Sentinel-Specific Advice on Getting Into Your Dream College

Googling “How to get into my dream college” yields a lot of information. But most of it isn’t actually helpful. Everyone regurgitates common sense: good grades, impactful extracurriculars, and international awards. It’s generic. It’s untailored. 

Thus, this article was born. 

I’m going to explain how you, a Sentinel student (probably), can best use your time at this overly competitive high school to maximize your chances of getting admitted into your dream college.

Disclaimer: These are based on my personal experiences. Thus, this article is tailored towards US & Canada admissions (heavy emphasis on the former). Take everything with a grain of salt! 

But having gone through the war that is college admissions, let me guide you through the battleground so you can best avoid the arrows. 

Course Selection

As a general rule of thumb, if you have the option to take a pre-AP/AP course, you should take it. Every college values “rigor”: the more challenging your classes are, the better of a student you look. It shows them that you can handle advanced coursework, a crucial skill at any post-secondary institution. Especially at a school like Sentinel, where a lot of APs are offered, admission officers expect you to take full advantage of what your school offers. This means only taking a handful of APs could give you the thumbs-down. 

Course selection happens during February each year. I highly recommend looking at the Course Handbook (available on the school website) and at any prerequisites that your major/university might demand before you decide.

AP, Pre-AP, and Everything in Between

AP (Advanced Placement) courses are college-level courses open to high school students covering a variety of different disciplines, and with a few exceptions, all have exams in May. Students receive a score from 1 to 5, with 3+ considered a passing score. The score on the AP Exam is separate and distinct from the grade you actually receive in the class (ie. I might get a 95 in AP Psychology, but only receive a 4 on the exam). Generally, a 4 or 5 is sufficient to exchange for college credit, allowing them to skip introductory college classes and automatically place into the advanced version. 

Sentinel offers a total of 21 AP courses and 8 Pre-AP courses. All of them run each year except AP Human Geography 12 due to low registration. In comparison, the average American high school only offers 10—really demonstrating just how fortunate we are to be at Sentinel. 

Q: What are Pre-AP courses? Should I take them? 

Like the name implies, Pre-AP courses are “Preparatory AP” classes: designed to prepare you for AP, but not an actual AP course that you can get college credit for. They’re more challenging versions of the standard course and are first available in Grade 10 (Pre-AP English, Science). Sentinel has a weird naming system, but if the course is labeled “Pre-AP” or the “AP” comes at the end of the name, it’s a Pre-AP Course. If the “AP” comes at the beginning of the course name, it’s an actual AP course. AP Chemistry 12 ≠ Chemistry 11 AP. If you intend on taking the AP course, I highly recommend taking the Pre-AP version to better prepare yourself! The Pre-AP Grade 11 courses are particularly valuable, and often direct prerequisites to the AP Course itself. 

Keep in mind that on your official transcript, regardless of which version you took, it will state that you took the normal, non-Pre-AP course (even if you took the Pre-AP version). Despite that, when considering the difference in education you’re going to get, I still recommend taking the Pre-AP version. In the “Additional Information” section of my college applications, I just left a short paragraph explaining that X courses I took were actually more advanced than their normal counterparts, even if that wasn’t evident on my transcript. You can do the same! 

Q: How many APs should I take?

You should only take as many APs as you can realistically handle. If you register to take 5 APs in Grade 8 and get a 2 on all of them, you’ve wasted both your time and money. It’s smarter to take less but get higher scores in all of them than take too many and do poorly in all of them.

With that being said, if you have anywhere between 8 – 12 APs by the time you graduate, you’re in a good spot. That’s the range I would ballpark for a competitive student applying to the US. Any more than that is simply a bonus and will only provide diminishing returns (there’s no real difference between 15 vs. 17 APs). 

The way Sentinel handles course selection forces you to take most of them in Grade 12 (I’m doing six right now), though if you plan your courses strategically (see the Summer School section of this article), there are some you can do in Grade 11. 

