This half term, Maria O’Driscoll, our Head of Sixth Form, toured the US East Coast, visiting all eight Ivy League universities and six other exceptional colleges, including MIT and Boston College. She gained valuable insight into their admissions processes and took the opportunity to catch up with 16 of the now substantial number of Old Runnymedians studying there. We are very proud that Old Runnymedians are now at six of the eight Ivies (Harvard, Yale, UPenn, Columbia, and Brown). It was wonderful to see how well settled they are and to hear about their academic and social lives.
The trip reaffirmed how much a US university education has to offer our pupils:
- Real academic breadth, with the freedom to explore before choosing a major
- Core curricula that give students a rich, shared foundation
- Continuous assessment that rewards steady effort, not just final exams
- Close, regular contact with professors
- Four years of campus life, strong college pride and lifelong friendships
- Outstanding facilities, project funding and internship opportunities
Admissions are holistic, and each university looks for something distinctive, so finding the right fit is key. Maria returns inspired, and we look forward to her sharing her findings with pupils and families considering the US route next week.
