Top of the agenda at the Upper Sixth Parents’ Meeting was the news that 95% girls have received university offers via UCAS with 59% of girls having received three or more offers already. Five girls have been successful in their applications for a place at Oxford or Cambridge with their course choices including English, History of Art, French & Italian, Biochemistry and Material Sciences. The top three choices of UK university this year were (in order of popularity) Exeter, Manchester and UCL.

The lure of studying overseas becomes stronger every year and under the careful guidance of our Overseas Universities Advisor, Mrs Sarah Barnard, offers have also been received by five girls from overseas colleges and institutions in the US, Hong Kong and Switzerland, some along with exciting scholarship opportunities.

Director of Higher Education and Global Initiatives, Ms Marya Akhtar said,

We are delighted that such a high proportion of our girls have received such early offers from universities. What always strikes us is the broad spectrum of HE courses our girls choose to pursue which we believe reflects the excellent super-curricular learning experience at Downe House, and supports our ethos of educating each girl as an individual. I would like to thank all the teachers and staff involved in the Higher Education Applications programme for all their support of the girls.

The university offers are the culmination of a process which starts in Lower Sixth to introduce girls to every aspect of applying for Higher Education courses from setting up a UCAS profile, choosing a course, writing a Personal Statement to choosing the right universities, all overseen by the Higher Education Department. We run bespoke programmes for girls who are interested in submitting applications for Medicine or to Oxbridge and Overseas institutions, or indeed to a Creative course which are managed by a specialist team of advisors, overseeing the added elements of entrance tests, portfolios, auditions and the like.