Where to Start Searching Passion and Interest? Does Pandemic Matter?

By Hubert Ho | Head of Admissions Consulting Services, Kaplan Test Prep and Admissions

When asking what a student would like to do in the future or what he or she would like to choose as a major in the college, over 80% of the students will say that they are not sure. In fact, all curriculums in Hong Kong do not provide any career guidance components to help students neither in identifying their strengths nor confirming their talents. As a result, very few students will be able to understand their own dream or desired occupation during their high school life.

Where should I start?

It is very hard to reach the conclusion immediately, self-awareness is always the first step. The best time for the process is Grade 9 (i.e. Form 3). We can use the US admissions journey as a reference:

Grade 9 – Building awareness
Grade 10 – Exploring possible interests
Grade 11 – Demonstrating growth
Grade 12 – Making relevant decisions

It is very hard to describe what involves in each year since every student will have their own admissions story to tell. From my past experiences, it is totally necessary for students to start understanding their own strengths and talents as early as possible then work on identifying resources for building up their profile during the 4-year high school life. Students can actually start with MBTI personality test as it is a free resource.  

Should I wait for the end of the pandemic?

A lot of students and parents reflect that they don’t have much to do during the pandemic. That’s so true that pandemic has made a lot of things change and almost all ordinary in-school and out-school activities stop. However, can it be the excuse for you to make the admissions committee give you the offer? Absolutely not.

“Some applicants will actually have time to play music, create, read for pleasure, or develop new and interesting hobbies. Some will find themselves with increasing family responsibilities or the need to undertake a part-time job.” From an admissions officer, Vanderbilt University.

We can see that the pandemic is actually helping the admissions committee to screen out the students who can act proactively as well. Don’t wait anymore! Start to craft your admissions story now!

Need more information on how we can help you? Come and speak with our Admissions Counselor: https://bit.ly/3teynbI

Mr. Hubert Ho

Head of Admissions Consulting Services, Kaplan Test Prep and Admissions
Associate Member of IECA, Member of NACAC and AEE
MCom (Finance), UNSW
BCom (Management & Marketing), University of Wollongong

• 10 years+ of experience in education industry
• 100% of his students got admitted to Top 3 choices & Top 50 US National Colleges and G5 UK Universities
• Proven track record helping students gain admission to US prestigious colleges including Yale University, Stanford University, Cornell University, UCLA, UC-Berkeley, New York University, Boston University

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