What’s in a Number? Pre-U Results…That’s What!

CONCORDIAThe results are in! Well, most of them, and the members of the Pre-U Class of 2011 have a lot to be proud of.

With so much of the Pre-U year focused on applying to university, awaiting the inevitable admission decision is an unnerving time for our students. The last month has been a whirlwind of highs and lows, with the crush of a refusal and the exhilaration of a university acceptance sometimes being experienced within minutes of each other.

But once the emotions settle down, it’s time to for that major, life-changing, decision – where am I going to be next year?

Not everyone has finalized their university decision yet, but when our 25 students cross the stage on May 19th at their graduation ceremony, this is what I know:
• 52% of the students will be attending university in the United States
• 38% of the US-bound students were accepted at universities that have admission rates under 15%
• 75% of our students who applied early to US universities were accepted
• 100% of the students who applied to UK universities were accepted
• 87% of the class has been offered admission scholarships
• 50% of one of the most prestigious scholarships at a top Canadian university were offered to our students (4/8)
• 100% of the Pre-U students will join the Class of 2015 at a university somewhere in the world beginning September 2011

The Pre-U Class of 2011 may be small in number, but they are mighty in many ways. And although, I’m not one to quantify the Pre-U experience—after all, Pre-U is about so much more than just getting into university— the numbers do speak for themselves and are a great reflection of the overall success of our Pre-U students this year.—Kim Tulloch, Director of University Advising

Life After High School: Plan Ahead

PreU_Blog_18Jan2011Come grades 10 and 11, students begin to think about their future. What is the next step? Well, the first decision is Pre-University or CEGEP. For those who know that going away is not for them, their decision is quite easy. But for those who have even the slightest interest in a different kind of experience, the range of options is even greater.

Pre-U is the option if you want to go away for university. It’s a program that fully prepares you in terms of the workload and background you need to fully succeed when you get to university. The classes are small and I find this extremely helpful because unlike CEGEP, I get to know my teachers well as most of LCC students are used too. It’s true that at university you won’t have a class size of six students (depending on the type of school you choose) but you will have a much stronger academic background and skills that prove to be a great advantage. I’ve sat through the most boring of English classes where I had to analyze sentence structure and write a 100-word paragraph where word choice was of the utmost importance. I’ve spent time writing different kinds of sentences (by this I mean the use of a comma or semi colon) and yes I thought this was completely irrelevant because a sentence is a sentence. However, when it came time to write my college essay–a very important part of your application–I found that my writing had changed. I did care about structure, and I made sure I had used a variety of sentences to make my writing even more proficient. The point is, you may not realize it until you have to apply it, but the skills (like sentence structure) will save you many headaches in the future.

Now if you’re thinking that you want to do a year of CEGEP and then leave the province that’s fine. But let me warn you that you will not get the support system that Pre-U has. You won’t have a college advisor making sure your application is perfect. You won’t have teachers with flexible office hours and you certainly won’t have a community of peers that are going through the exact same thing you are. Never in my life have I been so stressed. I have to study for my SATs, keep up my grades, and write six different essays on top of my sports. It’s a crazy balancing act but the best thing about it is that I have 26 other friends who know exactly what I’m going through. You also don’t have an assortment of candy available to you all day. What I’m saying is that if you know after a year that you want to go away you might as well do Pre-U because it will make your application experience that much easier.

Lastly, I’d like to offer some advice to all potential Pre-U students. If there is more than an 80% chance that you will be enrolling in the program next year, prepare for your SATs this year. My biggest mistake was waiting to do the majority of my SAT studying at the beginning of my Pre-U year and believe me, I regret it. I only have two chances to get the score I need, but if you write at the end of this year you have three or four chances. This also saves you a lot of stress because you are not dealing with it on top of the lengthy US application process. Also, time management is key. Use your spares, go grab some lunch and then head to the library. This will keep your workload more manageable. Lastly, just know that you will get into university no matter what. Don’t let the stress get the best of you, if something’s wrong talk to Mrs. Tulloch or Ms. Levy, that’s what they are there for. In Pre-U you have ample amounts of resources available to you; use them to your advantage. Nonetheless, whatever road you choose to take, make sure it’s the right one for you.–Samantha Elefant ’10 (Pre-U ’11)

LCC Going Local

GoLocalGiven that what we eat has a large impact on the environment, the LCC Sustainability Committee is reviewing LCC’s food sources.

Thanks to the efforts of five graduating students from the Class of 2008, as well as our excellent chef Alain Thirion, we already have much of the data we need for this project. Make no mistake, in this day and age, it is challenging for a North American to figure out where their food comes from. We take it for granted that we can get fresh fruit in the middle of a Canadian winter. This luxury comes at a steep cost to the environment.

LCC is in the process of setting long-term sustainability goals, and we are attempting to create a balance between optimism for what can be achieved and realism for what may be expected. Ideally, we would like the vast majority of the food served at LCC to come from within 250 km of the school. This is not as difficult as it might seem. For example, Première Moison (bread) already gets all of its flour from Quebec. Much of the beef and chicken is from within the province as well.
Vegetables and fruits are another matter. They are one of the reasons we will likely not reach our 100% local food goal, at least until there are enough greenhouses supplying mid-winter fruit. Thus it is here that we face our key challenge.

To get a quick view of some locavore ideas, check out this link. –Chris Olive, Green team Faculty Liaison

The True Meaning of Non Nobis Solum

FarhaFoundationNon nobis solum … As a newcomer to the LCC community, a few short weeks ago those words were nothing but latin to me.

On the 20th September, myself and several of my Pre-University classmates took part in a walk for the Farha Foundation to raise money for the prevention and treatment of AIDS; a vicious incurable disease, sweeping through Africa and many parts of the developed word.

The fight against AIDS has always been of interest to me. As an incurable disease that affects the entire world, it represents, in my opinion, one of the greatest challenges that mankind has to face in the modern day.

The day was sunny, and the walk was calm and pleasant. I was surprised to find that many of my Grade 12 ‘fellows’ had already completed their obligatory community service hours, going as much as 25 hours above the call of duty.

It occurred to me at that point that the value of mandatory community service is not in the immediate value it has for society, but in the values it promotes in the individual. To give a student a sense that it is important to help others for no direct personal gain is not only good for his/her social development, but also good for society as a whole in the long term, as the amount that he/she will eventually contribute to society will far dwarf the 20 hours of service spent over one year. By pushing students to help others, it seemed to me more that LCC was encouraging them to help themselves.

Leon Dunkley-Clark (Pre-U ’10)

Boyle – An Inspiration to Young Scientists

LCC_WillardBoyle_BlogMany schools can boast producing Rhodes Scholars or Olympic athletes. But it is not often that a school has the distinction of including a Nobel laureate among the ranks of its alumni.

It’s incredible to think that someone who was once in my place, studying in the same classrooms as I am right now, could go on to make such an impact on our everyday lives. Willard Boyle, LCC’s first Nobel Prize winner, is certainly an inspiration and an indication of the immeasurable possibilities awaiting each of us in our future.

This all just solidifies in my mind the strength of the education that LCC offers its students. In my six years at the school, I have realized the wealth of opportunities available to foster curiosity and creativity, leaving me feeling prepared for life “after LCC.”  One never knows what the future holds, but it never hurts to hope that I will someday follow Willard Boyle’s example and do my school proud. 

FraserBlog_Boyle

 

— Jordy Fraser ’09 (Pre-U ’10)