On the afternoon of January 23, Crimson Education came to give a seminar in NIS’s very own Harmony Theatre. The goal of the seminar was to offer students and parents valuable insight into how to apply to top universities in the United States and the United Kingdom.
Crimson Education is a multinational admissions consultancy founded in 2013 that helps provide personalized support for applications. The event opened up with the introduction of the guest speaker from Crimson Education, Palm, an alumnus from UPenn and Imperial College London. He explained the key differences between the US and UK admissions and shared strategies for building a competitive application.
First, he explains that when US universities choose students, they look at more than just grades; they also care about extracurricular activities, essays, and interviews. One important piece of additional information was that taking harder classes despite having lower grades would strengthen your application more than taking easy classes and having a perfect gpa.
In contrast to the US universities, the UK can be described as more academically focused. They care more about grades and their correlation to what the student wants to study. Students should indicate what they want to study, and exactly why, in their application. Our college counselor, Mrs. Alyssa, gives a good metaphor for this: “The USA wants to know what’s in your heart, the UK wants to know what’s in your brain.” Research projects, internships or capstone projects can improve the applications for both of these countries’ universities.
Next Palm talked about the major differences in how the US and UK universities are structured. The US universities typically offer four year degrees with flexible majors where students learn a broad range of fundamental subjects and can switch later. The UK, on the other hand, has more fixed academic focus programs where they can only study one subject from the start, and it all lasts 3 years.
After the event closed, the media studies team interviewed several parents for closing remarks and a review of the seminar. One parent stated that they gained a “better understanding about career thinking for university” among other valuable insights. Another said that the event had very all-round information given and that it was “better than previous events” that they had attended in the past.
As the application deadlines are nearing and the university applications are becoming more competitive, events like the Crimson Education seminar helps students better prepare for their academic success. Look out for more events like these in the future!
