College Counseling

While there are some carefully timed events and programs for all students and parents throughout the upper school experience, the college counseling process formally begins during the second semester of the student’s junior year and extends through graduation.

During the second semester of the junior year we focus on college research; students and families will discuss criteria, research schools that meet those criteria and develop a preliminary college list; all of this occurs in close collaboration with their counselor. Entering the final year at TAS is an important step, and the summer prior is a critical time to continue thoughtful and deliberate self-reflection and discussions as a family about criteria, refining lists, and to start working on drafts of personal essays and school supplements.

In addition to periodic class and parent meetings throughout the upper school timeline, students begin working one-on-one with their college counselor in January of the junior year, a relationship that persists through to graduation. During the first semester of the senior year, students finalize their college list and work on actual college applications, including final edits on personal essays and supplements. During the second semester of the senior year, which leads up to graduation, college counselors assist students with such issues as the final college selection, waitlist offers, appeals, transitioning to life after TAS, and other enrollment-related topics.

It is our philosophy and practice to keep the student at the center of the college process. While the parent voice should be present, each step of the way we encourage practices and policies that require the student to assert ownership and accountability over the process. This is a hallmark of our offerings. We communicate deadlines and provide helpful tips on how parents can support their child during this process of growth, self-discovery, articulation of personality and strengths, and finding the right school to fit a student’s unique and individual needs to achieve success and happiness in college and beyond.

College counseling classes are also offered on a weekly basis on Tuesdays, where students will have class either the first part of third period (11:25 AM-12:15PM) or the second part of fourth period (1:20 PM-2:10 PM), depending on their lunch. During these times, we offer a college counseling curriculum that engages all students in various aspects of the college search, research, and selection process based on our experience both in college admissions as well as counseling. Each class is intentional in providing relevant and timely information as well as to guide and provide time and space for students to work towards timely application submission. Because of the deliberate curriculum and timeline, adherence to deadlines, particularly those that are internal to the TAS college counseling program and office workflow, is of critical importance.  We also support applications to university systems worldwide, and will work with students to ensure timely and proper submission to those programs outside of the United States.

The college counseling office shares the School’s policy on academic integrity, and as such assumes that the work of all students, including college essays, short responses, and any other information submitted to the colleges or universities, is entirely their own.

By enrolling in Taipei American School, parents and students give unrestricted authorization for the TAS college counseling office to represent any student to all colleges and universities. Information that will be shared with colleges and universities about the student includes, but is not limited to, letters of recommendation, transcripts, report cards, progress reports, SAT, SAT Subject Tests, ACT, AP and IB scores (or other testing results), disciplinary matters about which colleges and universities ordinarily make inquiry, and anything else that the upper school academic and personal counseling office believes to be important for colleges and universities to have when considering a student for admission or enrollment. Please note that TAS does not rank our students and thus will not provide this information to colleges. All letters of recommendation are confidential, and students and parents are not entitled to read such letters. Students seeking such letters of recommendation must read and complete the student/teacher recommendation agreement, which is typically due at the end of their junior year.

College counseling is our primary focus of expertise, with the majority of the college counselors having worked in college admissions offices at highly selective universities (often having covered Asia as a region and reading applications from TAS) at some point in their careers prior to coming to TAS. We are proud to offer a student-to-counselor ratio of roughly 35:1, which is similar to top independent schools in the United States and around the world. Put simply, our students receive excellent attention and care by college counselors who understand them, celebrate and advocate for them and their achievements, articulate their fit with certain programs, and have strong and direct ties to the best colleges and universities around the world.

In the junior year, college counselors begin compulsory, individual meetings with students and parents as we establish differentiated plans for each student. Until this formal start to the process, the college counseling office is available for specific questions by appointment.

During initial family meetings in the junior year, the student’s academic record, interests, and goals are discussed. During the individual appointments with students, college counselors seek to learn about the student’s personal and academic interests, explore possible college choices, and discuss expectations for the college search and college admissions process. These meetings help foster strong relationships with the students. In the senior year, the college counselors continue to meet regularly with students and parents to provide guidance throughout the college application process, provide feedback and advice on applications and essays, and help students with their final college decisions.

In the second semester of junior year and the first semester of senior year, students meet regularly for college counseling classes. The TAS college counseling curriculum engages all students in various aspects of the college search, research, and application. Each class is intentional in providing relevant and timely information as well as guidance and the time, space, and professional support for students to work towards timely application submission. The timing and topics are designed to keep the student at the center of the process and ensure they stay calm and organized. Topics include: what colleges look for in applicants, how to evaluate colleges,  early action and early decision programs, how to apply to the University of California system, how to complete the Common Application, writing an effective college essay, and how to more deeply research a college’s quality and unique offerings in order to define the “fit” for that student. We also encourage and support applications to tertiary education worldwide, with guidance on the application process to schools in Canada, the UK, across Europe, Asia, and Australia. College counselors share information and work together as a team in supporting options and varied application processes outside of the United States. Our compulsory college counseling classes are conveniently scheduled to facilitate attendance by all students and run concurrently to individual student and family meetings.

Realizing that parents play a critical role in the college process, the college counseling office offers parent programming for all upper school parents in the form of various parent evening programs, some grade-based functions as well as Parent Corners (see below). Our primary goals in working with parents are to educate parents about the current college admission landscape; to provide insight into the many aspects of the college application process; and to keep parents informed about where their students should be in the overall process.

The college counselors at Taipei American School work diligently throughout each year to build, develop, and maintain relationships with colleges and universities through participation in college admissions conferences, professional organizations, and college counselor visit programs to colleges throughout the world. Prior to travel restrictions and campus closures worldwide, the office regularly eclipsed its annual goal of visiting 75 colleges and universities. To help expose students to the various colleges and universities and to better introduce these institutions of higher education to TAS, the college counseling office typically welcomes over 200 college admission representatives to the School each year. 

Current students will be supported by their college counseling process; official transcripts will be submitted to their final list of colleges during their senior year. If you are an alumni looking to request a transcript, please visit the following link for an overview of how to request your TAS transcript

TAS Transcript Requests