Universities in the UK: A stepping stone to the world
PROS:
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Employment rate of recent graduates: 86.6% (Times Higher Education, 2019), compared to 72.1% in Italy (Almalaurea, 2019)
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The bachelor's degree earned in the UK is recognized worldwide for business purposes and for further education
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Whatever subject or combination of subjects you dream of studying, you have plenty of choice: there are over 395 universities, with an educational offer that exceeds 50,000 courses (UCAS, 2020)
CONS:
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Due to Brexit, European students no longer have access to the tuition fee loan and face higher tuition costs (approximately £ 10,000 to £ 30,000 per year, depending on the university)
How does the admissions process work?
1
Choose universities and degree programs
The UK offers over 50,000 courses, and choosing can be difficult. Our tutors will help you navigate the various academic options and consider other factors such as costs, career opportunities, quality of university and city life.
2
Enrich your curriculum (internship, research, university lectures)
To prepare for the crucial phases of the application, you will need a CV that is as rich as possible and focused on the field of study that interests you. We can help you get ahead by cultivating experiences and knowledge that are useful for your professional and personal growth, and that will make you stand out in the selection process.
3
Personal statement planning
Here we are at the decisive moment on the way to British universities: You will have 4000 characters available to show the admissions boards that you are the best candidate for their courses. Don't be scared, Valdo Academics has consolidated a successful method that speaks for itself: In 2019 93% of university applications from our Italian clients resulted in an offer, against an Italian average of 55% and a British average of 69%! (Source: UCAS)
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Get ready for tests and interviews
The most competitive programs include entrance tests, such as UKCAT and BMAT for Medicine, LNAT for Law, Step 1, Step 2 and Mat for Mathematics, and TSA for studying at Oxford. We can help you prepare an action plan to take these tests and other exams required by your application.
Some universities, on the other hand, will invite you for an interview on Skype or in person. These interviews are mainly aimed at testing your academic skills and therefore it is difficult to prepare last minute. So, if your application requires an interview, you can work with us to prepare in advance.
Oxford and Cambridge
We can help you with mock interviews and interview coaching services for Oxford and Cambridge. Our consultants have studied at these institutions and have helped several students enter these universities.
Medicine
Interviews for Medicine will ask you to use both your academic and professional medical knowledge. We can simulate interviews with specialized consultants to help you improve both of these areas.
Students in the last year of high school: The Personal Statement
What is the personal statement?
The personal statement is a cover letter through which you will demonstrate to universities that you are a must-have candidate. This letter must be purely academic and meet specific structural criteria.
4,000
The number of available characters
You can only use up to 4,000 characters (600 words) to explain why you are the ideal candidate.
These are very few words, but with an impressive weight!
The most important variable
In addition to the personal statement, your universities will receive your grades from the last two years, your professors' comments on your academic performance and a prediction of your high school grade, signed by your professors.
Yet, once in the last year, these parameters are already determined by your performance in past years. The personal statement is therefore the most important variable to influence the probability of success of your application at this point in your journey.
We have developed an in-house method to help students write their personal statements.
1. We help you identify your goals and create a CV
You will work with a specialist consultant to complete a general account of all your goals and passions. Even examples that seem less significant can be crucial!
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From books read for academic purposes, to those read for leisure
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From the organizational capacity demonstrated in sports activities, to the determination in competitive sport
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From your favorite topics at school, to your work and volunteering experiences
All your accomplishments can be turned into food for thought on your academic ability to demonstrate why you are a must-have candidate.
2. We help you turn your CV into a pitch
Once you have listed all the milestones, you will transform them according to the standardized STAR format.
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Situation: What was the context of your goal?
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Task: What did you need to do exactly?
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Action: What have you done?
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Result: What is the achieved measurable goal? How did you exceed expectations?
This will allow you to create a series of detailed paragraphs about your successes. Then, you will test the effectiveness of these paragraphs with an expert.
3. We help you find your story (first draft)
After displaying all the milestones in STAR format, you will be able to select the most effective paragraphs:
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These will create the backbone of your personal statement
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The next step is then to sew the paragraphs together, developing a personal and unique story that highlights your path.
4. We teach you how to cut words (final version)
Finally, we help you reduce the number of words, and respect the limit of 4,000 characters. At the end of this phase, the personal statement obtained will be the result of a refining process that has kept only the most relevant points for the admission application in question.