Q: Should I take APs outside of school?

This is also super common at Sentinel, where students will register to take the AP Exam elsewhere and study the material on their own. Although it won’t appear on your school transcript (because you don’t take it as a course at Sentinel), you can still send your AP scores to colleges. 

I would only take an AP outside of Sentinel if: 

1. You’re confident you can get a 4 or 5 on your own. 

Taking AP courses outside of school means colleges only receive your exam score, whereas taking them at school means they can see both your exam score and course grade (which are two separate things). So if your exam score is low, you’ve wasted your time and money. You can hire tutors to help you (and there are plenty of free resources online!), but know that it requires a lot of self-motivation. I have a lot of friends who took APs outside of school and then got 2s or 3s, which they couldn’t exchange for credit. I pray you do not succumb to the same fate. 

2. The AP course is not offered at Sentinel. 

Colleges care more that you do the AP at some point than when you actually do it. So if you have the option to take the AP course in a school environment where you have more resources and other people to hold you accountable, why not take that route? 

Plus, if you take an AP exam offered at Sentinel (e.g. AP Psychology) on your own and receive a poor score, it’s very unlikely you’ll be allowed to redo the exam at Sentinel next year. This is because priority for AP courses goes to Grade 12 students who have not yet written the exam, and if you don’t tick that box—good luck! So if you’re gonna self-study APs, do ones we don’t have at Sentinel. Even if you flunk it, at least it won’t jeopardize your next-year courses. 

3. You’re currently in Grade 11 or younger. 

If you’re self-studying APs in Grade 12, your AP scores won’t come out until July (after college decisions are out). Colleges will have nothing to evaluate you by, and you can’t submit your scores as part of your application because they literally don’t exist. But if you take APs at Sentinel during Grade 12, it shows on your report and transcript that you’re currently taking an AP course (and they can use your first term grades to evaluate you), so that’s more doing. If you self-study APs in Grade 11 or earlier, you can submit those scores as part of your application. 

Summer School

In your Grade 9 year, you’ll qualify for “Summer Learning”: a one-month summer school during July where you can take a normal course at an accelerated rate, receive credits for it, and then advance to the next class once the normal fall semester restarts. There are also two-week “preview” versions of each course; you won’t receive credit, but it’s a good way to prepare yourself for the real course in fall. 

Essentially, Summer Learning has three purposes: 

1. “Speedrunning” a course so you can get your prerequisites out of the way ASAP and move on to the tough stuff. 

2. Preparing yourself for an upcoming course through the preview classes by reinforcing your existing skills. 

3. Redoing courses you did poorly on to earn a better grade. 

Let’s talk about the course options available!

Math Courses

Taking at least one year of math in summer school sets you on the advanced math track because it lets you take AP Calculus BC (the most advanced math you’re allowed to do as a high schooler) before you graduate. 

Here’s what an example schedule looks like: 

Grade 9: Math 9

Grade 9 Summer: Math 10

Grade 10: Pre-calculus 11

Grade 11: Pre-calculus 12 + AP Calculus AB (enrolled concurrently)

Grade 12: AP Calculus BC 

Alternatively, you can do Pre-calculus 12 and AP Calculus AB in separate years, but you wouldn’t be able to do AP Calculus BC. You could also do Math 10 normally and then Pre-calculus 11 over the summer, but because there’s a significant jump from Grade 10 to Grade 11 math, I recommend learning the latter over the full duration of the school year. 

If you’re going into STEM, doing math over the summer is a must. This is the only way to take BC at Sentinel unless you take a placement test that allows you to accelerate.

Science Courses

Technically, you can take all three AP Sciences (because Geology is #notarealscience, sorry Mr. Grikis) on a normal track, but because all three courses are in high demand, especially Chemistry, there’s no guarantee you’ll be able to do all three before you graduate. Hence, taking Science 10 over the summer gives you an extra year to squeeze in those science courses since it literally gives you an extra year to take them. 

