When I was at school in Sydney, my friends and I thought long and hard about the courses we wanted to do and where we might do them, but it was rare for us to think beyond the universities in Sydney, at least for undergraduate study. Our girls’ experience is very different.
The majority do, of course, go to Australian universities, but there is now strong interest in universities across the country, and almost as many of our girls from the Class of 2015 had offers from Melbourne (15) as from Sydney (19). Similarly, ANU was the fourth most popular destination, after Sydney, Melbourne and UTS. Meanwhile universities are working harder than ever on recruiting top students, and the range of courses and opportunities on offer is far broader. Living on campus in a college is a popular choice for the intellectual environment, the strong sense of community and the rich programs on offer, and we provide expert advice to girls applying for college places and scholarships. The range of scholarships available is broad, from elite sporting scholarships through to the most prestigious academic scholarships such as Melbourne’s Vice-Chancellor’s or ANU’s Tuckwell Scholarships – which were amongst those offered to Queenwood girls last year.
We have always emphasised that girls should have high academic ambition within a balanced program, and the combination of breadth and excellence serves them well in these applications – particularly for those applying to the US, where high achievement in areas such as sport and drama helps strong academic candidates stand out. A number of Queenwood girls in recent years have won valuable scholarships to universities such as Harvard and NYU through this combination. (The outstanding wins for Queenwood crews at Head of the River last week have again sparked interest from US colleges.) We are proud of the expertise we can offer to the girls applying to all these universities, and I am often asked about the relative merits of the IB and HSC when pursuing study outside Australia. My answer is always that we find the IB to be a particularly good preparation for undergraduate study and it is well known and well respected world-wide. However, the HSC is also a highly regarded credential and girls should feel confident that they can pursue international study whichever pathway they take. A quick look at last year’s cohort confirms this: the girls received offers from universities including Cambridge, Imperial College London, Kings College London, London School of Economics, University College London, St Andrew’s, San Francisco and Washington.
Strength and breadth are also indicated when looking at the girls’ areas of study from year to year. We offer a liberal education, in which languages and the arts are valued as highly as the humanities and sciences. This means girls have the opportunity to explore and develop their talents, and the pattern of study changes from year to year according to their interests: sometimes there is a high proportion in Arts and Languages, and sometimes in Science and Engineering, Medical and Health Sciences or Media and Communications. In 2015, for instance, the most popular fields were (in order) Business (eg Commerce, Economics, Business), Science and Engineering, Media & Communications and Law – but this is quite different from the previous two years. This is as it should be: we take the girls as they are and try to bring out their strengths rather than directing them toward any particular discipline.
Whether or not the girls study overseas or at home, the key is to find them a good fit for both course and university. I am particularly grateful to our Careers Advisor, Mrs Virginia Pelosi, who does a remarkable job in educating the girls about the options and supporting them in pursuing their choices. From the 2015 cohort, over 70% of students gained entry to their first choice of course, and 87% got either their first or second choice. Ultimately this is what all the fuss in Year 12 is about. The IB and HSC are not important in themselves. They are important because of the intellectual and personal growth that they stimulate in the girls as they work towards it, and because of the choices that are opened to them on completion.
Ms Elizabeth Stone
Principal