile maintaining your academic performance and extracurricular activities. Second term you will begin doing college search and together with your counselors build a tentative list of schools that you will be applying to. If applying to the US, take the SAT/ACT and SAT Subject Exams and aim to receive the scores you may need to apply to the schools you have in mind. Meanwhile, always keep in mind that your high school exams are more important as you cannot re-take them, but you can actually re-take the standardized tests in 12th Grade if necessary.
If you are an athlete, recruiting process starts in your junior year. If you are an artist or a musician, you should be working on your portfolio and auditions.
The upcoming summer is the ONLY time left before applications. Use it wisely! Now you are mature enough to take part in research possibilities or enjoy great internship opportunities. We already have some alumni willing to offer internship opportunities in their companies.
Our goal for junior year is that students are clear about everything as they are leaving for the summer. Remember, students who are organized in junior year have a much smoother and relaxed senior year.
Grade 12
You are in the thick of it! Many deadlines, tests and applications! However, if you have been organized in junior year, met with your counselors, attended presentations and used your summer effectively, this term will breeze by!
Organization, time-management and communication skills are central. You have no time to procrastinate! It is the student’s responsibility to follow-up on their applications and deadlines. College counselors are always ready to help if you have any questions, concerns, need clarification or advice.
Be ready to re-take any exams you may feel necessary. Don’t forget that we advise students to use October as the last test date for Early applications and December for Regular Applications, keeping in mind that some schools do accept the November test for Early and January for Regular. It is the student’s responsibility to do this research.
Follow up your recommendation letters and make sure we have received them. Read all the reminder emails sent through our offices. They will help you to stay organized in a time when you are juggling with many tasks at the same time.
By second term, most applications will be completed. You will start hearing back from schools in spring time. Meanwhile, all seniors should be maintaining their level of academic excellence. We will be sending your Mid Year Transcript and all IB scores in January In May, you will make decisions about where to attend and ICCO will be sending final transcripts to the universities you have decided to matriculate.
Please keep in mind, we are here even after you graduate. We are all very proud of you and we love to hear from you and we look forward to seeing you on campus when you get a chance.
ICCO