Keep in mind that to take the AP versions, you have to take the pre-AP 11 version of the course, which isn’t offered during summer school. You might be able to have an exception made for you, but speak with your counsellor about it—I can’t personally testify since I never took science over the summer. But if you just want to have the Grade 11 or Grade 12 credit (non-AP) to meet major prerequisites, summer school is a great way of squeezing that in. 

English Courses

You can take English over the summer, but it’s not strictly necessary. This is because you can still take all the available AP English courses at Sentinel on a normal track. However, if you want to better prepare yourself for the senior English courses, speedrun English, or improve your foundation in English, it’s definitely an option! 

Social Studies 

Although you can take a Socials 12 course (20th Century World History) to get your required credit out of the way, it’s 100% optional. The rationale here is that you have both Grade 11 and Grade 12 to take as many Socials courses as you’d like. Unlike Math, English, and Science, all of which have restrictions on when you can take certain courses, once you’re done with Socials 10, you can literally take any Socials 12 course you want in any order without restriction, so there’s no need to “rush” it. 

Elective Classes I’ve Taken and If You Should Also Take Them

Disclaimer: these are based on my personal experiences, which are teacher-dependent. My experiences are not predictive of your experiences. 

English

AP Seminar 11

Teachers: Mr. Fuller, Mr. Obeck, Mr. Beetlestone 

I loved this class! I had Mr. Fuller and he’s great at striking a balance between productivity and tomfoolery. It’s a great introduction to AP (it has the highest pass rate of all APs) and you also get credit for English 11 for taking this course, so it’s a two-in-one package deal. You have to submit two papers and do two presentations (individual and group) as part of your AP Score, but you get a lot of time for it. You also have to take AP Seminar if you want to take AP Research, so keep that in mind. Highly recommend anyone interested in humanities or research!

AP Research 12 

Teacher: Mr. Obeck

If you take AP Research, you also have to concurrently enroll in AP Literature & AP Language (but AP Language & AP Research are in the same block, so it’s 3 courses in only 2 blocks – what a steal!). This course is 99% learning by yourself. You’re tasked to complete an original 4,000 - 5,000 word research paper in lieu of a traditional AP exam, and most of the work is done in your own time on your own schedule. It’s not too challenging, per se, but it requires you to not procrastinate. Mr. Obeck doesn’t know how to do statistical analysis so you’re gonna have to learn that on your own. However, you get complete freedom to choose your own research topic, which I loved! Also, your final grade in this course is based 100% on the research paper, so if you get cooked early on, don’t worry, because Mr. Obeck will void all those marks anyway. Yay? 

AP Literature 12

Teachers: Mr. Fuller (Research), Ms. Armstrong

At Sentinel, in order to enroll in AP Literature, you also have to enroll in AP Language. I had Mr. Fuller and it was a ton of fun! We read 4 books (One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Death of a Salesman, the Great Gatsby, and The Metamorphosis) and the workload is super manageable. Mr. Fuller does a fantastic job of preparing you for both the FRQ & MCQ section of the exam. Besides readings, most work (usually essays) is in-class. Plus, with Mr. Fuller, you're guaranteed random gifts, dad jokes, and AI-generated-songs left and right. What’s not to love? 

AP Language 12

Teachers: Mr. Obeck (Research), Mr. Beetlestone

I had Mr. Obeck, who is super chill. You’ll do a lot of MCQ practice and way too many “Rhetorical Analysis” essays, but like its sister AP Literature, most work is done during class. You’ll also get several opportunities to redo previous essays for a higher grade! Even though this course is sandwiched with AP Research in the same block, neither of them feel rushed, which I really appreciated. The class is quite lax otherwise, and if you enjoy a hands-off teacher, this is the perfect class for you. Mr. Obeck also evaluates your final work at the end of the year to determine your grade, rather than evaluating the year as a whole. Something to keep in mind! 

