Navigating the minefield of University prep

Maybe your friend, your parents, your teachers have shared their ideas and experiences with it; perhaps you’ve watched movies that tell stories of young adults at these cross roads. Some of you have even had formal or informal counselors (every other person now is an ‘expert’ and ‘know alls’ graduating from WhatsApp universities, right?) who tells you what to do and what not to do? Some of you might have taken the bold steps of visiting your dream universities and listened to admission officers. Students have reported that they are scared to see data like 61% of Indian students who get into United States universities for their four-year undergrad program have bad experiences; this is also true for 59% of Chinese students. 1 out of every 8 Korean students who get into Ivy League schools drop out after one year, and 2400 students from 23 top institutes in India dropped out in the last two years. Most of you guys must be burning energy trying your best to ‘crack’ all the exams thrown at you, right? A few of you may be participating in academic competitions like Math Olympics, doing internships, reading non-fiction and getting ready, pushing wheelchairs in hospitals, thinking that all will count towards your community work, right? You might be still wondering what all these mean? Are you confused on how to prepare for your academic career and life outside the bubble of your school? If you answered in affirmative for most of the above, then this course is just meant for you!   Message from course mentor, Syam Chandra Welcome to my course. There is a ton of material in the public domain with regard to University prep, so I am not here to provide you with such generic information. My real intention is to share my experiences with you, gained while working with thousands of students from around the world. Some of them ambitious, driven, determined, others a little laid back, some of them survivors. After travelling with them to camps, conferences, and sharing in their successes and their failures, I have several informative stories to tell. I will structure my stories (my course) into six sessions or more while using them to address the core challenges of preparing for university. They say that to thrive in university and succeed and achieve all academic requirements and graduate, you need to have developed in three areas while in high school: A Habit of leadership A developed intellectual capacity and a curiosity Be an engaged citizen In my first session, I shall introduce basic concepts and set ground rules. Second – fourth, we shall go through the HIE model and look at case studies, discuss opportunities, values, belief sets, learning strategies and suggested behavioral changes. I assure you that we will have tons of fun together. I am expecting a casual yet engaged class and a relaxed learning environment where we work together.   Please note that I follow Learn – Experience – Reflect = Enrichment Model So technically, this is an enrichment program. For example --- we learn about how high school students can use research as a tool to get ready for university; I might send participants to experience a live conference, listen to a ‘boring’ presentation or read a research paper. Then I will ask them to write about the experience and reflect with me or another teacher. There will be assignments and homework, with the goal of being effective while relaxed. Submitting on time, however, is still key. I am sharing what some of my previous students thought of working with me. Read, listen and then take a risk!