Though a good placement department can enhance a student’s chances of admission, there is no substitute for the 15 years of study prior to college. Every university expects certain basics from all its applicants. Think of this as “breadth.” Our rigorous program will provide such breadth, but it is not enough. Admissions teams are looking for students who excel in a particular area and who will add that particular excellence to their college. Think of this as “depth.” Through its individualized approach to education, Huitong School is engineered to graduate students who have both these qualities. Note that this “depth” cannot be faked by cramming in the last year of school. It must be genuine, an interest a student has pursued over years with attentive mentorship and something a student truly cares about. The best proof of ongoing and deepening student work will be reflected in the quality of our students’ culminating portfolio projects, which will be of great value to admissions deans at highly selective colleges and universities—and they will speak volumes about the mind and character of our students.

Though our college advisers on each campus will be selected, coordinated, and developed by our global college- placement department, there is no substitute for an on-campus individual adviser who both knows the students and their families well and works closely with them and, in many cases, has “looped” with the students through several grades. It is particularly critical that we staff these positions adequately to ensure that the relationships between advisers, students, and families begin three to four years before graduation. Five years in advance of our first graduating class, we will have already recruited an admissions expert from an Ivy League university to begin planning this function. Why? To get ahead of student weaknesses early and address them early and to identify strengths that can be built upon—and to forge meaningful relationships over time with college and university admissions deans.

Another major ingredient is an adviser who builds a partner relationship with parents. Many schools try to minimize parental involvement in the college-application process to the point of lowering their expectations.

We believe parents play a pivotal role by working with their children and activating their robust contacts within universities during the application process, which begins when students enter upper school.

There are 100 highly competitive universities and colleges around the world, as well as hundreds upon hundreds of fine departments and programs within other colleges and universities. It is economically impossible for a single school to know them all, keep up with developments in each, and maintain contacts in each. Similarly, a single school does not have the resources to maintain its own outreach to all these institutions to let them know why they should be watching for its applicants.

Our global HQ will, by contrast, conduct continuing research on, and outreach to, leading universities and colleges. Many members of our HQ team have worked in leadership positions in higher education, and our global researchers will feed this information to our local advisers. Our global team will meet and correspond with admissions teams at leading universities to ensure that they are aware of what it means to be a graduate of Huitong School.

Indeed, we have already begun this process by recruiting our faculty from the same universities where we will be placing our students. We are committed to building and cultivating a “multi- tiered” relationship with the best universities in the world.