Math 

Pre-AP Pre-calculus 11 + Pre-calculus 12: Honours Enriched + AP Calculus AB

Teacher: Ms. Jamieson

I had Ms. Jamieson for Pre-calculus 11 & AP Calculus AB and Mr. Johnson (who is now retired but returns occasionally to substitute for Ms. Jamieson) for Pre-calculus 12. Her notes are very organized, she has recordings for almost every lesson, and she’s always open to answer your questions, even if they’re from six units ago. She also gives out free candy and has a plastic trumpet that plays “womp womp”. Although the course can be challenging, she has a very equitable and generous grading scheme, where she drops quiz marks if you perform better on the test. She also drops your lowest test mark (translation: you can tank an entire unit and still get an A). There’s a lot of homework—occasionally, you might get homework checks! I took the accelerated courses for Pre-calculus 11 & 12, which I recommend doing if you want to take the AP math courses.

Science

Chemistry 11 Pre-AP + AP Chemistry 12

Teachers: Mr. Hsia, Mr. Addis

It’s a really rigorous course but the teachers are great! I had Mr. Addis in 11th Grade and Mr. Hsia in 12th; both were fantastic. There’s a lot of content that is covered at an accelerated pace, especially in AP Chemistry 12. Mr. Hsia also dishes out a lot of homework, but he’s always super open to answering questions and he often gives marks just for completion. As long as you put effort into your work and show up on time, you’ll do well. Mr. Addis adjusts his curriculum each year to match whatever changes Mr. Hsia makes, meaning Chemistry 11 Pre-AP is a must-take course if you want to take AP Chemistry 12. 

Social Studies

Law Studies 12

Teachers: Mr. Chase, Mr. Elliot (French Immersion) 

Law Studies 12 is one of the most popular courses at Sentinel, and for good reason. The workload is light, you can redo as many assessments as you want, and the in-class practices are the exact same as the actual assessment. Mr. Chase is super passionate about what he teaches and tries to make it as immersive as possible; you get to analyze the various crimes in Home Alone 2, visit the BC Supreme Court, and do your own Mock Trial at the end of the year! You also get to interview police to get a direct insider look. I had so much fun and would definitely take again :) definitely no bias here as a pre-law student…

Social Justice 12

Teacher: Mr. Doddsworth

My teacher was Ms. Higgs, who no longer teaches the course. The course was centered on completing a book/self-reflection journal, presentation projects, and class participation & attendance. There were also a lot of discussion circles where you could discuss varying political events with your classmates, which I enjoyed. You get a lot of freedom with your projects (no speaking time limit!) and the teacher was very flexible with deadlines. Mr. Doddsworth teaches Social Justice 12 now, so it could be completely different! 

Genocide Studies 12

Teacher: Mr. Fromowitz

Mr. Fromowitz is super sweet and always treats the sensitive topic material with utmost care and neutrality. Grades are based on projects, which you do one of per semester. Don’t fear though, because he extends deadlines like there’s no tomorrow; in-class assignments aren’t for marks either. You’ll read the lengthy (but eye-opening!) book Ordinary Men. Mr. Fromowitz ensures every student understands the material and is always willing to provide additional resources and support. There’s also lots of opportunities to actively participate, so if you love raising your hand, you’ll love this class. Just don’t leave all the work to the last minute.

Also, Mr. Fromowitz, I know you’re a loyal reader of the Sentinel Sun, so if you’re reading this, hi! 

20th Century World History (Summer School)

Teacher: Mr. Griffiths

I took 20th Century during summer with Mr. Griffiths. He teaches the course like a university lecture: you’ll get a slidedeck with the basics, but the important information is what he says aloud. Nearly all of his assessments are MCQ tests. The material is really interesting though, and I had a lot of fun! Because of the dense course material, Mr. Griffiths balances it with humour and personal anecdotes. If you enjoyed Socials 10 with him, you’ll like this class. Just keep in mind it requires a lot of memorization and excellent note-taking skills.

