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Admission process, wording for step#3 (requirements) #6

Open ralienpp opened 11 years ago

ralienpp commented 11 years ago

Warning: subjective matters ahead!

The text gives the impression that anyone can make it, that the exams are "123easy" and that is it just a matter of writing a few sentences in English.

I understand that the idea is to encourage people to apply, but in the past N years there were quite a few students with a very poor command of English.

When I say "poor" I mean that they didn't speak English at all. Reading the reports they've written was a painful experience. I wouldn't mind if I saw improvements, but typically these people are also the ones with a dismissive attitude towards classes of English, they just skip them.

We must do something about this, perhaps the text could say something like:

Everyone is encouraged to apply, but we hope that you are committed to improving your English beyond the level of Hello, my name is %s and I am %i years old.

As you advance through the curriculum, we will expect you to read and write documentation in English on a daily basis, become familiar with technical slang, easily follow discussions in English and chime in when you have something to add.

The programme includes courses that will help you sharpen your foreign language skills. If you are not proficient yet, we'll provide all the assistance you need.

bumbu commented 10 years ago

How about

There are 2 tests: math and English. Everyone is encouraged to apply, but we hope that you are committed to improving your English beyond the level of Hello, my name is %s and I am %i years old. Math test's difficulty don’t surpass the difficulty of the Baccalaureate exams.

It may seem that math is more important than English but as you advance through the curriculum, we will expect you to read and write documentation in English on a daily basis, become familiar with technical slang, easily follow discussions in English and chime in when you have something to add.

The programme includes courses that will help you sharpen your foreign language skills. If you are not proficient yet, we'll provide all the assistance you need.