The UK? US? Canada? Australia? Hong Kong? Did you choose Ulink because you are more likely to get into UK universities?

This is something that we should think about far before the application season! The biggest question in front of most students is whether we should apply to US universities. US universities differ a lot from the UK ones.

We invited Elaine Zhao, a 2022 Ulink graduate now studying at UVA to give us some insights on application. 

Q: Which part do you think led to the success of your application to the U of Virginia?

Elaine: It’s really hard to tell. But I’ll largely attribute it to my humanistic idealism expressed in my supplementary essay. I wrote about my commitment to rediscovering the voices of historically marginalized, stigmatized, and disempowered groups and doing them justice.

Q: Why did you choose the University of Virginia as your ED?

Elaine: After doing school research, I found that UVA was strong in Humanities and Social Sciences where my interest lay. I guess I was also attracted by “Jefferson’s school” lol

Q: Is there a big difference between high school life and college life?

Elaine: Yeah. I think it’s entirely different from high school life. I had a hard time in adjusting to college life and a new environment in my first semester. It almost feels like growing up again in an alien culture. I always observed and cautiously imitated what other Americans did to “fit in.” Academic-wise, the American college grading system is totally different from A-level. I almost cried for not getting an A+ for my first History paper, but then I realized an A+ in the American system needed 100! Also, the college workload is much heavier, at least for a History/Humanities major. 150 pages of reading per week per class is a normality.

Q: Is there any advice for the 2024er or 2025er?

Elaine: I would definitely recommend doing in-depth school research before applying. Match is very important for later happiness. I actually regretted not doing school research on UVA enough and setting unrealistically high expectations, which made my transition to college unnecessarily hard. Academic-wise, I think professors’ office hours are really helpful resources for any course/major/career-related questions. They also gave me a lot of emotional support in hard times during my first semester. I really appreciate it.

About the author:

Hello, this is Crystal from A2-10 and I am responsible for the life pro tips part in November. I love dancing and continuously pursuing it for 14 years. I am personally busy in the application season since I am applying to US and UK universities at the same time and I want to share some of my insights and probably it would help in your application season. Wish all the 2024er get to their dream universities!