CommonApp 

• Your Common Application should be almost completely filled in by now, and you certainly have added schools and discovered what supplemental writing you need to complete. Get on with scheduling the tasks ahead!

• You need to LINK your MaiaLearning and Common Application accounts. This ensures that the submission of documents and teacher recommendations is seamless. It is very easy to do this, starting in MaiaLearning... please watch this video or review this tutorial for the easy guide to completing the Linking process. 

Recommendation Letters

For NON-Common Application Teacher Recommendations

• Ask the teachers IN PERSON, not by email.

• Once they agree, provide a completed Student Request Form (scroll down to it) and discuss what you have written with them.

For Common Application Teacher Recommendations

• First, complete FERPA on the Common App... best that your agree to "waive my rights"... ask University Counselling for more details if you're confused.

• Ask the teachers IN PERSON, not by email.

• In MaiaLearning… Universities ==> Recommendations ==>

  • • “Select Deadline”—pick the application deadline of your first application

    • “Select Teachers for the Recommendation Letters”—select the teachers who have agreed to write a letter…

    • Fill out the answers to the questions posed in ”Information for Recommenders”… Use the Student Request Form on our website as a reference for all the information you should provide.

Applicant Autobiography

All applicants who must have a Counsellor Recommendation Letter submitted will need to complete the Applicant Autobiography process. SCROLL DOWN TO FIND THE APPLCIANT AUTOBIOGRAPHY...

English Proficiency

If your first language is not English, regardless of your citizenship, you inevitably will have to do a test of English Proficiency as part of the admissions process. That would be TOEFL or IELTS... but it might be the much better, cheaper, and easier-to-access Duolingo. Regardless, it is critical that we review the English Proficiency requirements of EACH of your schools to ensure that you have a plan to meet their requirements.

International Certification of Finances

Any non-US citizen will, at some point, have to demonstrate that they have financial resources to pay for at least a year's expenses to attend school in the United States. Some schools require you to submit an International Certification of Finances (official proof of available funds from a financial institution) as part of the admissions process, while others only require it after you are admitted. It is critical that we review the requirements of EACH of your schools to ensure that you have a plan to meet their requirements. Your parents need to stand by to acquire and provide that financial documentation.

SAT Prep Course

Brentwood has, for many years, offered an SAT Prep Course using an external instructor. The course has typically run on Sundays from November through February, BUT THIS YEAR IT WILL BE FOCUSED IN THE WINTER TERM WITH THE CLASSES BEGINNING RIGHT AFTER WE RETURN TO SCHOOL IN JANUARY. 

We are finalizing the details about the course and will be sending it out to you and parents VERY SOON. Stay Tuned!

Your SAT Testing Timeline

Grade 11s who are looking ahead to applying to US colleges need to start thinking about elements of the process, in particular, their standardized testing plan... taking the SAT! As the Grade 11 Timeline shows, we recommend that students in Grade 11 take the SAT for the first time in March, and registration is open for that test. 

The problem is this: The March 2026 SAT falls on the first Saturday of sping break, on March 14. The last day of classes before spring break is Thursday, March 12. Thus, students must either write elsewhere or find somewhere else (other than Brentwood) to stay if they want to remain to write the SAT at Brentwood.

The typical Brentwood US Applicant will take the SAT 2-3 times to achieve the scores they desire. (In fact, the research shows that the probability of making statistically significnat gains on SAT scores essentially goes to zero after the third sitting of the SAT.) So, think about how you might engage with the SAT given that there are multiple available sittings.