AP Psychology 12

Teacher: Ms. Alm

Probably my favourite all-time course at Sentinel. If you manage to get accepted into this highly competitive class, it’s such a blast! Ms. Alm strikes a perfect balance between being entertaining and being educating, and even though AP Psychology has a lot of content, she’s able to speed through it with terrifying clarity, all the while leaving you with barely any homework. She also has a very generous grading policy and drops your lowest mark, gives out assignments that are basically free marks, and lets you know of assessments well in advance. Her notes are excellently organized and she even does actual experiments on her students to prove certain psychological concepts. It’s obvious that she loves her job, and she’ll make you love learning too. I would rave about this class forever if I could. Take it. Keep in mind this is probably the most popular course at Sentinel, so it’s very unlikely you’ll get this course in Grade 11. 

Fine Arts & Other

Pre-AP Art 11 + AP Art 2-D Design Portfolio

Teacher: Ms. Hambly

This is the only course I am willing to give a full 5/5 on difficulty. Instead of writing a traditional AP exam, you create a 15-piece portfolio that’s submitted for evaluation. This averages out to 2 pieces/month, which doesn’t seem like a lot until you’re actually in the position. Time management is a MUST. Ms. Hambly has this secret illegal hack where you can technically do your portfolio over two years instead of one: the first year, it’ll say you took normal Art 12 on your transcript, and then the second year, AP Art, even though in reality you’ve been doing AP Art both years. It’s a challenging course, so make sure you listen to every word Ms. Hambly says. Under her guidance, nearly every single student gets a 5 each year. Her words are the gospel. Overlay, underlay, proportion, scale…  

Introductory Mandarin 11 + Mandarin 11 

Teacher: Ms. Li

If you just do your work, you’ll pass this class with flying colours. The majority of homework is writing assignments, so you really have to memorize and know your Mandarin characters to succeed. Most of the class are made up of native speakers or people with a preexisting background in Mandarin. However, don’t worry if you have no experience—Ms. Li specifically puts time aside to support beginners. You won’t be told there’s a quiz until literally the class before, so stay caught up on your work! Ms. Li is very sweet and a genuinely passionate teacher, and your grades will improve accordingly if you stay focused and attentive during class. Oral skills aren’t as big of a focus. 

Theatre Company 10-12

Teachers: Ms. McGuinness-Gill

Theatre Company takes place after school. It starts off as once or twice a month at the beginning of the year, and then gradually increases the closer we get to show week (think rehearsal everyday until 9PM, including the weekend leading up to the show). If you saw The Little Mermaid production this year, that’s us (I played King Triton)! Theatre is made up of students from Grade 8–12, and the friendships you make throughout the process are really incomparable to any other class. Your coursework will vary heavily depending on your role (Cast, Tech, Stage Managing, Costumes, etc). It’s tiring but rewarding; theatre kids love to complain about Theatre, but sign up next year anyway. Still though, it’s a lot of fun, and more people take the course for the social aspect than the 4 credits you get for completing it. 

Online Courses

Online courses are a great way to get prerequisites out of the way and independently complete a course you would typically otherwise struggle to complete. I have friends who take online courses to improve their grades if they did poorly on the original in-person course, and others who used it to do the advanced courses sooner. Unfortunately, I’ve never taken an online course, so I can’t personally testify to their effectiveness. 

As to whether or not you should do online courses, that’s something I’d advise you to speak to your counselor about. Not all schools recognize them as accredited courses. Research each school’s individual situation for yourself so you don’t accidentally jeopardize yourself by taking an online course. 

Other Course Considerations

• Take Careers 10 Blended/outside your timetable! Careers 10 is a light course, so taking the Blended version gives you an extra space on your schedule you can use for a different course or as a spare. You’ll have an after-school meeting every couple weeks, but the workload is very manageable. 

• The Course Handbook says only Grade 12s can have spares. That is a lie. Depending on your individual schedule, Grade 11s (and even Grade 10s) can have spares too. 

