The World of University Admissions

Hi everyone! My name is Steven and I am a Grade 12 student at John Fraser Secondary School. Today, I had the pleasure to attend Jodi Buckley’s Think Tank on “The World of University Admissions” as a part of the Associate National Lead program where I get to build and host my own conference!

My biggest takeaway from Jodi's lesson is the importance of managing our time effectively. In grade 12, students often have many extra-curricular commitments on top of going to school full-time. The end of first semester also roughly coincides with the supplementary application due dates of most Canadian Universities. To juggle all of these responsibilities, students have to plan ahead so they don't get overwhelmed when the time comes.

As I'm currently a grade 12 student going through the application process, I also learned various techniques to improve my applications. Jodi mentioned the importance of making my applications unique and how they can make me stand out among all the applicants. Admissions officers read through thousands of applications and I can better my chances if I catch their attention. From past experience, I have struggled with interviews and coming up with good answers impromptu. Jodi introduced the STAR method which serves as a general guideline to answering behavioral questions.

Overall, I believe that being genuine is the best way to create a compelling application. I want to demonstrate my strengths and vision to better reflect who I aspire to be as a student. I really enjoyed this opportunity and my learnings will serve to benefit my university admissions and beyond!