So ... do you write the personal statement for us?
Of course not! We are an agency of tutors: Professionals dedicated to education as a lifestyle and as a passion. If we wrote personal statements to our students, we would diminish the importance of our work. Moreover, it would be demeaning for you.
Our goal is to train brilliant, enterprising, and responsible minds.
It is up to you to do the work! We can show you the way and describe exactly the steps to follow, creating a program so that the obstacles can be faced calmly. Yet, the learning path lies in making the journey - not reaching the destination with a shortcut.
Students in the penultimate year, or in the summer between the penultimate and last year
If you are in this phase, you are at the last useful moment to be able to plan the path of the applications in advance. Right now, you can still take advantage of the opportunities offered by summer to enrich your resume.
Play in advance! We can help you focus on the following five steps
1
Choose with us the universities to which you will apply
The choice of universities is not merely based on rankings.
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You will need to identify your high-risk universities (where it is possible but difficult to enter) and those where you are sure to be accepted. What will be the optimal risk level for you?
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You will have to figure out which cities are suitable for your personality type: Do you prefer a campus-style university like Oxford, or an urban university like LSE?
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Do you prefer the theoretical or practical aspects of your course of study? Are you interested in research?
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How much will it cost you? Do you qualify for a tuition fee loan to pay for your studies?
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What is the difference between Scottish and English universities?
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Are there any scholarships available?
Our role is to help you answer these questions and secure a peaceful and stimulating university future.
2
Achieve your desired predicted grade
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At the beginning of the final year, your professors will have to make a prediction of your final grade.
This predicted grade will be sent to the universities to which you apply and will be one of the main factors that will influence the outcome of your applications.
Through our strengthening and repetitions programs, we can help you achieve the grade you want.
Show genuine passion with your CV
3
Develop your CV and explore your passion
The summer that awaits you offers a unique opportunity to explore the subjects that interest you. You can demonstrate your passion through courses, individual lessons, summer schools, specific readings, and internships. You have to accumulate these experiences now, to be able to write your personal statement in August or September!
For each of our students, we organize a stimulating path that allows them to accumulate the necessary background experience to demonstrate a genuine interest in the subject of your bachelor's application.
We can help you enrich your CV in three main ways
University Lessons
We organize university lessons in the subject of interest.
Click to read an example: Application for UCL Politics, Philosophy, Economics
Case study: University Lessons
Carla wanted to study Politics, Philosophy, and Economics at UCL.
We put her in contact with a specialized tutor. Together, they studied John Rawls and Robert Nozick, learning elements of political philosophy, which they connected to an analysis of the pros and cons of "Obamacare" in the US, and of democratic and republican economic policies.
Carla was able to talk about these experiences in her personal statement, and was accepted in all the universities she applied to.
Internships
We help you find internships in a relevant environment.
Click to read an example:
Application for Warwick
Applied Mathematics
Case study: Internships
Anna wanted to apply to Warwick to study applied mathematics.
We identified a passion for statistics, so we organized an internship with one of our partners, Power Play Theater: a theater company that finances itself by selling statistical analysis studies to the British art world.
Anna was able to learn advanced statistics concepts and contribute to a study of gender equality in English theater - an experience she mentioned in her statement, and helped her get into every university she applied to.
Summer Schools
We can recommend you summer schools in the UK
Click to read an example: Student undecided between Law and Economics
Case study: Summer schools
We work with a wide range of partners to recommend the best summer schools in the UK to families.
For example, one of our students was undecided between studying law or economics. We put him in contact with a summer school that specializes in teaching university material in these subjects.
By accessing the school's courses, the student was able to touch the topics firsthand and decide to apply in Economics. Supported by the distance lessons of our tutors, at the end of the course, the student entered the London School of Economics (LSE).
Finally, we help you secure the rewards of a year of preparation
4
Write the Personal Statement
All the experiences you have accumulated over the years will be summarized in a single essay: The personal statement.
This will be written at the beginning or during your senior year, so you still have time to enrich your CV!
5
Tests and interviews
Many courses require extra exams and interviews, in addition to predicted grades and personal statements. For example:
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Medicine
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Law
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PPE
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Mathematics
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Liberal arts
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Business
It is vital that you prepare as early as possible for these tests, which will take place in your final year. We can create customized schedules to help you do so.