Looking beyond IB: Wellington's leaving pupils prepare for the next step #1

This year Wellington International College Shanghai will see its first group of year 13 pupils complete the International Baccalaureate diploma programme (IBDP). This will be a genuinely happy occasion for the school, only slightly tinged with sadness, saying goodbye to its first leavers; a group of talented young men and women, many of whom were present during its inaugural year and every step taken since then. The year 13 leavers are now eagerly looking forward, towards the next stage of their academic career. As a year group, they have already performed exceptionally well, securing offers and unconditional placements from a range of highly prestigious universities and colleges right across the UK, US, Asia and Europe. Now, with college or university life looming large before them, five of our IB pupils have shared their perspectives on how Wellington has prepared them to take this hugely exciting next step in their lives. Aaron The whole IBDP experience at Wellington has helped me prepare for studying at the university level in a number of different ways. Firstly, I’ve been given access to a very well-rounded education: with the A-Level programme, you only take three subjects, so most high-school pupils here in China would opt for maths, physics and chemistry. This means that they will have quite a narrow educational experience, whereas I’ve been able to study a language and humanities subject, alongside the sciences, all of which are equally well supported here. Wellington really provides the perfect supporting environment to study IB, both the core elements and the wider range of subjects. CAS (creativity, activity, service) in particular was great because it ensures that you also engage in areas outside of academia, which makes it a natural fit for Wellington, because it would be a little bit foolish to come here and just study, without making use of at least some of the facilities and opportunities designed to help you discover new things. Having easy access to these opportunities is very helpful in demonstrating to universities that you have other talents besides purely academic ones. Equally importantly, the teachers allow us to choose how and when we want to study, which I think is really important because everybody studies differently, so we’re trusted to find and stick to the way that works best for us. I also love how approachable the teachers are; I know that if I have a question or problem they make themselves available and welcome us dropping by their office to discuss things. Obviously, this was very helpful during the run-up to my university applications. I’ve decided to enrol at the University of Southern California for a double degree in computer science and business administration. I am really excited about this next chapter in my education, that I believe Wellington has prepared me well for. Elisa Studying IB at Wellington has been great as I’ve always been able to personalise my learning to make my six subjects as relevant to one another as possible. For example, I want to study medicine at university, so during my French lessons I’ve started to study topics related to traditional and alternative medicine. The IB allows you to personalise your learning, which then allows you to make all of your subjects more relevant to whatever it is you want to pursue in the future. This applies to the extended essay too, because it allows you to pick a personal interest and explore it in as much detail as you want. This is great because not only do you get to investigate something that is very important to you, it also gives you a chance to show your target universities a bit more of yourself and your individual interests. This concept is also supported by the facilities and resources on offer to us. In chemistry, for example, for our group projects we were able to perform a much wider range of experiments because the science labs are equipped to a very high standard that not all schools can offer. So this gave us the opportunity to perform the experiments which really interested us. I think another key aspect is that the Wellington teachers are always willing to listen to any ideas that we have and will allow us to decide how to get the best out of our education here. Recently, I helped put together a pupil-led science fair after taking the idea to our teachers; they are always so enthusiastic about letting us take the initiative and make our own education as relevant as possible, but also fun! In terms of helping me prepare for university life, the thing that made my applications stand out most was the variety of experiences that I’ve been lucky enough to have during my time here at Wellington. The College has helped me go to Tanzania to work with an orphanage, I’ve been able to perform in theatrical productions and the CCA programme in general has helped me gain a whole range of new skills. I have an offer from Queen Mary University of London to study medicine. Shirley At Wellington, our teachers are so professional and very knowledgeable in a lot of different fields including research, banking, etc, so they can share with us a lot of different experiences which helps bring the syllabus to life. More recently, they’ve been really amazing at helping us make informed choices of where to apply for colleges, because they have first-hand experience of them. One of the benefits of being a smaller sixth form is that the teachers know us all very well and we know them, so we have a great feeling of trust between us. This is just one aspect of the great sense of community that Wellington has built here, as everybody wants to do well and support each other. The teachers trust us and give us a lot of freedom in terms of doing independent study and organising our own study schedule. In turn, we also trust them entirely to give us the best advice and help whenever we need it. For example, when I wrote the personal statement for each of my applications, I really wanted to convey who I am as well as the passion that I have for my subjects. When I finished my first drafts, I took them to a number of my teachers, who were so incredibly helpful in terms of giving me advice about how to personalise each one so that it would appeal to the target university and still give an accurate and genuine first impression of me. I’m planning on studying biochemistry at University College London in the UK. Wellington has been amazing in helping me get to this point and prepare me for what comes next.