DILEMMA:ADFP/ATU program at INTEC

[woods]

My friend's son is taking ADFP/ATU program at INTEC which he registered on 27-6-06.The offer by JPA is 1 yr of ADFP at INTEC,1st 2 yrs of degree program at INTEC & final 2 yrs in US.If he wanna do all 4 yrs in US, he has to sit for SAT at his own expense.He has to prepare for SAT himself without any guidance fr INTEC.Could any recommer please advise.
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[chiunlin]

My friend's son is taking ADFP/ATU program at INTEC which he registered on 27-6-06.The offer by JPA is 1 yr of ADFP at INTEC,1st 2 yrs of degree program at INTEC & final 2 yrs in US.If he wanna do all 4 yrs in US, he has to sit for SAT at his own expense.He has to prepare for SAT himself without any guidance fr INTEC.Could any recommer please advise.
Let me ask a few questions before throwing any advice.
1) If he is admitted into a top US university, is JPA going to pay for all 4 years of his tuition?

2)If he follows the twinning program, which university at US will he attend for the last 2 years of the program?

[Seiryu]

Erm according to the head of JPA ADP department, if we get admitted to Ivy using SAT and TOEFL result, they might consider sponsoring us four years in US.

Well, Ivy is not enough. it must be an Ivy that is reputable for certain courses.

Like JPA will not sponsor scholars who got admitted into Havard under DVD technology.

And for actuarial science students like me. . . they will only sponsor students who get admitted to Upenn :(

As for the second question, the list of universities available is not revealed yet.

So. . . Should i spend my own money to sit for SAT? Thx in advance for the advice.

[strikingstar]

Yes, take the SATs. No harm doing so.

It's not that ex and it's not such a chore either.

[strikingstar]

He has to prepare for SAT himself without any guidance fr INTEC.

WOW! All by himself you don't say.

Pardon the sarcasm but where got need guidance for SAT one? When I was preparing for it, where got ppl sit beside to guide me along? Are kids these days so spoon-fed that they need people to help them take something as simple as the SATs?



If he follows the twinning program, which university at US will he attend for the last 2 years of the program?

I seriously doubt most of the top unis in the US accept twinning. I've heard that Cornell does though. Does it?

[Seiryu]

but SAT + TOEFL + Upenn Registration fee is nearly RM1000++ :?

wrote:
If he follows the twinning program, which university at US will he attend for the last 2 years of the program?


I seriously doubt most of the top unis in the US accept twinning. I've heard that Cornell does though. Does it?

Well . . . have to find out during 16 July. :(

[strikingstar]

Well SAT has to be taken anyhow.

You might get out of taking TOEFL if you have a high enough score for SAT: Critical Reading or if you can prove that English is your native language. I was never required to take the TOEFL.

No harm paying the registration fee to buy yourself a chance to enter a coveted school.

[chiunlin]

Might consider eh? Well, you guys are the first batch and I guess some of you have to take up the challenge and set up a precedent.

Ok, here's what I think. SAT I & II(most likely you'll also need SAT II for most top universities) + TOEFL + admission fee($65 for Cornell if I'm not mistaken) isn't really cheap if your family isn't particulary rich.

However, I believe none of the top universites here will accept the new twinning program, and so it will be a worthwhile investment to take SAT and apply for the top universities. Twinning programs are rigid, and your get less of a chance to explore outside of your major, which I find to be extremely important. I believe what sets US universities apart from the rest is the freedom to take whatever classes you like(the fees will be the same each semester regardless of how many classes you take). I'm an EE major but I have been taking classes in econ, applied engineering physics, classics, etc. There are of course many other benefits, but I'm not going to list them down here, since there will be an education fair on 16th of July. Specifically, go to the Cornell booth and talk to Chenchow. He'll be more than willing to tell you about how he has benefitted from his Cornell education. More info about the fair here:
http://www.experiences-kl.org/

Also,
1) Request all the universities whom you're interested in to send you the application form. It's free.
2) Look through the universities and browse for information about financial aid, some top universites offer need-blind aid. In case JPA decides not to sponsor you even if you're admitted, you can always consider enrolling in the university and take up the financial aid
3) Get yourself a few SAT preparation book, like Baron's, Kaplan, etc. They may vary in difficulty and may not represent the true difficulty of the SAT. So I suggest if you're well off enough, always be prepared to retake SAT if you don't fare well enough on the first attempt.
4) Most people take SAT without any guidance. All the Singaporeans I met here prepared SAT on their own. It isn't really that hard to prepare for it, you just need to discipline yourself to go through the word list(I got through the 3500-word list in 2 months), and lots of practice. And if there are a lot of you taking SAT, I'm sure you can petition and ask INTEC to providing some sort of tutoring/guidance.

[strikingstar]

Just wanted to add that at some schs, the application fee is waived if you apply online instead of by snail mail.

Also, if you really really cannot afford the application fee for the school, you may request for a fee waiver.

Likewise for the SATs, you can apply for a fee waiver as well if you really really cannot afford to pay.

There are only 6 unis which are need-blind to internationals. We've been thru this many times or at least I have.

[strikingstar]

Not that I'm a fastidious stickler for what's appropriate but why's this thread on 'Join Recom' instead of 'Education'?

There're other inappropriately placed threads around here as well.

[karenqly]

im currently in my third semester of ADFP/ATU n d new transfer program introduced by JPA is called ACTP(American Credit Transfer Program).i strongly recommend students to sit for d SAT I n SAT II on their own because there is a chance of gettting into top universities.bout d expenses, i think it is worth to spend but please do not apply more than 5 universities.