  • Typically, you’ll be given a spare if:

    • You request a spare

    • Your requested courses conflict in a way where a spare is the only viable option (ie. because all the other courses available during that block are irrelevant/inaccessible to you) – this is usually the case with non-Grade 12 students 

Extracurricular Activities 

Extracurricular activities are literally anything you do outside of classes. This might look like being part of a club/organization, volunteering, a sport, etc… the possibilities are endless. Most Canadian universities care far more about your grades than your extracurriculars (some won’t even let you report your extracurriculars on the application!), but in the US, these are incredibly important and often what enables one applicant to stand out from the rest. Let’s take a look at extracurriculars in a Sentinel context. 

Clubs

Clubs Day happens every year in October. Make sure you attend, as this is the best opportunity to get involved in student organizations at Sentinel! Most clubs are open year-round but some are seasonal; for example, competition-based clubs (e.g. FBLC Club, WSC Club) disband once the competition is over. There are also some that are only freely open for a select window of time (e.g. K-POP Dance Club, the Kairos Times, Dungeons & Dragons) before accepting new members becomes significantly more difficult. Although it isn’t technically a club, the Sentinel Sun (what you’re currently reading!) also only accepts members through referral by a current writer or the Sentinel Sun God Mr. Beetlestone himself. 

To start a club, you need to submit a Google Form in September. Clubs will be approved on an individual-by-individual basis, but based on how full the Gym is each October, I’m pretty sure 99% of all clubs are approved. If they think your club is too similar to another club, the office will ask you to merge. 

Student Council is in its own little bubble and helps organize a lot of the “School Spirit” events, like Karaoke. For Student Council, there’s a separate application process posted on your grad Google Classroom. If you want to get involved, it’s better to join sooner than later, as a lot of senior positions in Stuco require you to have been on Stuco the year before. Student Co-President is an elected position decided by the student body at the end of each school year. Applicants (who must be incoming Grade 12s) submit a promotional video during campaign week, subject to restrictions. 

Academy/Athletics

Academy is an outside of time table course that lets you explore various subjects not fully offered at Sentinel, like Robotics, Fencing, and Volleyball. When you sign up for an Athletics Academy, that counts as your mandatory PE credit. There are both morning blocks for Academy and afternoon blocks, where you may have to leave school early before 1-4 or 2-4. Costs vary from program to program. 

The Fencing program is especially renowned; Sentinel has sent multiple athlete recruits to the Ivy League in the last few years because of fencing. It may be worth considering if you’re young and feel you have enough time to be an athletic recruit. 

Volunteering

Your volunteer hours don’t technically count towards graduation until your Grade 10 summer. The school validates that you have the 30 hours necessary to graduate via a single Google Form that takes 20 seconds to fill out. I just put club leadership on mine. Seriously, this area is not as important as you think it is in the school context. But it’s great to have as a general extracurricular outside of graduation requirements; try working with existing nonprofits and organizations to get volunteer hours. Starting your own “non-profit” is a hit or miss; admissions officers can see if you did it just for applications and if it’s nothing but a fancy school club. 

Q&A

To close off my article, I’m going to be answering some of the questions that Sentinel students have asked me about college apps that I haven’t addressed yet. 

Q: How do I know if I have enough extracurriculars (ECs)? Is there a thing as too many ECs?

It’s better to focus on depth of extracurricular than breadth of extracurricular. Committing fully to a handful of activities and doing very well in those areas is far better than doing a dozen different activities (but doing them all poorly). A good rule of thumb is that if your ECs are so time consuming that your grades begin to slip or that your mental health worsens, you’re overtaxing yourself. 

Keep in mind that Common App only allows space for 10 extracurriculars and the UC Application only allows for 20 (including awards). They also have very conservative character limits, which means that you don’t get much to explain an activity you may have spent 500 hours of your life on. 

Q: Does summer school at an Ivy/Oxbridge really matter that much?

