Our DSA journey 2017

We were given some encouragement by our neighbors to put Caden through the DSA application this year because of the words "if you don't try,  you never know "

So I decided to do submit applications to 2 schools of his choice in June. Although I know the chances are very slim,  given that he didn't have consistent academic records over the past 2 years and have not won any awards in any competitions - I went on to apply under the CCA leadership domain for both schools. 

True enough,  we never heard from 1 of the schools throughout the selection period. But miraculously,  the other school shortlisted him for a first round of interview in July.  I think Caden was happy then but we didn't make any efforts to prepare him for potential questions because I feel that he has to either think of the questions and prepare his own responses himself. And the first round of interview didn't seem to go well because he told me that he couldn't get to speak as much as the other 2 students in the group interview as they were grabbing every opportunity to answer the questions first..  So I thought it will be a no-go after round 1.

Miraculously,  we were called up for round 2 interview sometime in early Aug. I was thinking maybe the school is probably looking out for genuine candidates who don't respond in a scripted manner. I didn't prep him again for round 2 but rendered my support by driving and accompanying him to the school. 

During registration,  I was taken aback with the no. of applicants scheduled for round 2 and worked out that the probability of being selection is at most 35% (true enough, this year's intake from DSA is 35%). Mentally I was prepared but I didn't share this stats with Caden prior to his session. He felt good after the interview but I knew he couldn't address most of the questions well when he shared with me his responses to the questions asked.  

True enough, today we received the rejection letter from the school. Coupled with the results from his prelims,  I hope this will be the last push for him to get out of his complacency and work harder. I can't read if he's upset or affected with the rejection news but we told him that the only way to get into those schools now are very much dependent on his final results.