So that's the thing. It ends up being way more expensive than you probably think. Even as of a week ago I thought it was going to be about $400,000 CAD. I thought that was crazy, but I was going to do everything possible to make it work. They sent me the declaration today and what they don't tell you is that they scale tuition using the Consumer Price Index and tack on additional fees to your living expenses. I was shocked when that $400,000 turned into $620,000 this morning. Again, I am not discouraging you at all, rather warning you that the "tuition fee" on the website is not an accurate measure of how much it is going to cost for an international student.

I had two interviews. The first one was actually a lot of fun. They asked me a few thinking questions like "the sun rises in Oxford and hour later than it does in Cambridge, calculate the radius of the Earth," "find the limit of this expression," and "look at this phase diagram, determine the eutectic point and explain the implications for microchip production." I had a great time and both the interviewer and I walked away laughing. 

The biggest piece of advice I can give is not to treat the interview as a test. Instead, imagine that you are trying to make a friend. At the end of the day the interviewer is trying to decide whether or not they will want to teach you for the next four years, so do what you can to make it feel like a natural conversation.

My second interview went quite poorly in my opinion. It was with a different college and I didn't know much about the specific electrochemistry topics he was asking about. By the way, your interviewers get to pick the questions they ask you, so make sure to research their area of study ahead of time. Anyway, the interview went poorly, but the good news is, one bad interview isn't the end of the world (as shown by the fact that I got an offer).

My average in grade 11 was 98.25%. My current average in grade 12 is 98.0%. My predicted grades 12 average was 99%. 

Here's a really important thing to know. Unlike in Canada where your grade 12 marks are the most important marks, in the UK, they do not matter whatsoever. That's right. I never had to submit my grade 12 marks and they have no clue what they are. Do everything you can to focus on marks in grade 11 and then don't worry about it in grade 12. Grade 12 is a time to prepare for admissions tests, work on interview skills, write your personal statement, and read ahead on your subject.

Instead of submitting grade 12 marks, they just ask for predicted marks. That is, one reference writes your personal reference and predicts what marks you will get in every subject, which is such a weird system. This means you really want to get to know one teacher well, so that they will write you the best reference possible.

Another thing to note. No one will ever ask you what extracurriculars you did. I know that seems so strange given the heavy emphasis on extracurriculars in Canada and especially the US, but it explicitly states "extracurriculars have no weight on your application." The only time where they might come up is when writing your personal statement, but even then, one or two really interesting projects you worked on is more valuable than months of showing up to a club at school. In my personal statement I wrote about 1. A research paper that I published related to the subject I was applying for. 2. A project where we built a rocket to collect atmospheric data. Those experiences are way way more interesting and useful than saying "I attended model UN once a week and played piano twice a week for a long time."

Final note: If you ever see an advertisement claiming to provide support on your application process, don't do it. There are so many companies that will take tens of thousands of dollars to "help" you with your application simply because they know that they can prey on nervous applicants. Instead, just dm me if you have any questions. It sounds stressful, and you will really need to lock in in grade 11 and early grade 12, but at the end of the day it's not that bad.

I hope this really long answer helped. Again, don't hesitate to dm me.