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
McGill, 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
x1
NYU x 2
UC – Berkeley x
2
Babson College
x1
Cambridge x 1
UCL x 2
LSE x 2
Warwick x 2
HKU x10
UBC x 6
UQ x 4
CUHK x 8 Toronto x 1 UNSW x 1
HKUST x1 McGill 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 x14
UBC x 3
CUHK x1 McGill x 1
HKUST x5
Med x 7
Dent. x 2
UNSW x 1
Courses
Previous University Placements
Year
US
UK
HK
Canada
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
McGill x 2
2009
Caltech x 1
Cambridge x1
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
Toronto x 4
McGill x 1
Aust.
Courses
Medicine
x3
UNSW x 2
Medicine
x3
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 …
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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 …
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WIS Forums
Differentiation
Acceleration
Teacher-Student
matching
Mentoring: Cross age
Alumni – creating links
University visit within
school
Competitions
Online Support
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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