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. To begin, we focus on college research and the general college application components; 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, frequent communication, and regular meetings 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 finalize drafts of personal essays and start on school supplements.
During the first semester of 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 senior year, leading 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. Our goal is finding the right school to fit a student’s unique and individual needs to achieve success and happiness in college and beyond. Thus, we require that students have at least two “Likely” schools (schools that college counselors assess to have a likelihood of admissibility of 75% or greater for individual students based on their unique profiles) on their final college list.
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. importance. Our college counseling curriculum, materials, and recommendations are carefully curated with and informed by many years of experience working with TAS students and colleges around the world. We are intentional in providing relevant, timely, and appropriate information; we guide and provide time and space for students to work towards application submission. Adherence to deadlines, particularly those that are internal to the TAS College Counseling Office workflow (i.e. essay drafts, college lists), is of critical importance. We ask that students meet and communicate frequently with their college counselor in order to develop an authentic relationship (we recommend a “touch point” at least every two weeks, especially during the senior fall semester). This allows us to advocate more effectively for their admission based on qualitative characteristics which are critical to holistic admissions practice as testing continues to be less important in the process, and with increased attention to character and engagement.
We are committed to and continue to support students who select to apply to university systems outside of the United States and recognize that this option may be one that is more popular than before for the TAS community. We strongly recommend that students submit no more than the average of 10 applications (1 application counts for the University of California system, and 1 application counts for the UK system). This remains in line with the practice of our peer institutions (IASAS and independent schools worldwide). Most importantly, it helps maintain stress levels for our very busy students. It also translates to much more thoughtful and quality applications, resulting in high admissions rates and more options for our students.
The college counseling office shares the School’s policy on academic integrity, and 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.
Finally, we understand that families may select to seek outside support about the college admissions process for a variety of services. We believe that our work with students and families is strongest due to our unique understanding of both TAS, our community, and our direct experience and strong relationships with college admissions offices (who will not communicate with independent consultants) and discourage this engagement with external sources. At best, these companies may employ alumni and/or current students from “name brand” institutions with little to no direct admissions experience; at worst they exploit and perpetuate the uncertainty and fear of this very important and nuanced process during uncertain and constantly changing times. However, in the spirit of open communication and to provide the best support to our students, we ask that we be informed if this is the case as students often
receive conflicting or ill-informed advice from these “consultants,” which adds to students’ stress. We would never judge a family (nor disclose to colleges) but ask that we be informed if you are working with someone; simply knowing allows us to help manage our information and help our students appropriately navigate and process conflicting information or recommendations. We also must maintain our own internal TAS College Counseling process and deadlines for submitting transcripts, as well as writing and submitting our letters of recommendation, requiring students to keep in frequent communication with us, even if working with an outside agency.
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, 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 personal and academic 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 allowed to read them. Students seeking such letters of recommendation must read and complete the student/teacher recommendation agreement, which is typically due before 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 at some point in their careers prior to TAS. Some actually covered Asia as an admissions territory and read applications and admitted students from TAS. We are proud to offer a student-to-counselor ratio of roughly 40:1, 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. We remain committed to providing the most comprehensive, current, and caring support to your child during the college application and admissions process and look forward to working with you as well!
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