Start admissions preparation early through dream building and self-awareness
In collaboration with Kaplan Test Prep and Admissions
For students applying to elite universities, it is very important for them to understand what their target universities are looking for and the gap in between. Since not all students have a good story to tell, they need time to prepare and harvest their experiences, which is no easy task. This is where Hubert Ho comes in.
Bringing his expertise to Kaplan Test Prep and Admissions in November 2016, Ho has, for the past five years, helped in redesigning the admissions consulting services and started a new set of test prep courses called exam drill for SAT and GMAT. Since the start of his career over 10 years ago, he has helped students define their dreams, identify their strengths and weaknesses and build their career goals.
At Kaplan, Ho uses his unique “multi-dimensional approach” to level up his students’ profile and admissions writings. His approach helps his students to review and merge their past and present experiences with their future dreams, presenting a solid plan in their applications.
“Parents and students can easily access what elite universities are looking for on the internet – most of the time, these include academic achievements, extra-curricular resume and personal achievements,” says Ho. “However, those are just the surface components. For the best-fit candidates, they are looking for a consistent story that can fit in the candidate’s academic performance, passion and dream. There is no solid formula that can provide a tip for 100 percent successful admissions. The admissions committee will look at the whole package of the candidate.”
As a test prep company, Kaplan has a prestigious brand name and a long history, which is what draws parents in. But, Ho tells us, these aren’t the reasons that set it apart from other tutorial centres in Hong Kong. The true assets for Kaplan are in the people, more specifically, its admissions counsellors and test prep trainers.
“We have the most stable team in Hong Kong and almost all of them have been working at Kaplan for more than 15 years. My team of admissions counsellors, for example, has been working with me for the five years since I joined Kaplan. As we have a very stable team, we are more innovative and focused on helping our students to achieve more.”
Students who graduate under Ho’s care have all achieved success, getting into their dream universities after going through his multi-dimensional approach.
“I still remember one of my MBA students three years ago,” he recounts. “She worked as a chief editor in a magazine based in Hong Kong. After going through my programme, she received offers from Yale, Dartmouth and Georgetown. We’d spent two weeks discussing her past, life, dreams as well as personal matters. In the end, we decided to use “Transcendence” as her admissions theme. She received comments from the Dartmouth Tuck School of Business’ admissions officer that her application was in the top five percent among all candidates.”
Indeed, Ho’s most memorable moments at Kaplan all revolve around his students’ success – their happiness is his happiness, he states. As a counsellor, he enjoys having conversations with them and discovering their passions, as well as opening up different pathways to them.
“I love chatting with my clients – both parents and students. And actually, a lot of them have mentioned that they admire my passion for pushing things forward and how I stay focused on predicting future trends and possibilities. To me and a lot of people, that’s a very abstract idea and hard to understand, and it’s incredible that a majority of my clients get what I want to achieve. Their acceptance and compliments always act as my motivation.”
Looking forward, Ho wants to experiment with technology more in his work to make his practice more accessible. Since traditional ways of admissions counselling involve a lot of high-cost components, it is not accessible for everyone. It becomes a barrier for those who cannot afford the service.
“I would like to create an ed-tech – no matter whether it is a platform or an app – to make sure what I teach can be accessible to less privileged students who also have a dream to go overseas for university or who want to build up a solid future. This is what I would like to make happen in 2022!”
For more information, visit the website kaplan.com.hk/ktpa or email Hubert at Hubert.Ho@kaplan.com.
Read more: The secret of elite university admissions
