Dear Sir / Madam
I kindly ask you to take the time to read this mail. I am a Greek student, currently in the second year of high school. In September 2014 and after graduation, my desire and ambition is to move to the UK in order to achieve a higher level of education. My area of interest is neuroscience. The reason I took the liberty to write this mail is your University's entry requirements are quite unapproachable for Greek students.
First of all, the fact is that the Panhellenic National Level Examinations (whose score determines the entrance in higher education in Greece) are getting more and more difficult each year. This is an(other) unfortunate consequence of our problematic economy. Our financial crisis is affecting our educational systems as well. Universities placements are dwindling and whole Universities are merging with others. The unfortunate consequence is that Panhellenic examinations are getting more and more difficult in order to reduce the amount of students gaining a place across greek Universities.When it comes to your University, for this year, your minimum entrance requirements are incredibly high for almost every student having given Panhellenic examinations.
Furthermore, due to economical crisis again, the quality of our courses has also been negatively affected. Courses, and mostly specialization courses, are about to swell to 25-30 students per class according to the newly proposed measures. Another important issue is that in order to succeed, or at least to have a possibility to succeed, greek high school students have to pay an additional 300-400 euros per month for private tuition. According to our educational system this is not essential, however it is the only chance a high school student has in order to do well in their final year exams. This is the norm for the last 4 to 5 years of high school life as far as I know. The education & curriculum are grossly inadequate and unable to prepare students for entry to higher education. Extra tuition and its cost is something that cannot be avoided.
In addition, due to the structure of our educational system, students during their last year of high school do not have the time, energy or luxury to bother themselves with general subjects such as Ancient Greek or History, simply because they have to focus on their chosen subjects for the Panhellenic examinations. This however affects their total mark for the Apolytirion. It’s a lose-lose situation: students are faced with a huge amount of exam requirements, and end up learning very little. Thus, we are ill-equipped for the next step, which is higher education.
Your requirement of an Apolytirion with a mark of 18,5 is incredibly difficult. It is feasible, but bear in mind that I will also have to study for the Panhellenic courses, and it’s still not guaranteed that I will be able to successfully reach your minimum requirements, no matter how hard I study. It is important to understand that here in Greece, it does not matter how much you study and prepare for the Panhellenic exams, it ultimately is chance and superior factors that determine student outcomes.
Given the above information, I am very confused and worried about what I should do. I very much want to study at Edinburgh University, however I am incredibly concerned that I might not be able to get in. I assure you that I have a huge passion for science, and I am willing to do my best in order to achieve my goal. I worry that due to the conditions of the educational system here in Greece, I will not be able to reach your entry standards. I am simply not getting all the preparation that is needed in order to be ready, and I have no means to surpass or supplement that. This year alone, promising and successful students at school, highly ambitious and with a very good preparation for the examinations, got bitterly disappointed as they failed to write as well as expected in many subjects such as Physics and Math. It is a clear fact that the examination questions were the equivalent of higher education subjects, something way beyond the abilities, knowledge and maturity level of high school students ability! If you wish, I could send you this year's Panhellenic exam samples so you can see for yourself what students were requested to answer.
I am determined to study at your University, and I would like to know if there is another pathway except GCEs and IB examinations, as the financial burden is way to big for my family to support. One option for me would be to focus on getting the best possible score at my Apolytirion (this is a one chance only opportunity), and maybe take an extra year to focus on the Panhellenic exams. If you know of any other options that could apply to my case, I would greatly appreciate it if you could let me know. It is quite disappointing that your Foundation courses are not available for students from Greece, because we really do need an alternative option.
Thank you for your time and assistance. I sincerely hope that you are able to take into consideration our situation here in Greece, because a lot of talented, ambitious and potentially very good prospective students are in desperate need of a realistic chance of getting a place at your University.
Yours Faithfully,
Chorianopoulos Elias.
I kindly ask you to take the time to read this mail. I am a Greek student, currently in the second year of high school. In September 2014 and after graduation, my desire and ambition is to move to the UK in order to achieve a higher level of education. My area of interest is neuroscience. The reason I took the liberty to write this mail is your University's entry requirements are quite unapproachable for Greek students.
First of all, the fact is that the Panhellenic National Level Examinations (whose score determines the entrance in higher education in Greece) are getting more and more difficult each year. This is an(other) unfortunate consequence of our problematic economy. Our financial crisis is affecting our educational systems as well. Universities placements are dwindling and whole Universities are merging with others. The unfortunate consequence is that Panhellenic examinations are getting more and more difficult in order to reduce the amount of students gaining a place across greek Universities.When it comes to your University, for this year, your minimum entrance requirements are incredibly high for almost every student having given Panhellenic examinations.
Furthermore, due to economical crisis again, the quality of our courses has also been negatively affected. Courses, and mostly specialization courses, are about to swell to 25-30 students per class according to the newly proposed measures. Another important issue is that in order to succeed, or at least to have a possibility to succeed, greek high school students have to pay an additional 300-400 euros per month for private tuition. According to our educational system this is not essential, however it is the only chance a high school student has in order to do well in their final year exams. This is the norm for the last 4 to 5 years of high school life as far as I know. The education & curriculum are grossly inadequate and unable to prepare students for entry to higher education. Extra tuition and its cost is something that cannot be avoided.
In addition, due to the structure of our educational system, students during their last year of high school do not have the time, energy or luxury to bother themselves with general subjects such as Ancient Greek or History, simply because they have to focus on their chosen subjects for the Panhellenic examinations. This however affects their total mark for the Apolytirion. It’s a lose-lose situation: students are faced with a huge amount of exam requirements, and end up learning very little. Thus, we are ill-equipped for the next step, which is higher education.
Your requirement of an Apolytirion with a mark of 18,5 is incredibly difficult. It is feasible, but bear in mind that I will also have to study for the Panhellenic courses, and it’s still not guaranteed that I will be able to successfully reach your minimum requirements, no matter how hard I study. It is important to understand that here in Greece, it does not matter how much you study and prepare for the Panhellenic exams, it ultimately is chance and superior factors that determine student outcomes.
Given the above information, I am very confused and worried about what I should do. I very much want to study at Edinburgh University, however I am incredibly concerned that I might not be able to get in. I assure you that I have a huge passion for science, and I am willing to do my best in order to achieve my goal. I worry that due to the conditions of the educational system here in Greece, I will not be able to reach your entry standards. I am simply not getting all the preparation that is needed in order to be ready, and I have no means to surpass or supplement that. This year alone, promising and successful students at school, highly ambitious and with a very good preparation for the examinations, got bitterly disappointed as they failed to write as well as expected in many subjects such as Physics and Math. It is a clear fact that the examination questions were the equivalent of higher education subjects, something way beyond the abilities, knowledge and maturity level of high school students ability! If you wish, I could send you this year's Panhellenic exam samples so you can see for yourself what students were requested to answer.
I am determined to study at your University, and I would like to know if there is another pathway except GCEs and IB examinations, as the financial burden is way to big for my family to support. One option for me would be to focus on getting the best possible score at my Apolytirion (this is a one chance only opportunity), and maybe take an extra year to focus on the Panhellenic exams. If you know of any other options that could apply to my case, I would greatly appreciate it if you could let me know. It is quite disappointing that your Foundation courses are not available for students from Greece, because we really do need an alternative option.
Thank you for your time and assistance. I sincerely hope that you are able to take into consideration our situation here in Greece, because a lot of talented, ambitious and potentially very good prospective students are in desperate need of a realistic chance of getting a place at your University.
Yours Faithfully,
Chorianopoulos Elias.
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