Many students take a gap year to explore the world, others feel that they need a bit of life experience before going straight into education. Our gap year students at St. Clare’s are using part of their year out to really improve their chances of getting into their choice colleges, by liaising with the college and university application support group. The Careers and Higher Education department is led by Helen Forey, a member of the International Association of College Admission Counselors.
Helen, who leads the in-house college advising team, says “Our gap year students benefit from the highest quality expertise and personalised support during their stay with us. Your journey may well start with a pre-arrival zoom consultation to take a full educational and application history and discuss your hopes and aspirations for college. When you arrive, your personal tutor will be experienced in college essay writing and support you to craft the stories you want to tell.” She goes on to say “ our team will review your college list, and all aspects of your application, to ensure that you are convinced that you have the confidence and knowledge to navigate this complicated, international landscape. We are committed to providing in-house counselling in the belief that it gives you the best holistic support.”
Helen and her team work closely with students’ academic teachers, personal tutor and all the other staff they will encounter at the college, as well as liaising with their former high school to build their strongest application, supported by personal recommendations.
Helen concludes by saying “Many of our students decide to reapply to college with us after a first try during high school. We have excellent relationships with a large number of global institutions who understand St Clare’s and our students. Typically 50-100 higher education institutions visit our campus each year. This year, these have included Amherst College, NYU, Paris College of Art, Occidental College, Rutgers University from the United States, the Universities of Toronto, British Columbia and McGill from Canada, and IE University, Bocconi University, University College Utrecht from mainland Europe as well as the universities of Cambridge, Edinburgh, Northeastern (London), Imperial College London and Warwick in the UK. Many more have joined us for online information sessions, including Hong Kong University, SciencesPo (France) and WHU Otto Beisheim Business School (Germany). We are also an SAT test centre for that small number of students who want to test in October.”
The college has a great success record and are very proud that two undergraduate programme gap year students this year have been accepted at their top choice colleges, Brown and College of Charleston, after being denied last year. Decisions are still coming in thick and fast but other students in the class of 27 have been successful in securing places at University College Utrecht, Emerson College, the PPE College at Utrecht and University of York (UK). In previous years, a semester at St Clare’s has also supported students to make successful transfers, for example from Emerson College (MA) to St Andrew’s (Scotland).
