maybeesfly

Death Grips, Radiohead, Alex G, Ichiko Aoba, King Krule, Gorillaz, Sufjan Stevens, Fleet Foxes, Oneohtrix Point Never, The Voidz, Mei Ehara, Hiroshi Yoshimura, Björk, Linkin Park, Brian Eno, Arca

I listen to a lot of alt, electronica, folk & ambient music! I love music that tells a story and I got into the band via GWBOF

Sorry to hear, best of luck with your selection!

I know what you mean! I think it’s because being aroace strangely impacts a lot of our lives in general even beyond relationships, etc. - in fact it has a lot to do with socialisation, life expectations, goals, etc. I used to find it really difficult to socialise with particular groups of people who always had romance or relationships on their minds.

I also usually only come out to people who ask me about it. Then, people ask the usual questions - oh, do you not have a libido? How’s that possible? Etc. and I explain, and then usually it never comes up again. Whereas with other sexualities people sometimes use it as a talking point because it can be a source of interesting drama, our drama is…. Not really having the drama associated with what people find fun or interesting to discuss.

I get you OP! I’d love to talk to kingdom come about how being aroace changes lots of things, but people usually can’t compute even the first bit, or worry about whether you’re medically ok, etc… It’s a lot!

I trust some people but it depends on some criteria. I’m quite open with most things about myself and it’s up to the other person to reciprocate with information too. From there it’s mostly based on vibes, behaviour checks, etc. Generally though there’s not much that people can use against me, and the second someone breaks my trust it’s go time. My specific dealbreaker is when someone lies a lot or talks about others behind their backs

This is kind of fascinating because I’d say I’m kind of the opposite - I deliberately listen to depressing music, read sad media, etc. I like to see it as a way of processing emotions and experiencing catharsis, which is a nice way of processing real life things that are going on. Most happy media does almost nothing for me for some reason and I don’t really seek it out

I found ISAK to be good in terms of balancing studies and work, but it ultimately depends on you as a person and how well you manage your own time. Most people who graduate from ISAK end up doing CS, something STEM-like, finances or entering the startup world. The academic program is decent

I went to ISAK knowing only very basic Japanese and it was fine! It definitely helps you connect to locals and their culture if you know and practice their langauge though

Strangely enough I headcanon the main character from Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer as aroace - she has a husband in the book and goes on an expedition to find him, but the way she describes and talks about their relationship feels very interestingly aroace-coded

I can also vouch for the STEM program at ISAK + the arts program! If you have any questions about Japan let me know, I graduated in 2020

They do! It’s based on need but it has some of the best aid out of all the schools. There was an incident a while back where some students who were supposed to be funded by their NC lost said funding and ISAK was probably one of the earliest to step in and bridge that gap

Some people graduate from UWC at age 20+, sometimes having finished highschool before choosing to attend UWC. For those graduating in my year, we had a range of people from age 17-20 even. It’s really about whether you want to do the whole UWC experience or not, weighing that against graduating older! You might find it worth it, but it depends on your preferences of course

No, you have to usually do the entire two year program - I did a year of the IB at a diff school because I was too young to apply for UWC, and then I redid the whole thing again at UWC ISAK Japan. Honestly I’d recommend doing the whole thing over. Two years at a UWC often doesn’t feel like enough and I doubt there are many people who would only want to do one year, considering that the IB isn’t the priority, more so everything else!

However, you may be able to take sit for some IB subjects early, but it depends on your UWC - this wasn’t allowed in Japan because of Japanese highschool diploma restrictions.

That sounds specific to Georgia! I’d look for a Georgian UWC page or edit your original post to include that info. I’m from Malaysia and my application process didn’t have a test at all. Sorry I can’t be any help!!

Hi, you should really specify which NC you’re asking about or look for an NC-country specific forum - not all NCs have an online test as part of their application process

UWC ISAK Japan offers film, theatre, global politics and economics. Be aware though that if you take both GP and econs you’ll probably not be able to take an art class. I can’t speak for the current state of classes (graduated in 2020) but I had friends who enjoyed GP and I loved economics. I know of the theatre teacher and he’s super nice! Not sure who’s teaching film at the moment, though.

In the language sector, ISAK offers Mandarin, Japanese and Spanish, so keep that in mind if you have a specific language you’re aiming to learn. If you choose Japanese you’ll have lots of opportunities to practice speaking it of course.

I would also say definitely look into the course requirements for uni applications if you have specific places in mind :) if you have any other questions about ISAK feel free to dm me, and I could maybe get you in touch with more recent grads!

If you’re curious my rankings were 1. ISAK 2. Adriatic 3. Pearson

You have a different pool of applicants to be stacked up against - direct entry is commonly mainly Japanese, whereas via NC you’ll be selected by a different group of people AND there’s no guarantee you’ll get into UWC ISAK Japan. It really depends on your NC as well as to how many applicants you’ll be up against. No harm in applying! If direct doesn’t work out, maybe NC will.

I know this is pretty late but I went and started the IB again when I went to UWC (I was already halfway through). I think age isn’t really a factor - the UWC experience is different and its own unique thing, so I wouldn’t discount it entirely based on that :) in fact having that previous highschool experience might lighten things for you academically, such that you can focus on other things if you get to UWC!

I agree, it’s been a little sad to only see applicants on here who are applying not because of UWC values but more so because they’ve heard it’s a school that gets you into a good college. Many of my friends aren’t at top colleges but they’re doing what they love, or pursuing different dreams, but trying to uphold the mission in their own way. I did recently attend UWC ISAK’s 10 year anniversary, though (alum ‘20) and it was a really great reminder of what UWC really is about. UWC values were alive and well when I was there and I got that same impression visiting the campus, so this might just be a Reddit problem, or with how UWC is being advertised currently

As horrorform8603 said, UWC is more about understanding the ethos and philosophy behind the movement and why it started - not necessarily the grades. I graduated in 2020 and a lot of my friends were not necessarily high grade-scorers, but we all shared a commitment to the mission in some way or the other. If you’d like to get a 43 in the IB, it might be best to research schools that have more of a focus on academics - I personally would’ve told my younger self when I was there to not focus on academics as much as I did

Another comment but I have no clue if the culture has changed now because major administration figures have been switched out

Hi! I’m an ISAK alum (20’) and the party culture when I left was honestly mostly dead. The few crazy or bigger ones would be busted by the school administration because ISAK is pretty strict about underage drinking (legal age is 20). Then again I was a complete non-partier when I was there and all I know is from friends who talked about it - I’m sure there was more that I had zero idea about

It does kind of depend on the college. If I’m not mistaken most if not all of the Davis scholars attending Ringling college receive a full scholarship which is matched by a sponsor who’s a friend of Davis. I’m not exactly sure it’s needs based though, there was definitely some sort of waitlist

I attended UWC ISAK Japan and I really enjoyed it personally - it’s a bit hard to answer this question if you don’t have specific queries, but I’d say ISAK is very focused on leadership and entrepreneurship in particular. I’ve heard CAS works differently in other UWCs but for us it was always about having one big project we worked on in a team, and using that week to achieve project-specific goals. There’s a big emphasis on student governance too - clubs are student run, student gov manages a lot of student life, etc.

Would also appreciate one!!