[chenchow]

Fully echo on encouraging the students to take SAT. It is crucial to take SAT1 and SAT2 and try to apply to gain admission to top universities in US. I'm sure a lot of those ACTP1 and ATU13 students manage to talk to many sudents who have studied at US Universities, during the Experiences 2006 Kuala Lumpur.

It is possible to study SAT1, SAT2 and TOEFL without much guidance. There is always ReCom.org for you to ask any question you have. You can always make full use of the resources of the seniors too.

Good Luck! And there is always those need-based universities for those students to apply. Harvard, Yale, Princeton and MIT are all need-based universities.

[strikingstar]

i think it is worth to spend but please do not apply more than 5 universities.

What my alma mater advocates is 6 schs (2 reaches, 2 matches and 2 safeties) to a maximum of 8. But then Harvard, Yale, Princeton and MIT are already 4 reaches.

This site also gives some pretty good advice here. (http://www.rjc.edu.sg/USapps/)

and

A MUST-READ is Ms. Ng E-ching's power-point presentation. (http://www.rjc.edu.sg/USapps/briefing/2005ng.ppt)

[Leen]

There's another thing that you might want to consider when you choose to take SAT I, SAT II and TOEFL on your own. They will only be valid for 2 years. If you take it in and don't get admitted to the Ivies, you might have to retake it after 2 years. That will really cost you some money.

Then again, if you really do want to do it, I will strongly recommend that you take this chance. You won't want to have the "what if" dilemma in your mind, will you? If you are rich enough, there's no reason for you to not take it on your own expenses. If you are not rich enough though, I don't quite know what to do about it.

Also, SAT I, SAT II and TOEFL can be self-studied. I've taken the practice test in INTEC and even though I did disastrously bad in my first try, I believe that things will only improve from that point on. Analyse your own weakness (in my case, it has to be passages) and try to overcome it. I am really weak in my grammar but after learning about dangling participles and some little stuffs, I managed to score better. There's a pattern in the questions. You don't need to memorize all the grammatical terminologies to spot the errors. Most of them are quite the same errors. Just look out for them. For vocabulary, I won't really like to memorize all the words by heart. I will normally play around with those words with my friends in INTEC. That way, it becomes natural to me.

Examples:
Papaya, don't be so asinine. You are acting like an imbecile today with your ridiculous shirt. XD

John, don't be so demure over your score in the test. I know that a savant like you will definetely get a perfect score.

As for SAT II, they are meant to be self-studied after all. There's no teacher to teach you just so you know. There's no classes as well except for the 1-week intensive class. So, it is more or less self-study all alone. If you are an adventurous person, you can always choose to take World History or US History for a change. If you don't want to do that, just stick to the normal, conventional ones :

Math II, Physics, Biology
Math II, Physics, Chemistry
Math II, Chemistry, Biology

Look out for the new IBT test of TOEFL too. The new marking scheme is 120. I think that most top universities should be pleased with 100 and above? XD There's a speaking component so gear up yourself with public speaking skills. It is easier than SAT I but you still need to be careful while answering the questions. Also, there's a writing part where you need to type the answers out in 30 minutes time. MSN comes in handy here. Try and add some friends and spend 10 hours a day chatting. Greater speed guarenteed. :lol: I started up with typing using 2 fingers and now I can type pretty quickly without even need to glance at my keyboard.

Of course I don't have the authority to judge good from bad or right from wrong. I myself flunked in my first SAT Practice test in INTEC and here I am trying to convince/advice people on taking SAT and techniques to study for the test........ =/ Good luck to everyone who might want to consider taking the test. Prepare to work hard. To praphrase [sorry for forgetting your name], "It is difficult not to get 1200 and above in SAT I." Then again, it is not easy to not get below 1400 or 1500 in SAT I without hard work.

[strikingstar]

There's another thing that you might want to consider when you choose to take SAT I, SAT II and TOEFL on your own. They will only be valid for 2 years. If you take it in and don't get admitted to the Ivies, you might have to retake it after 2 years. That will really cost you some money.

Valid only for 2 yrs? I thought it was 4. Anyway, are you sure you want to wait another 2 yrs just to get into an ivy if you fail to make it the first time?

Then again, if you really do want to do it, I will strongly recommend that you take this chance. You won't want to have the "what if" dilemma in your mind, will you? If you are rich enough, there's no reason for you to not take it on your own expenses. If you are not rich enough though, I don't quite know what to do about it.

Fee waivers.

Examples:
Papaya, don't be so asinine. You are acting like an imbecile today with your ridiculous shirt. XD

John, don't be so demure over your score in the test. I know that a savant like you will definetely get a perfect score.

Erhm, context is important. I wouldn't use 'demure' in that manner. If you got those words from the SAT wordlist, I would advise you to check out the meanings of the words you don't know from a proper dictionary. The explanations on SAT wordlists are pretty flawed sometimes.

[Tasslehoff]

SATs lasts for 4 years.. TOEFL 2 years..

For SAT I, its very easy to score above 1400, but not 1500.. (I've been with students in FORM 3, both pts and non pts taking the tests and still scoring 1400 on thier first try.. how? just be careful on the math section.)

For SAT II, if you cant score high (above 750) in this, it really means that your A1 in SPM wasnt a good A1. The aspects covered here are really basic.. and for goodness sake, its only OBJECTIVE.

Oh and if you do take courses for SAT, do reveal them at your own risk.. I know of a couple of people who went through the INTEC's program and also Princeton Review and yet score rather bad.. waste of money if you ask me..