13/08/2026
Top student, 17, takes gap year after age rules delay his medicine ambitions
Vivaan Gujral is a year younger than his classmates – too young, by law, to start the medical degree he wants. So ACS International School Egham’s top student has turned down a place at King’s College London and will reapply for medicine next year.
Vivaan Gujral has spent his school career a year ahead of himself. Moved up a year at ACS International School Egham, he sat his International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma this summer as the youngest in his cohort – and finished as its top performing student.
But there is a catch for Vivaan. He wants to be a doctor, and UK universities require medical students to be 18 before they start. Too young to apply to most of the courses he wanted this year, he has now turned down an offer from King’s College London to read biomedical sciences and will take a gap year to reapply for medicine in the next UCAS admissions cycle.
Vivaan said: “What sets the IB apart for me is its emphasis on understanding and applying knowledge rather than simply memorising it. While this undoubtedly makes the programme more challenging, mastering these skills provides lasting benefits that extend into higher education and professional life. That is why I believe the IB equips its students for success more effectively than any other secondary school curriculum in the world.”
Egham’s IB students averaged 34 points this summer, against a world average of 30. On the school’s comparison scale, that average is worth AAA at A-level – a strong result for a non-selective school, which admits students of all abilities rather than creaming off the highest achievers. Vivaan’s score was 44 out of 45, the equivalent of around five A* grades.
This year’s Egham leavers were offered more than $20 million in university scholarships between them. They are heading to Durham, UCL, Imperial College London, King’s College London, Bristol, Exeter, Edinburgh and York, along with IE University in Spain and the universities of Washington and Michigan and Virginia Tech in the United States.
Alongside the Diploma, Egham runs the IB Career-related Programme, which combines academic study with career-focused learning. Every student on it passed this year – a 100 per cent pass rate.
Mark Wilson, Head of School at ACS Egham, said the results should change the conversation families have when choosing a sixth form.
“The question I am asked most at open evenings is what grades a child will need. It is a reasonable question, but it may not be the most useful one. When we asked 65 university admissions officers what they actually look for, just 5 per cent said A-levels were the best preparation for university, and they now rate what a student knows below what they can do with it.
“The better question is what kind of student a qualification produces. Can they work independently, research beyond the syllabus, and carry a broad and demanding workload? That is what Vivaan and his year group can do. And it is what universities tell us they now depend on.”
That survey, the University Admissions Officers Report 2026, was carried out for ACS International Schools with the IB Schools and Colleges Association. It found the IB Diploma rated 23 per cent higher than A-levels across the skills universities say they now want most: on independent enquiry the IB scored 4.2 against A-levels’ 3.52, and on global awareness 4.24 against 3.17.
