American Collegiate Institute

Entrance to ACI is through a competitive national exam, just like any other high school in Turkey, which students take at the end of their 8th grade year. Enrollment into ACI is solely based on this exam.[7] The school used to test its new students level of English by an English promotion exam. Students with a passing grade would directly start the school from 9th grade while those failing to pass would be required to study an English-intensive preparatory year, which is often called "the prep year". Now, however, the exam's purpose and consequences have changed. Now, the prep year is mandatory. Now, all students study for the extra English-intensive year and the exam's results place students into one of the three levels of English class they take in their prep year. With these changes that were made in 2009 only to affect the new coming students, the core school program is five years[3]

Starting from the 2006-07 academic year, authorized by the International Baccalaureate Organization (“IBO”), the school began offering the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (“IBDP”).[3] Due to the regulations of the Turkish Ministry of Education, the International Baccalaureate (“IB”) diploma candidates are also required to take the courses required for the Turkish Ministry of Education High School Diploma. Although some classes are common in the diploma syllabuses, this is a “rigorous curriculum” as defined by the school faculty.[3]

In addition to these, participating in at least one of the social services ACI offers is a requirement for any diploma.[3]

There are graduates of ACI who want to study abroad and apply to universities abroad. The Overseas University Counselor of ACI helps the students in such desires.[3]

Since its foundation, ACI's graduates have been accepted to some of the world's most prestigious schools, including Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, California Institute of Technology, Yale University, University of Chicago, New York University, Johns Hopkins University, University of Southern California, London School of Economics, Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, King's College London, University of Pennsylvania, University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, McGill University, University of British Columbia, Columbia University, Mount Holyoke College, Dartmouth College, Princeton University, Williams College, Amherst College, Brown University, Cornell University, Northwestern University, Washington University, Emily Carr and Georgetown University.[1]

Ms. Sadiye Ozulku, born in 1953, has graduated from Ankara University Faculty of Law and admitted in the bar association in 1979.She has worked as a research assistant at Ege University Faculty of Law, in the field of International Private Law between 1980 and 1985. She is a member of Istanbul Bar Association, International Lawyers Group – ILG (she is the elected chairman of ILG since September 2010) and American Collegiate Institute- Izmir Alumni Association.[8]

An alumna of the American Collegiate Institute, Gül Güner Akdoğan studied biochemistry at the University of Geneva. Afterwards, from 1975 to 1984 she did her studies for a doctor's degree and a post baccalaureate degree at Istanbul University Cerrahpasa Faculty of Medicine. At 1985 she received the title “Docent”, and at 1992 she received her second title “Professor”.[9] She started working as the director at the Dokuz Eylul University Institute of Medical Sciences at 2000. She was the editor and the president of the Training Session of the Congresses of the Federation of European Biochemical Societies at 2002 and 2005; coordinator of the Problem-based Learning Workshop of the 2004 Congress in Warsaw; and one of the two representatives of the European Federation of Biochemical Societies at the Biochemistry Training Workshop held in Sofia, in October 2008. In 2009, she was elected as Chair of the Education Committee of Federation of European Biochemical Societies- by FEBS Council. Since then, she has organised FEBS Education Workshops in different European countries-Napoca-Cluj (Romania) (2009), Athens (Greece) and Opatija (Croatia) (2010), Tallinn (Estonia), Bratislava (Slovakia), and Ljubljana (Slovenia) (2011); Izmir, Yerevan (Armenia), and Cambridge (UK) (2012); Gdansk, Tbilisi, and Sofia (2013). She is also a member of the Editorial Board for the Journal of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education published in the USA.[10]

In 1996, Baris Attila graduated from ACI and then studied in Mimar Sinan University, Istanbul, Turkey and received his B.F.A there. Afterwards, he earned his master's degree in Communications Design from Pratt Institute in New York in 2003.[11] He is a motion graphic designer concentrating on film titles, trailers, and feature marketing. He began his career at Miramax Films and continued to work for the motion picture industry in Los Angeles. On numerous Hollywood productions and award-winning independent films; he received the Golden Trailer Award and was nominated for a Key Art Award; he and his work have been featured internationally. Furthermore, in 2010 he joined the faculty of Pratt Institute, New York as an Adjunct Instructor.[12]

Janet Akyuz Mattei was a Turkish-American astronomer who directed the American Association of Variable Star Observers for years.

ACI's Model United Nations club, which celebrated its 25th year in 2020, consists of 40-80 students and an executive team, who debate on world issues for 6 hours a week in school's famous B4 classroom. Club annually participates in various conferences including The Hague International Model United Nations (THIMUN) and Turkish International Model United Nations (TIMUN). In 2019, club's executive team and staff teachers decided to organize the club's own conference. Named American Collegiate Institute Model United Nations (ACIMUN), the first session of this conference was planned to be held in April 2020, but was postponed due to Covid-19 pandemic. [13]

The ISTA club joined the schools club and committee family in the 2007-2008 school year. As of 2010, it had participated in four ISTA conferences abroad; in Norway, in Zurich and in London and in Luxembourg. This club has also hosted an ISTA festival in ACI, with the theme shadows in the ruins, at 26–29 March 2009.[13] To accomplish its goals of “shows commitment to justice, mutual respect, human rights, ethical behavior, tolerance, and self-discipline” and “participates fully in democratic processes and philanthropic organizations as part of lifelong service to humanity” the ACI offers eight different Social Service Programs, and as stated above, any student is required to participate in one for one year[3]

ACI also has a Student Council elected annually by the votes of the students. The Student Council consists of a president, two vice presidents, two secretaries, two treasurers and three auditors. There are also two sponsor teachers to the counsel[13]