In my opinion, summer programs are a hit or miss. Most top schools do not track “demonstrated interest”, which means that even if you attend a program hosted by your dream college, when you actually apply there, you don’t get an admissions buff for previously showing interest in the school. It also depends on the program; some are purely experience based, where you don’t receive credits for completing (e.g. Yale Young Global Scholars), while others can provide college credits if you complete it (e.g. Pioneer Academics). I did Pioneer and it was a lot of fun, and my experience at Pioneer was interwoven through my university application. 

However, summer programs are incredibly expensive, so if you don’t attend a summer program, that’s fine. Your time can be spent equally productively improving your application in other ways, like refining an existing extracurricular.

Q: Can you get into good schools with a 3.X grade point average (GPA) or does it have to be a perfect 4.0?

Yes, you can absolutely get into good schools with a 3.X GPA! It’s better if your grades are higher, but it’s not the end-all-be-all. Having a high GPA is merely what allows you to get your “foot in the door”: it’s extracurriculars, recommendation letters, etc. that help you get to the finish line. Admissions officers want to make sure you’re capable of rigorous college work, and two students with a 96% vs. a 99% average are going to be viewed similarly. Lower GPAs can also be made up for with strong standardized test scores or ECs. 

On the Common App, remember that Sentinel doesn’t report “GPAs”. You’ll either have to calculate it yourself or just leave it blank (AOs will still understand what a 95% in Math means). 

Q: How can I build a relationship with my counsellor so they write me a recommendation letter?

It’s definitely challenging at Sentinel because each counsellor is responsible for 200-300 kids. I recommend taking the initiative to contact your counsellor whenever you want advice I’d bring a whole document of questions to Ms. Ulinder and ask her while I wrote down her answers one by one. Additionally, if there are assignments related to graduation/your counsellor (such as your Capstone Project), do them on time and do them well! Your Capstone Project is also one of the few times that your counsellor will be able to directly see you in an academic/college-related context, so it’s a great opportunity to impress them. 

Q: What do Canadian applications look like?

Canadian applications are simple in comparison to the US. Many you can do in a single sitting (no essays or extracurriculars required). Some programs (ie. Fine Arts) may require a supplement or portfolio. Furthermore, in Canada, you apply to a specific program within the university, whereas in the US, you typically apply to the school itself. For example at UBC, you apply to a specific bachelor’s program (e.g. Bachelor of Arts), and if you are denied for that program, they consider you for your second program (e.g. Bachelor of Applied Science). For most American schools, you apply to the entire school (even if you indicate an intended major on the application) but don’t actually select your program or major until your second year. 

Most Canadian universities look purely at your grades (no extracurriculars, awards, etc. considered). I applied to UofT and UBC. UofT only looks at your Grade 11 & Grade 12 courses, but depending on which college within UofT you apply to, you may have to write an essay supplement—I applied to Trinity College, which required me to write four short essays, and I was able to talk about some of my ECs there. UBC has two general essays everyone has to write, plus five spots to discuss your ECs, and then an additional essay explaining your top 1-2 ECs. Schools usually have the same essay prompts every year. Google it. 

Q: Best advice for writing essays?

1. Start early. Finish your Common App essay over Grade 11 summer. 

2. Avoid overlapping topics across essays. You don’t want to be redundant, and it’s better to express multiple facets of yourself. Similarly, consider what information in your essay might be better expressed in the EC section.

3. Reduce, reuse, recycle! Lots of essays can be reused across schools because they generally ask the same questions (why X is important to you, how you impacted X community, why you’re interested in X). Just remember to change any key words, like the name of a university program, so it’s not obvious you copy-pasted. 

Final Thoughts

If you’ve made it to the end of this article (the longest in Sentinel Sun history), congratulations! I hope that somewhere within this 6,000 word-dump, you’ve found at least a single nugget of useful advice to take home. 

Stay strong! While Sentinel’s competitive culture can be stressful, take advantage of opportunities available. And don’t let others bog you down or disparage you for applying to top schools. You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take, and with the randomness of college admissions, it’s worth taking every shot. 

If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me at emily.cui@duke.edu.