The World of University Applications

Hi everyone! My name is Anson Lee and I am a Grade 11 student at Agincourt Collegiate Institute. Last Saturday, 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! Here are my thoughts highlighting what I learned:

Jodi is a domestic admissions officer at McMaster University, and during the session, Jodi talked about the Initial Application and the Supplementary Application. We talked about some common myths, application styles, and we even had the chance to break up into breakout rooms to practice our university interview skills.

One of the biggest things I learned about the world of university admissions from Jodi's presentation is that even before starting a university application, there are many things we can begin doing to prepare for them.

For instance, Jodi mentioned the importance of starting to look at programs early and to note down the due dates and other information in an Excel sheet. She talked about the importance of checking ahead of time to see which courses we are required to take in order to apply, the grade we need to have, as well as to check the cost of applying and payment methods.

One of the most important pieces of advice Jodi left with me was that there is an increasing number of many programs that require a supplementary application, and these can come in many forms! She shared that the STAR method is applicable to many different forms of supplementary applications, including the interview questions and short/long answer questions, and to focus on the impact we made from our situation.

During our breakout room activity, we had a chance to research a university program of our choice, and to work in pairs to interview each other about why we wanted to join that program, and the future goals we have. I learned that even though there are many programs I want to apply to, I actually knew very little about them, and even why I wanted to go to that specific program! Being a well-researched person, it was shocking that I could know so little about something though yet want to go to it blindly. That led me to continue researching the programs more even after our session with Jodi.

In conclusion, "The World of University Applications" session with Jodi was eye-opening to say the least, and it really clarified the steps to applying to university for me. It definitely helped ease my nerves for applications later this year, and I would like to thank Jodi and Illuminate Universe for giving me this opportunity to attend this session.

Moving forward in the future, I will remember to research and understand the reason behind why I want certain things, what makes it better, as well as to apply the STAR method in applications and beyond.