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Grade 12 Students Actively Participated in the Senior Orientation

September 5, 2025

On September 3, the 12th graders participated in the Senior Orientation, which was designed to prepare them for their college application journeys.



To start of the day, homeroom teachers refresh the seniors with the fundamentals for applying to US universities. With the basic learning out of the way, students became more prepared to tackle other challenges in the Common App application. For the rest of the day, students could pick classes from a variety of sessions provided by the school.


Initialview Information Session

The Initialview information session covered the purpose of using Initialview, the benefits of Initialview for college applications, and some tips useful for preparing the Initialview interview. Students gained important insight into how to use Initialiew from the special guest who advised that students should prepare short stories about themselves, but not rehearsed speeches as it detracts from the authenticity of the interview. After participating in the session, the students gained a better sense of how to present their best selves in Initialview.



Mock Interviews

During the mock interview sessions, the teachers acted as admission officers and interviewed students using questions designed for admission interviews. The students familiarized themselves with the atmosphere of interviews, answered interview questions, and received feedback from the teachers who interviewed them. Through the mock interviews, the students were able to better understand how interviews are structured, what types of questions are asked, and how to become better interviewees.



Hong Kong Universities Information Sessions

The admission officers from HKU and HKUST each delivered two information sessions online. They first introduced the city of Hong Kong as a safe and vibrant global financial hub. After that, they each elaborated on the prestige of their universities, on-campus experiences, and the admissions requirements for IB, AP, and A-Level programs. After these information sessions, the students became more aware of the processes, benefits, and costs that are associated with applying to the two universities in Hong Kong.


UC Essay Workshop

During the UC essay workshop, the teachers helped the students brainstorm for UC essays. They asked each student to list 10 values, goals, or identities that identify them, then asked them to cross out items on the list until there is one left, which would be a strong theme to center essays around. After that, the students reviewed several good and bad examples of UC essays. Through this session, students were more conscious of what admission officers look for in the UC essays, how to write UC essays, and how to see if their UC essays are good.



Mock Admissions

Mock admissions sessions were also held in the morning. In the sessions, the students played the role of admission officers and evaluated all materials of a given candidate in 5 minutes. By putting students in the shoes of admission officers, this session improved their ability to identify and create components of a convincing application.



Alumni Talk

In the alumni talk, SHSID alumni from prestigious universities across the world, including Cambridge, UChicago, and more, joined the seniors in SHSID. The alumni shared their experiences of college application, college selection, and university life with the students. After participating in the session, the students recognized several key factors that lead to an enjoyable undergraduate journey, including time management, workload management, and gathering information about colleges and their programs.




UK College Admissions Test Update

In the first period in the afternoon, there was a session about updates on the UK college application cycles. The session included updates on admission tests, personal statements, and the latest admission stats. The guest speakers in this session emphasized that top UK universities will look for academic proficiency and rigor in their application materials, admission tests, and interviews. Through this session, prospective students got the bigger picture of what is needed as an applicant for humanities or STEM majors of top UK universities.



In addition to the events, students were also offered the choice to discuss with their homeroom teachers, subject teachers, or college counselors about college applications and letter of recommendations. Overall, this Senior Orientation served as a good starting point for successful applications in the upcoming months for all senior students.




(Written by 12-8 Beeno Nie   Pictures by Hao Sun    Supervised by Sijia He    Reviewed by Qian Zuo)