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A US application is a different shape from UCAS: it weighs essays, extracurricular depth, recommendations and often a test score, and the interview is usually an alumni conversation that carries far less weight than applicants expect. Preparation is mostly about the essays and about understanding what each part is actually for.
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US admissions read the whole application rather than scoring it. Grades and tests are close to a threshold; above it, what distinguishes applicants is a coherent picture: something pursued with real depth, and essays that show a specific person thinking.
The most common mistake from UK applicants is treating the Common App essay like a personal statement: an inventory of achievements. It is not, and it reads badly when it is.
One Common App essay goes to every college, plus supplements for each, often several, and often including some version of "why us", which rewards genuine specificity and punishes anything that could be sent to another university with the name swapped.
These need drafting, leaving alone, and rereading with somebody honest. That is the single most useful thing a tutor does here.
Most Ivy League and comparable interviews are conducted by local alumni, are not evaluative in the way applicants imagine, and are usually described by the universities themselves as informative rather than decisive. Some have made them optional or dropped them.
They are worth preparing for lightly, enough to be able to talk about what you have done and why this university, and not worth losing a week to.
Many US universities have been test-optional and several have reinstated requirements, so this changes year to year and by institution. If you are submitting a score, the digital SAT and the ACT are treated equally; try a timed practice test of each and pick on the result.
Less than most applicants assume. Universities generally describe them as informative rather than decisive, and some have made them optional or dropped them.
It depends on the university and on the year, since policies have been changing. Check each one, and if you submit a score, either test is accepted equally.
A personal statement argues for your suitability for one subject. The Common App essay is a piece of personal writing meant to show who you are; listing achievements in it is the classic UK mistake.
Yes, and many do. The deadlines overlap awkwardly, with UCAS in October or January and US early rounds in November, so the planning matters as much as the writing.
The summer before the application year. The essays reward being drafted, put down and reread, which needs calendar time rather than working hours.
Some are, and their profiles say where they studied and what they read. We do not claim affiliation with any university.
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