How to Get Into Avenues: The World School | Guide to a Successful Admission Application

Overview

Spanning six continents, Avenues operates as one school with campuses in New York, São Paulo, Shenzhen, and Silicon Valley, plus an online school. Gaining admission to one campus means admission to all the other campuses granting students an education with a global curricular program. Students work collaboratively and build cross-cultural relationships making them true global citizens ready to take on the challenges of the 21st century and beyond. As a private institution with class availability from PK-12, Avenues is considered an innovative school with a unique curriculum that is focused on graduating students who are academically excellent, fluent in a second language, great leaders, and good followers. 

Avenues Silicon Valley Admissions Process

Admission at Avenues Silicon Valley is centered entirely around students, their progress, and their future potential. The admissions process is as follows:

1. Set up a Ravenna Account and provide all the necessary information.
2. Sign up for admission events.
3. Schedule a family conversation.
4. Participate in a Design Challenge.
5. Request transcript from current school.
   a. The first grading report card for the current year
   b. The previous year’s report card
6. Delegate recommendation letters to
   a. For 6th-grade applicants:
            i. Current year (5th grade) core teacher
            ii. Previous grade (4th grade) core teacher
   b. For 7th through 12th grade applicants
            i. Math teacher from current or previous grade
            ii. English/Humanities teacher from current or previous grade
7. Complete the essay questions:
   a. Parent Questionnaire
   b. Student Questionnaire

Avenues Silicon Valley Admission Requirements

Family Conversation

The Family Conversation is a dedicated 45-minute period during which your family and the admissions officers discuss your goals, expectations, and concerns regarding your child’s academic career. The approach is casual and conversational, but be aware that they are getting to know your family more and deciding if you are a good fit for them. Be at your best self and give honest, sincere, and authentic responses that embody why they should choose you among all the other applicants. 

Design Challenge

All applicants for the Founding Class and Campus Flex must take part in a Design Challenge. In lieu of standardized tests, students partake in a collaborative problem-solving activity. This gives your child an opportunity to experience the learning environment and inquiry-based learning in an Avenues classroom and meet teachers and other faculty members. Admissions officers, on the other hand, learn more about your child’s personality as they engage and interact with others. 

Transcripts

All applicants are required to submit the previous year’s report card as well as the grades for the first half of the current year.  Transcripts are an important part of the admissions process because they give admissions officers the insight they need into a student’s academic background. From transcripts, they can glean the student’s proficiency, progress, and even areas of difficulty. 

Before applying to Avenues, make sure that your child’s grades meet the criteria because the school only accepts students who show excellent scholastic aptitude. If your child does not have good grades, our tutors and academic coaches can help, but we suggest enrolling early because improving grades take time. Our tutoring and academic coaching are known to be the best in the Bay Area. Many families have greatly benefited and gained admission to their dream school. 

Letters of Recommendation

For 6th-grade applicants, delegated forms should be given to core teachers from the current and previous years. For 7th through 12th-grade applicants, recommendation letters are required form the math and English teachers either from the current or previous year. 

Since we have spent almost two decades assisting students in getting into the best private schools, we are aware of what the admissions committee looks for most. Our admissions consultants will assist in securing glowing recommendations that highlight your child’s abilities, academic successes, distinguishing traits, and special talents. These must, however, be backed up by further credentials, such as test scores, grades, and active engagement in extracurricular activities. 

Parent Questionnaire

Applicants’ parents or guardians must submit 300-word answers to short answer questions found on Ravenna. The answers to the questions reveal your child’s assets and limitations as well as your goals as a family.

Admissions officers are concerned about your entire family in addition to your youngster, and they would want to learn more through the parent/guardian statement. Answers that are straightforward, honest, and genuine can never be wrong but be aware of the responses that will improve or hurt your chances of admission, though. Our private school admissions consultants can help you find the skills and ideals that will appeal to the admissions committee. 

Student Questionnaire

Applicants will be required to select one essay question and respond to it in roughly 500 words. Additionally, a second question that describes your child’s life outside of school must also be answered in 250 words. The questions are more introspective and personal, and they probe deeper into your child’s personality and character.

The admissions committee would like to learn more about your child’s current situation and past experiences. We are aware that many stories and illustrations may pop into your head, but we will assist you in determining which ones are pertinent to Avenues. They are searching for distinctiveness, anything that will set your child apart from the other candidates. Writing abilities will also be demonstrated. How can you write a fascinating, impactful essay with few words? Our team can help your child choose unique anecdotes and write exceptionally good essays. If your child struggles with writing, Cardinal Education offers a Program in Writing and Reading (PWR) to help develop reading and writing skills.

Avenues: The World School Famous Alumni

• Suri Cruise- daughter of Tom Cruise, a famous Hollywood actor

• Belle Fraser- co-director of the Daily Free Press’ Boston Hockey Blog

• Van Strasen- Rotational Development Analyst 

• Stella Brack- Luxury Sales Professional

• Lukas Mack- Technology Analyst

• Madison Heller- UChicago student

• Isabella Simonetti- David Carr Fellow in Business Reporting at The New York Times

• Nicholas Nowicki- Data Scientist

• Tyler Pasko- Analyst at 777 Partners

• Tallulah Bonay- CHANEL assistant
• Geoffrey Ravenhall Meinke-Account Executive at Ruder Finn

Life at Avenues 

Avenues The Word School was established in 2012 with the goal of reinventing education for a society that is changing quickly. Avenues is happy to serve kids from the ages of two to 18 in New York, São Paulo, Shenzhen, and Silicon Valley today, operating as one school in prominent cities on six continents.

Your community at Avenues isn’t defined by who belongs to your class, groups, or even your nation. Students who interact with peers from other countries gain a global worldview, practice cross-cultural sensitivity, and hone their communication skills for the twenty-first century. Avenues Online, the online campus, launched in 2019 and already enrolls students from more than 25 different nations. Additionally, Avenues is building campuses in Europe, North America, and Asia.

Academics at Avenues

Avenues: The World School offers a rigorous curriculum with a focus on STEM, humanities, and languages. Its approach is student-centered with an emphasis on personalized learning designed by the teachers. One of its standout programs is its language immersion program. Nursery through 5th-grade students spend half of their day learning Mandarin or Spanish and become proficient in at least one other language by the time they reach middle and high school. 

Athletics at Avenues

Offering a handful of athletics teams to choose from, Avenues has teams for gymnastics, soccer, baseball, basketball, European team handball, floor hockey, volleyball, badminton, tennis, track & field, golf, ice skating, and strength & conditioning. Sports participation is extremely high and competitive in Avenues, so students will find a team to be a part of with no trouble. 

Activities at Avenues

With 40 clubs to choose from, students will have no problem finding an extracurricular that they enjoy. These include Alliance for Asian Awareness, Avenues Book Club, Black Student Union, BuildOn Club, Committee for Social Change, D4i Design for Impact, Economics and Finance, Engineering Club, Food and Hunger Advocacy Club, Girls Who Math, Global Journeys, Highliner Publication, Latinx Student Union, Math Team, Penumbra, Student Council, Yearbook, Model UN, Music Production Club, Philosophy Club, Robotics Club, Roll for Initiative, Ultimate Frisbee, Young Investors Club, and Zero Waste Club.

Arts at Avenues

Avenues offers 22 music, arts, and theater facilities on campus with 14 art electives to choose from including Dance, Drama Program, Fine Arts Program, Music Program, Private Music Lessons, Singing, and Visual Arts Program. There is no better place for students to bloom and learn creatively.