University Destinations

From St George's to Higher Education around the world

We are immensely proud of our track record in supporting our graduates to enter into the very best universities around the world. 

As an inclusive school, St George’s pupils have an enormous range of different academic interests, that in any given year can see them applying to university courses as diverse as Theoretical Physics, Linguistics, Mechatronics, or Anthropology. Whatever a pupils’ chosen pathway, our role is to support them, and their family, through every step of the process, from understanding career paths and researching courses, to preparing a personal statement, providing recommendation letters, mock interviews and much more. 

Our Team

The Head of University Guidance and Careers is Ms Lyndsay Dourdin, who has over 20 years of experience as a university guidance counsellor in leading schools in Europe. The Head of Sixth Form, the IB Coordinator and the Year 12 and Year 13 tutors all play an important role in supporting and preparing pupils for their university application process, wherever in the world they may be wishing to apply to. 

Destinations

Each year, the graduating class at St George’s consists of approximately 80 students. The majority, over 50%, typically opt to study at universities in the United Kingdom. However, many students choose the United States of America, Canada, and the Netherlands, as well as universities in Australia, Ireland and Italy, or their country of origin. Some students apply to courses in multiple countries before ultimately making the important decision as to which university offer to accept. 

While, in an average year, 100% of a graduating class will progress on to a university course - in the majority of cases their first choice of course; some pupils may also opt to take a gap year, as an opportunity to travel, volunteer or gain invaluable work experience. 

The Careers Programme

Although the formal university application process is undertaken in Year 13, we embed our careers programme deeply within the Senior School. As early as Year 9, pupils are beginning to look actively at different career paths, and which academic skills and subjects they would need in order to gain admission to a particular university course or to access a specific profession.

As pupils move up through the school, such research becomes increasingly tailored until ultimately, pupils are confident in their ability to focus their decisions on a particular country, a particular field of study, independently research their choices and draft the personal statements that are generally a requirement of their university application, irrespective of their destination. The support structure in place ensures that pupils are supported every step of the way.

University Fairs and Representative Visits

St George’s organises its own large universities fair annually, attracting representatives from many universities across Europe and beyond who are very keen to speak directly to our pupils and promote their various programmes. On almost a weekly basis throughout the year we host different university representatives on an individual or small group basis, offering interested pupils the opportunity to ask questions and learn more. In addition, we frequently encourage our own alumni, and our parent community - many of whom are leaders in their respective professions, to come in and share their journeys with our pupils. 

Unifrog

Unifrog is an invaluable tool, purchased by the school, to enable younger and older pupils to have access to an exhaustive database of university courses, career guidance articles, interviews, personality tests, careers quizzes; all the tools that a student could need in order to fully understand and appreciate the options available to them. Unifrog also has a tool that enables students to create their own Curriculum Vitae, which we encourage pupils to utilise as they move toward the upper end of their studies. 

The images below showcase the university destinations of each member of the St George’s British International School Class of 2023, as well as some of the recent university representatives to visit the school.