Year 9 Gifted and Talented Pilot Programme Key

Year 9 Gifted and Talented Pilot Programme

Key People Robert Stitch Vice Principal Awing Lui Higher Education Counsellor Dominic Massarella Gifted and Talented Coordinator Peter Wray Head of Economics Catherine Schofield Head of Careers Ellie Tang Higher Education Counsellor

Overall Successes … • Percentages of Year 13 students who got into their first choice university: Year % 2013 82. 7 2012 72. 5

QS University Ranking - 2013 Cohort

What is aspirational ? Two levels 1. Aspire to get into a university that has consistently been ranked in top 100 in the world. 2. Aspire to get into a highly competitive programme at university.

What is aspirational ? • Aspirational Universities – Country Universities US Ivy Leagues New Ivy Leagues UK Cambridge, Oxford, Russell Group Canada Mc. Gill, University of Toronto, UBC HK University of Hong Kong, Chinese University of Hong Kong, HKUST Australia Group of 8 • Competitive professional programmes at these universities: Medicine, Veterinary Science, Dentistry, Law, Engineering, Global Business

Previous University Placements Year US UK HK Canada Aust. 2013 Cornell x 2 Carneige Mellon x 1 NYU x 2 UC – Berkeley x 2 Babson College x 1 Cambridge x 1 UCL x 2 LSE x 2 Warwick x 2 HKU x 10 UBC x 6 UQ x 4 CUHK x 8 Toronto x 1 UNSW x 1 HKUST x 1 Mc. Gill x 1 Melb x 2 Med x 8 Dent. x 1 Vet x 1 2012 University of Pennsylvania x 1 Chicago x 3 NYU x 2 Cambridge x 1 UCL x 2 LSE x 2 Warwick x 3 HKU x 14 UBC x 3 CUHK x 1 Mc. Gill x 1 HKUST x 5 Med x 7 Dent. x 2 UNSW x 1 Courses

Previous University Placements Year US UK HK Canada Aust. Courses 2011 University of Pennsylvania UC – Berkeley x 2 Chicago Georgetown Duke Warwick x 3 UCL x 2 LSE x 2 KCL x 3 HKU x 6 CUHK x 3 HKUST x 5 UBC x 7 Toronto x 3 Mc. Gill x 2 Medicine x 3 2009 Caltech x 1 Cambridge x 1 NYU x 3 Oxford x 2 UC – Berkeley x 1 Imperial x 1 Warwick x 3 HKU x 8 CUHK x 3 HKUST x 2 UBC x 2 UNSW x 2 Toronto x 4 Mc. Gill x 1 Medicine x 3 Vet x 1

General Profile of Students wishing to apply to very top universities Academics and Non-academics: • Straight A and A* at I/GCSE • Appropriate subject choices in the IB Diploma • Consistent achievement at Level 6 and 7 across IB subjects with the view of obtaining 40+ predicted IB points at time of university application • Evidence of students reading beyond the taught curriculum • Within the top 10 -15% of students taking special college entrance tests (SAT, ACT, BMAT, UKCAT, LNAT etc) • Confidence in self presentation and intellectual curiosity in interview (Information applies to all destinations)

General Profile of Students wishing to apply to very top universities Extra-Curricular: • Attended summer schools • Relevant work experience / internships • Leadership skills • Evidence of self starters (a leader as oppose to a follower) • Special Talents (sport, music etc) • Community Service that makes a difference/impact (There are differences between destinations, eg. US look more at extra curricular than UK)

External Counselling Agencies … • ESF does not allow schools to market outside agencies • Family’s decision to use those services or not • School respects individual family’s choice • Universities won’t deal with agencies, they only deal with individual schools when it comes to university application

Possible external support … • • • University lectures Summer programmes Gifted and Talented programmes Internships, work experience Testing – psychometric, IQ Specialist classes Representative Sport at regional or national level Service opportunities Prep courses for external university entrance examination – Eg. SAT, BMAT, LNAT, UKCAT etc

Brainstorm What can WIS do to help your child within school resources?

What the school offers … • • • WIS Forums Differentiation Acceleration Teacher-Student matching Mentoring: Cross age Alumni – creating links University visit within school Competitions Online Support • • • Visits outside of school Interview Practice Profiling CAS Critical Thinking Leadership Opportunities Personal Statement Help College Essay Help Option process advice PSAT (Year 11 only)

Q&A