Study abroad – Tanzanian students’ perspectives

Name: Thomas M
Institution of study: Princeton University – NJ, USA
University study program: Civil engineering
School: Aga Khan Mzizima Secondary School (O-level)

Ni masuala yepi muhimu ulizingatia wakati unatuma maombi katika chuo unachosoma sasa au pengine ulipotuma maombi?

Hadhi ya shule na kiasi cha hela ambacho ningeweza kupata ili kufanikisha masomo yangu (financial aid).

Vipi masuala ya gharama ya elimu na maisha?

Shule ambazo nilizichagua ndizo zilizonipa hela. Sikutafuta kampuni yoyote inisaidie. Kuna shule zenye scholarship lakini Princeton huwa haitoi scholarship ya aina yoyote. Iwapo mwanafunzi aliyechaguliwa hawezi kulipa karo na gharama nyingine za maisha, Princeton itajaribu kuhakikisha kuwa mwanafunzi huyu anapewa hela ambayo hataweza kulipa (financial aid).

Utamshauri nini mwanafunzi aliyesoma A level na kutihaniwa na NECTA kuhusu kutuma maombi katika chuo chako?

Application ya mwanafunzi inahitaji barua kutoka kwa walimu (recommendation letters) na hili ndilo ninaloona linaweza kumwangusha mwanafunzi wa NECTA. Sisemi kuwa kuna mfumo maalumu wa kuandika barua hizi lakini barua hizi zinahitaji maelezo ya kimasomo na shughuli nyingine anazofanya mwanafunzi (extra-curricular activities). Ingawa barua hizi hazitakiwi kusomwa na mwanafunzi naona ni bora kuwahakikishia walimu namna na vipengele vinavyotakiwa kuelezwa kwenye barua hizi. Insha ya mwanafunzi nayo inahitaji kuandikwa kwa namna inayoonyesha ubunifu. Sijawahi kuona mwalimu akifundisha namna ya kuandika insha kama hizi nilipokuwa Tanzania. Niliweza kufanikiwa kuandika insha yangu baada ya kusoma insha nyingine za wanafunzi waliokuwa tayari wamekubaliwa kwenye vyuo vya Marekani.

Kuna vyuo vinavyohitaji interview. Hivyo nitamshauri mwanafunzi kujitahidi kujibu vizuri maswali yafuatayo (haya ni baadhi ya maswali, kila mtu anaweza kuuliza maswali tofauti kulingana na majibu yanayotolewa):

1. what is your greatest strength?
2. Mr.X(you the student), tell me about yourself
3. what is your greatest weakness? (hili ni swali linalohitaji kujibiwa kwa aina ambayo udhaifu utaonekana kama ni kitu kizuri)
4. why have you chosen this university?

How many schools should one apply to? What criteria did you use in selecting schools?

I would suggest applying to as many as you can. I applied to ten. Just make sure you have enough schools in the following categories:
1. reaches- schools into which you have a low chance of getting into
2. matches – schools that are very likely to accept you
3. safeties – schools that you are very certain to get into

Applying to schools in the US involves paying an application fee. The schools to which I applied charged $ 60- 75. Now this is a lot of money when converted into T.Shs and applying to 10 may sound like suicide. Fear not. If you cannot afford the application fee, get your headmaster or principal or anyone with authority at your school (usually it is a college counselor but since we don’t have any in the Tanzanian system, I would suggest the principal or vice-principal) to write a waiver letter to the universities explaining your financial situation and the financial hardship that will be caused by paying for the application fee.

How early before the deadline did you start with your university applications?

This is a difficult question. This actually starts with the first day you made an impression to a teacher that you would be asking a recommendation letter from. So probably two years before I handed in my application. You also have to think of taking your SAT exams and probably retaking them so planning ahead is useful. Moreover, before the actual writing you will need to have done some activities that you can write in your résumé/CV for your application.

However, the writing of the actual application on my part began six months before the deadline. I had to come up with a topic to write and I sought advice from other people during this time. Thereafter, I looked at ways of improving my essay. The thing to note here is that the earlier you start writing your application, the more time you have to leave it (and therefore refresh your mind) and go back to read it with fresh eyes and thus spot your own mistakes. I would advise you to show your essays to anyone you trust can give you useful feedback because you need all the help you can get here.

What advice would you give a form 6 student regarding preparing for the SAT exams? Any tips on the Verbal section of SAT?

Go through possible SAT questions as soon as possible. With the level of English taught at our schools, starting after form four would be a good idea although starting in form one would be ideal. The thing is, the more you read in English the more you become comfortable reading and writing it and the more you learn new words. Critical reading will be the most difficult part since the lack of proficiency in English means that one will be a slow reader. Reading slowly will prevent you from answering the simplest questions in the exam. Thus read more books (and I would suggest the difficult ones). I would like to point out that “Things Fall Apart” by Chinua Achebe actually has lots of words that I found in the SAT. So if you need something to compare the level of English use “Things Fall Apart”.

If SAT preparation books are available, I would suggest reading them. There is usually a list of words that are frequently used in the SAT. The list may contain more than 3000 words so do as many as you can and don’t be discouraged if you can’t go through all of them. I would suggest using Barron’s as it has the more difficult questions and the truth is you would like to go through difficult questions first. KAPLAN tends to have easier questions for both SAT 1 and SAT 2 so I would not recommend it if you don’t have enough time. Furthermore, BARRON’S has two lists of words “High Frequency” and “Hot Prospects” (Click here for the list). I tried reading both lists but realized that I could not finish them so I just read the “High Frequency” list. The “High Frequency” lists are words that appear often will the “Hot Prospects” list contains words that are likely to appear in the test. I also got a lot of help for the Writing section from BARRON’S.

Remember that, the SAT is a test and like any test there are test-taking strategies. These books will help you with some strategies that you would need to boost your SAT score and I thus highly recommend them (BARRON’S, COLLEGEBOARD, PRINCETON REVIEW).

Do keep in mind that if you score 680 and above(you should check with the university you are interested in by sending an email to the admissions office) in the Critical reading section, you might be able to avoid taking the TOEFL exam, which is going to save you money.

Depending on the school’s you apply to, you might have to do SAT 2. Some questions can be done with O-level knowledge but others will require A-level material and in some cases more than that (for example Relativity). Usually reading SAT preparation books will be enough for Physics for example in the case of relativity. Do remember that, the highly ranked schools will require you to take SAT 2 exams.

Vijana FM would like to thank Thomas for this voluminous and enlightening contribution. I believe a student somewhere in the region will take heed of his message. More Q & A of this kind can be found on the Vijana FM Education Resource page: (Click here)

TanSao is hosting sessions on a similar theme, every Saturday 3pm at the International School of Tanganyika (Masaki): (Click here for more details )