An Interview With Sophia Zhang

Her advice on college applications, the IB diploma, and everything in-between 

Hi Sophia, can you give a brief introduction to what IB courses you took, university and your pursued major is? 

For the IB courses I took, they were higher level English Literature, Chinese B, Economics, and History. For my standard level subjects, it was Math and Biology. And the university I got into was the University of Pennsylvania as a social science major, but I’m considering switching to the Penn Business school, especially because I’ve heard Wharton is an amazing business school and I’ve recently become more interested in business-oriented careers. 

How did you decide on UPenn as your early decision college?

I didn’t really have a ‘dream school’ like a lot of people did, so I was just looking for a good education at a reputable institution. I came across UPenn when I was researching schools with environments that I like, which also had good social science programs. Before the college application process, I actually took a UPenn pre-collegiate summer course about gender studies and there were a lot of UPenn undergraduate students. I thought it would just be full of highschoolers, but it wasn't, and I really liked the environment of the class. Through that, I felt like I just had a connection with this school. Also, I know someone who has gotten into UPenn from Shatin College, so that means UPenn probably is more likely to recognize Sha Tin College. That’s how I decided to choose UPenn as my early decision. 

Did you apply for only US schools or other countries as well? What was the college application like? What advice can you give Year 12s to prepare them for this?

I only applied to the US, yes. For the college application, it was a long journey with lots of essays to write. My best advice for Year 12s is to take care of your extracurriculars, especially because you have to write about them on your application and it’s good to talk about something different you did for each essay you’re going to write. So on your college application, you can list up to 10 activities for the Common App (definition: the Common Application is the standard American college application process) and the UCs have their own system where you can list up to 20 activities. I’ve heard from a college admissions officer that many US colleges look for a student with a T-shape in terms of extracurriculars. That means the horizontal line is the range of activities you do, then the vertical line is like one thing you’re really good at, or specialized in. This means they’re looking for someone who is well-rounded but also good at a specific thing. 

Since a lot of US colleges also look at our SAT scores, I did my SATs in September of Year 12, I only did it once. I got a 1570, but don’t worry I had a SAT tutor and I did a lot of past papers. The month before the exam, I did a past paper every day for a month. I really suggest anyone who needs it to check Reddit to find more past papers. 

So far how have you found the IB curriculum so far? Do you have any challenges or positive aspects you want to share?

I think the good thing about IB is the CAS system because it pushes you to have more activities and it also encourages you to lead more and do more community service. Also, another good thing about IB is that it’s not 100% dependent on your exam scores, unlike the Chinese GaoKao. In IB, you have coursework and IAs to depend on for your grade. I think the best way to do well is to stay consistent in your learning. Oh yeah, also the IB lets you apply to colleges with your predicted grades, which is usually more lenient. 

However, the challenge really was juggling so many subjects at once. Sometimes, I would have a lot of tests at around the same time, which meant I had to learn how to prioritize my subjects. Also, the EE was challenging for me because I did mine on Economics. I was researching about immigration in Hong Kong and I found that there wasn’t enough data and I had to really dig deep to find more about the topic. It was also the longest report I’ve ever written, I’ve never had to do anything like that before. 

What activities or what experiences did you have that you felt was very rewarding and helped you decide on what major you wanted to pursue? For example, your extracurriculars and CAS experiences inside or outside of school. 

I think I did the most in Year 12, I did a lot of refugee and social justice related services. I had an internship with a domestic helper agency, called Mission for Migrant Workers; refugee agency; and I also did research with a professor that did studies on migrants. Other than those, I also had a lot of leadership experience, like Head Delegate for MUN, Student Council Chair, and I was also the CAS leader project which was to do with being pen pals with underprivileged kids. 

What tool did you feel was the most helpful for you to organize and manage your time, if you had any?

I actually don’t have that many things I use. I tried to use Notion and make it really aspirational, but I just didn’t keep it up. I mainly use to-do lists and I list out my deadlines and prioritize what I should focus on. Towards the end of Year 12, there are a lot of IA deadlines, so I really had to figure out what I needed to prioritize so I don’t miss any deadlines. 

Do you have any general advice to give to Y12s about anything you’d like to shed light on? Like study advice, application advice, life advice, etc.

In terms of study advice, I think that cramming for a test isn’t the best way. Like back then I was revising two weeks before a test came up, but then I realized every time I did the test, I would just forget the knowledge and have to revise it again for the next one. I thought that wasn’t really efficient, so I think the best way is actually consistent revision, which means every week you check if you’re up to speed with the class and review your notes. 

Also more advice for Year 12s is don’t stress, I know that’s generic, but you should believe in yourself. During the college application process, I kept doubting myself and thinking I was doing too little but also too much. I stressed myself out from watching all the YouTube videos about people getting into these really good colleges and what they did, so I constantly felt inferior as well. I realized I was doing more and more and then I felt really burnt out, because I kept thinking about what colleges wanted, since they like unique people, people who were willing to be themselves. 

For teacher recommendations, I think you should be nice to your teachers for a good recommendation and also when you’re asking for a recommendation letter, you can include some aspects that you want them to write about in the letter, for example I wanted my English teacher to reference my English-based extracurriculars. 

Written by: Michelle Geng

Edited by: Rie Du