If you are reading this, it means you are thinking about your child’s future beyond Secondary school.

At BISS, we see the HE guidance process and our work with students as a natural extension of what happens in our classrooms. In these past few weeks, I have had the opportunity to get to know most of the students in Year 13 through formal appointments and informal conversations.   The aims of the appointments and conversations are multi-fold. In keeping with Nord Anglia’s educational mission, our goal is to help students become the best they can be. First and foremost, we hope that they are making the most of their secondary school experience. More specifically, I encourage students to continue challenging themselves intellectually, and to keep pursuing the opportunities available to them outside the classroom.  The attitudes and self-knowledge that students develop from their involvement in school and meaningful involvement outside the classroom will help them discern which of their talents and goals they want to pursue beyond their time at BISS-Puxi.

The university application process for students (and parents) is understandably marked with excitement and anxiety. The HE office provides information about admissions requirements, selection criteria, application instructions, and standardized testing. We also help students find their authentic voice through the process of writing personal statements.

BISS-Puxi has excellent relationships with admission representatives from colleges and universities around the world. This allows us to arrange a wide array of college / university visits each month, particularly during the Autumn.  The HE office stays abreast of the many changes in the world of university admissions, including those that have caused much frustration. The most noticeable shifts are the result of a growing population of secondary school graduates each year, along with increasingly micromanaged admissions priorities at the university level. Because we cannot change the reality with which we are faced, we make it a priority to be upfront in our provision of advice when we speak to students and families about selectivity, difficult though this might initially be for some to hear.  The more one learns about the process, the more one realizes that there are numerous excellent colleges and universities from which thousands of successful individuals graduate each year.

Students drive their own college/university search, typically incorporating our advice and the input of their families.  We encourage students to take ownership of their university application process, as a step towards functioning as independent university students.