Leo Y. and Joe Z. Received ED Offers from Emory!
Leo Y. and Joe Z. are both Year 13 students at Dulwich International High School Suzhou. One of them loves business and the other loves humanities and social sciences. They both received an ED offer from Emory University. ED is the English abbreviation for Early Decision. It is a way to apply to American universities. As the name suggests, it means that the school decides to admit early. Different from ordinary applications, a student can only choose one school to apply for ED. If admitted, they can only accept an offer from that school and must withdraw any applications that have already been submitted to any other schools. Therefore, the school that students choose to apply for ED is often their first choice.
# Emory University
Emory University, founded in 1836, is one of the world’s top private research universities and a member of the American Association of Universities. It is one of the representative universities for small-class undergraduate elite education in the United States and one of the prestigious "New Ivy League" universities in the United States. It has produced 24 Rhodes scholars and is known as the "Harvard of the South". Competition is fierce for Emory's undergraduate admissions, and its ED1 application volume this year has broken its historical record. Since only 13% of Emory University's students are international students, it is especially exciting for our students to receive admissions to this school! The teacher-student ratio of the school is as high as 1:7, and the professors have given students a lot of attention and exchanges. Former US President Carter is an honorary professor of the school. In the 2021 US News Ranking, Emory University ranked 21st.
Let’s take a look at their story of growth…
Q1 Why choose Emory University?
Leo said that he chose Emory University because he was attracted by its exquisite campus environment and its beautiful architectural style, when he attended a summer school at Emory. The small class sizes of the teaching at the summer school gave him more opportunities to communicate with his professors. Joe chose this school because of its excellent academic performance and small class teaching. The other two reasons are for his personal hobbies. The school is in Atlanta, where the NBA Hawks are based. As a fan of the Hawks, Joe has always longed to visit their city. In addition, as previous graduates of Dulwich who studied at the school soon discovered, there are Chinese chefs in the school’s canteen! The braised pork they make is delicious, which also attracted him! During the application stage, our college counselors gave him a lot of help. Leo’s college counselor is Ms. Shi, who helped him write a more vivid and engaging story. Joe’s college counselor is Ms. Flood, who gave him many suggestions on the grammar and structure of the document.
Q2 What’s it like studying at Dulwich?
Leo's favorite class is economics, because this subject is closely related to life, allowing him to combine actual situations in society with the theoretical knowledge of the subject. He has been studying economics since the 10th grade and has laid a solid foundation. Joe's favorite is the psychology class. He thinks that psychology is very practical. After learning it, you can understand yourself better and help yourself and others. In Mr. Tulesi's class when he was in the lower grades, the teacher used textbooks as the main teaching method and used many examples to explain. The teacher even vividly demonstrated psychological phenomena by demonstrating specific symptoms himself. In his senior year, Joe attended Ms. Allison's class. This teacher paid great attention to extracurricular development and used many cases for teaching. Sometimes, the American drama "The Big Bang Theory" would also become be analyzed by the teacher.
Q 3 Co-curricular activities allow students to discover their passion
Leo and Joe have participated in various co-curricular activities, and in the process of exploring their passion and interests, they gradually focused on things they truly love. Leo has participated in the Frisbee club for 4 years. This sport seems simple, but it is not easy. Although throwing a frisbee is easy, it is difficult to throw a frisbee into a specific area and score. This doesn’t just exercise the patience of students, but also cultivates their team spirit. Joe has participated in the Ikebana Club for 4 years and is the leader now. He first joined the club because he felt that flower arranging was very novel. After he started learning flower arranging, he found that it is a very self-cultivating thing to do. It is a very interesting process to make different flowers into a work of art through an orderly arrangement. In his application essay, he also mentioned his love for ikebana and the discussion of gender stereotypes arising from it. Many people may think that flower arrangement should be something only girls do, but Joe does not wish to be bound by stereotypes and insists on doing what he loves!
Q 4 Attending summer schools helps them determine their future major
Leo attended the Summer School of Social Relations at Yale University and the Summer School of Microeconomics at Emory University. The summer school at Yale University is taught online. Teachers will analyze social issues from a very objective perspective. Many viewpoints are very different from mainstream media, allowing him to develop the habit of thinking independently and looking at issues objectively. The summer school of microeconomics at Emory University firmed up his idea of applying to the university. The school's small class teaching method allowed students to have more time to communicate with professors. Joe attended a summer school at Boston University in the Principles of Psychology. The teacher was a clinical psychology expert. He taught about human structure, enriched Joe's knowledge in psychology, and made him even more fascinated by this subject.
Q 5 Choosing Dulwich = More autonomy + Diversified campus life
Joe came from a public school in Kunshan. Because he wanted to go abroad, he heard junior high school students recommend Dulwich. He valued the campus culture where he could participate in a variety of extracurricular activities, so he chose Dulwich. Leo comes from a public school in Shanghai. He is a student who really knows his own mind. He prefers a school environment that gives students autonomy, which coincides with The Dulwich Value: “Students come first”. Dulwich’s teacher-student relationship is not superior-subordinate. It is much more equal. Teachers give students enough respect, which makes students more confident and able to independently seek what they love. Such an environment allowed Leo to give full play to his potential and win awards in business competitions: his team won the most valuable company award in the Ambix business competition, and he was responsible for the company's advertising and data feedback.
Q 6 A family education that cultivates the habit of self-discipline
From a public school to Dulwich, Joe and Leo quickly adapted to Dulwich’s environment because of their good habits of self-discipline. They knew that they should do well in learning first, and then pursue what they love. These good habits were instilled by their parents. Before high school, their parents were stricter, allowing them to develop good habits. For example, you must finish your homework before you can do other things. Always ask the teacher if you don’t understand anything, never leave anything behind. This seemingly clichéd habit can achieve amazing results if you persist with it day after day and year after year. Their acceptance into Emory University is the best proof!
Q 7 Advice for younger students
- The Habits of Self Discipline and the skill of Time management are crucial.
- If you encounter any difficulties, don’t be afraid of communicating with teachers. Teachers are very willing to help students.
- When choosing a course, you must follow your passion and decide your major as early as possible!
Ushering into the New Year of the Ox in 2021, we sincerely invite you to participate in the Dulwich Spring Open Day on Saturday, 6th March! At that time, you will have the opportunity to experience Dulwich’s British Style campus and meet our vibrant student ambassadors, listen to the school leaders’ introduction and the head of admissions and marketing detailed enrollment information. You and your children will also be able to attend demo classes in various subjects. You will be able to communicate with school teachers, gaining a closer look at Dulwich's educational philosophy and campus culture. In addition, there are also limited edition Dulwich bears and other exquisite gifts waiting for you, please scan the QR code below to sign up! (For more Click here for more information:就在下周六，德威牛年春季开放日等你来！| Welcome to Our 2021 Open Day!)
Let’s review some highlights of our last Open Day: