Here Comes 2023 First Imperial College Offer

In recent years, our students have received 26 offers from Imperial College London. This week comes the first IC offer of 2023!

Congratulations to our Year 13 student Heidi Z who has received a conditional offer from Imperial College London, majoring in Earth and Planetary Science!

Imperial College is ranked 6th in the QS Rankings and is a member of the G5 universities in the UK.

“Earth and Planetary Science” is ranked 2nd in the UK for Geography and 12th overall globally.

We were delighted to be able to interview Heidi and started with asking about her choice of major. At the beginning of the interview, Heidi told us that she had always been interested in the Earth, the universe, and the unknown. "Nowadays, satellites are developing more and more rapidly, and they will help us a lot on Earth.” But after getting to know her better, we found out that it was a genuine passion, a clear plan, and hard work that made this offer come true.

How is A Firm Goal Formed

Heidi has a very clear and definite plan and self-determination for both the short and long term: "After graduating from university, I want to go deeper into the topic and go on to postgraduate and Ph.D. studies to explore the subject of life in outer space in depth." But she also admits that it was only through trial and error that she gradually decided on her own pathway. When she first joined DHSZ as a Year 10 student, she had wanted to go for Finance as a major "because there was no subject that particularly interested me yet, so I chose the most popular one –  the one that people generally thought would lead to a good future." At the time, before she made the final decision, she deliberately went on a programme about finance and corporate strategy, but it was during this programme that she realised that she wasn't really cut out for finance, and she gave it up immediately. "It's when you do more of these extracurricular project activities that you find out if the major really fits you." In the end, Heidi chose her current major based on her interests and her academic strengths.

To achieve this goal, Heidi launched into full action. She did a lot of research in order to gain more specialist academic knowledge and project experience, spending extra effort to explore what she could do to expand in this area. Over the course of a year from Year 12 to Year 13, she took part in an IPQ project (Independent Project Qualification) on the topic of mathematical modelling, which expanded into finance and resulted in an A. As the IPQ is equivalent to AS, Heidi was able to apply with four A-Levels and an AS; she was also involved in a project called 'Application of Satellite Remote Sensing and GIS Technology in Geological Exploration', all of which helped Heidi's application and demonstrated extraordinary talent and skill in her personal statement. She had also been actively involved in the UKMT, Euclid Mathematics Contest and Physics Bowl to develop her logical thinking.

Her academic knowledge and love for the Earth and the universe have helped Heidi to continue on this path. Apart from her studies, Heidi also enjoys photography, and whenever she travels, she takes a lot of photos of different landscapes, during which she is able to gain a better understanding of these geological features and add a more vivid perspective to her studies. In Year 11, she also led a photography CCA (Co-Curricular Activity), sharing the photographic skills she had developed with her classmates, teaching others, and discovering more fascinating landscapes at the same time. She also reads a lot of books and documentaries on the subject, and she was very excited to tell us about the book she recently read : 'Cosmos’ by  Carl Sagan, and the BBC documentary ‘Universe’, which gave her a lot of inspiration. Heidi continues to broaden her knowledge and deepen her understanding of the subject in bits and pieces. It was this well-developed knowledge base that enabled Heidi to confidently demonstrate the depth and breadth of her expertise at the Imperial College interview.

Support from DHSZ

Heidi believes that these years of study and life in DHSZ make her progress imperceptible, especially in terms of her spoken English and confidence. She explains, "Basically all subjects at DHSZ are taught by foreign teachers, and both the lectures in class and communications after class are all in English. I have constant improvement in speaking over time."

In addition, Heidi mentioned that there are many opportunities and occasions for public speaking at school. For example, she took part in a CCA on reading and was often required to do presentations to lower school students. Heidi also did a lot of mock interviews in preparation for her interview at Imperial College, and advises that "Interviews are usually one-to-one or one-to-two, so it's important to practice speaking a lot while being very familiar with your own personal statement."

"Confidence" is another key to success in the interview and is what Heidi considers to be the biggest change since she came to DHSZ from a public middle school. “I used to be in a public middle school, where the pressure to study was so great that there was no time for extracurricular activities or for things like reading or photography,” she said. Now, with more opportunities to exercise herself and the energy to develop her interests, Heidi is becoming more confident.

In terms of academics, Heidi said that her Physics teacher Mr. Masihur Bawngi is always eager to answer her questions. In Mr. Bawngi's eyes, Heidi deserves this success:

"Heidi is a very focused, hardworking and talented student. She understands how to use time efficiently and prioritize work. I am delighted to see how she has quickly managed to catch up in academics despite losing several lessons due to unforeseen circumstances. My best wishes to her for a bright and successful career.”

Heidi appreciates her counsellor Ms. Serena Shi a lot for her support in the process of application, by giving some very substantive advice on revising her statement. "I revised my statement over and over again, and each version was carefully annotated by Ms. Shi. Moreover, whenever I had some concerns and questions for the UCAS, she always answered patiently."

Ms. Shi also told us that one of the most important things to support students with their statements is to help them highlight their strengths. By talking to the students and digging deeper into their strengths, she was able to present them in a more comprehensive way to the admissions officers. In her opinion, Heidi has a clear idea of what she wants: 

"After a trial-and-error process, she was very determined to apply for a major and did everything she could to work on it. DHSZ just provides enough space and opportunities for students to gradually develop their own ideas and goals and plan their own pathways."

Advice for Lower School Students

"One of the most important is to know what you need to do and take action, find your own study method that suits you and improve your study skills. Frankly speaking, I'm not a particularly keen student: I spend 35% of my time studying and the rest doing what I want to do. But I will make the most of that 35% of my time and make sure that I'm studying as efficiently as I can during that time and not getting distracted by other things, such as turning my phone off or putting it somewhere I can't see it. I will make sure that I accomplish what I really want in the 35% of the time that I have.

“The other was setting goals. As early as Year 11 I told myself to aim for Imperial College while working towards Cambridge. This clear goal was like a guiding light and gave me the self-motivation to put more effort into my studies."