ACS International Schools students head to top universities worldwide

Students at ACS International Schools’ three local UK campuses, Cobham, Egham and Hillingdon, have accepted places to study at leading universities worldwide, including Oxford and Cambridge.

All three ACS schools have demonstrated their academic success this year with another set of outstanding International Baccalaureate Diploma results. Leading the field and heading to Oxford to read History are Maddelena Lombardi and Gregor Roach who both graduated from ACS Egham with world-beating scores of forty points out of a maximum 45 in their International Baccalaureate (IB) Diplomas.

The announcement of the university destinations of the 2018 ACS graduating cohort coincides with the opening this week of applications for means tested bursary applications, which are available to families wishing to apply for places at the three schools for the academic year 2019/20. The financial awards are available for full or part funded places as part of the schools’ transition to full charitable status.

Re-em Tal from ACS Hillingdon also scored forty points and will be heading to the University of Cambridge to read Land Economy. Commenting on his IB success at ACS Hillingdon, Re-em said: “I believe that the IB has provided me with the ability to analyse scenarios and texts with a more in-depth approach.” Jules Meeus studied the IB at ACS Cobham and is starting at University of Bath this September, to take a degree in Business Administration. With Bath in the top three UK universities for business, accounting and finance degrees, this is another excellent academic achievement, where Jules scored 41 in his IB Diploma.

To give their achievements greater context, a score of forty points in the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma is equivalent to 236 UCAS points and exceeds the 224 UCAS points needed to achieve four A* grades at A Level. Joining Re-em Tal at Cambridge this year will be Suzanne Lambeek, who graduated from ACS Egham last year with a rare unconditional offer from the university to study architecture, an offer based on her impressive portfolio of work developed at the school. Suzanne will take up her offer this September after deferring entry for a year, whilst she studied a foundation arts course at Bournemouth University.

Miriam Mumbua, an ACS graduate who received an unconditional offer to study medicine at the University of York. This year 20 per cent of students at ACS International Schools received a highly impressive 38 points or above in their IB Diploma and, in addition to accepting places at top UK universities including London School of Economics; King’s College London; Imperial College London, School of Oriental and African Studies, many students have used their international education as a stepping stone to overseas locations including the universities of Amsterdam, Rome; McGill University; Michigan, Boston and McGill University in Montreal, Canada.

“We are thrilled and proud that so many of this year’s graduating students have been offered and accepted places at such a wide range of prestigious universities around the world,” said Fergus Rose, Advancement Director ACS International Schools. The International Baccalaureate is a demanding and challenging programme. Access to it has been opened up in recent years to an even more diverse population at ACS through our bursaries programme which this year has included 13 full awards, with four students aged 11 receiving complete funding to attend ACS International Schools for seven years.

The bursaries represent a £2.2 million financial commitment by ACS over the next seven years for recipient students and are made as ACS transitions to a charitable entity and significantly increases its investment in charitable endeavours. Applications for bursaries for the 2019/20 academic year open this week (3 September 2018). Miriam Mumbua, an ACS Hillingdon graduate who received one the school’s prestigious bursaries in 2016, this year received an unconditional offer to study medicine at the University of York. She said: “Ultimately I’d like to specialise in oncology. Studying the IB has been a great preparation for this because it involves taking six subjects. I learned how to multi-task, set realistic goals and manage my time which are going to be really helpful skills! I struggle to pin down one thing that was best about winning my bursary and being at ACS Hillingdon as I enjoyed every bit of my experience and can’t believe just how quickly the two years have gone by.”

ACS International Schools offers bursaries to students aged 11+, 13+ and 16+ to those who will benefit most from an ACS education, including the IB curriculum. The financial awards range from twenty per cent to 100 per cent of the schools’ fees, with all bursaries awarded on a means-tested basis and dependent on the student’s individual circumstance.