What are the different sections of the application?

The ALU Leadership Assessment is a norm-referenced assessment through which you will discover how you measure on the 5 core leadership traits.

It is designed to help you learn more about yourself, as you embark upon your application journey. After taking the assessment, you will receive results that will shed light on some of your strengths and weaknesses in light of your leadership potential.

The Leadership Assessment is mandatory and designed for you to get to know yourself a bit better. 

As part of the application you will be asked to reflect on what you have learned by taking the test in the “getting to know you” section.

After completing ALU’s Leadership Assessment, you are ready to move on to the remainder of the application.

The application is designed to allow for a holistic selection process that takes into account your academic background as well as leadership potential and fit. It is important that you take your time when filling out the application and think about why ALU is the best school for you and why you might be a great addition to the ALU community.

Getting in touch with our local recruitment reps on the continent, attending informative sessions, or even speaking to our alumni and current students are all great ways to prepare for your application.

We believe great leaders come in all forms and sizes. The ALU Application gives you the opportunity to help us understand who you are through the admissions process by providing us with all the information that we need to understand your story.

The General Details section is a really short section designed to collect information about your mode of study (visiting or full-time student) as well as your ability to submit your official Secondary examination or A-level equivalent results before the beginning of the program. In addition, you will be asked to indicate your preferred degree program amongst other short questions.

Who is a visiting student?
A visiting student is someone that is coming to ALU for a short period of time without planning to graduate from ALU. Visiting students might come for a gap year, an exchange semester, or a year abroad. A full time student in comparison will come to ALU for the entire duration of a program and graduate from ALU.

Please keep in mind that year abroad students might require credit transfer, whereas gap year students don’t.

In this section, you will tell us about your secondary education to date, as well as any post-secondary education you have pursued, such as university or vocational school. This section helps our admissions team determine if you are academically qualified to study at ALU.

If you do not yet have your senior secondary qualification, you are required to upload your end-of-term results for your final three (3) years of senior secondary school. You will then be eligible to receive a preliminary offer to ALU.

This is your opportunity  to shine, help us understand your unique story, and what you might bring to the ALU community other than your academic qualifications.

There are no wrong answers to the 5 questions asked. However, do take your time in thinking about what an appropriate response might look like.

100 words is not a lot. Being concise but descriptive is key. 

This section will allow you to showcase your leadership potential as well as critical thinking skills. We recommend that you think a bit about the problems that you think can be improved in your community and how your strengths can help you to tackle one of these issues specifically. 

In leadership, as in life, most things are connected with each other, and figuring out how things work together, sometimes puts people on a shorter road to success and impact.

In this section you help us understand how various parts are connected when looking at the solution to the problem you have identified.  Be as creative as possible when proposing how $1 could be the  catalyst for the change you want to create.

You will be asked to submit 2 contact details that  will be used to request letters of recommendation on your behalf. Your recommenders will be asked to complete a  recommendation form that is designed to collect more information on your academic and leadership potential. As well as unique character traits that define you as an individual.

Be sure to think a little bit about who, outside of your circle of family and friends, knows you well enough to help us to get to know you better. An ideal recommender would be someone who you have a formal relationship with and has known you for an extended period of time such that they can speak about your strengths and weaknesses. Examples include teachers, mentors, community or church leaders among others.

It is important that you advise your recommenders as soon as possible of their involvement in your application process so that they can complete your letters of recommendation right away and confirm that they have received our request form. 

You may wish to provide your recommenders with the following template – click here – in order for them to prepare.

Please also keep in mind that your recommendations are part of the application and hence, you will not be able to submit your application until your recommenders complete their recommendations forms. You will be notified once that is done. 

Should you need to change your recommenders, you will also have the option of doing so.