Helen S. Gets an Offer from the University of Birmingham!
On Monday the 25th of October, it was our great pleasure to interview Helen S, a Year 13 student at Dulwich International High School Suzhou who has recently been offered a place to study education at The University of Birmingham in the UK.
The University of Birmingham is one of the top 100 universities in the world. Let’s stop for a moment to consider what that statement means. As there are more than 25,000 universities in the world, Birmingham is in the top 0.4% of all Universities, or to put it another way, it ranks higher than 99.6% of other Universities in the world.
Helen modestly explained that she felt very lucky to get an offer to study education at Birmingham. We started the Interview by asking Helen what inspired her choice of major, as she is going to study Education:
“I think the Dulwich CCA program helped out a lot. In year 12, my Spanish Teacher, Mr. Gines Bernal Ros, invited me to lead the Spanish CCA. I helped my teacher to teach year 10 and year 11 students to learn grammar and vocabulary. I felt a huge sense of achievement helping these students.”
Helen’s family also strongly supported her decision to study education. Her mother advised her that, in an ever-changing and uncertain world, there would always be a strong demand for teachers and educators. Significantly, Birmingham ranks in the top ten UK universities for graduate employability. However, Helen chose to study at Birmingham because of the nice environment, and the excellent education faculty that has great teaching resources. Her counsellor, Mr. Rau also recommended the University of Birmingham as the best fit for Helen. Helen explained that the academic requirements for entry matched directly with her skills.
Helen looks back on her time at Dulwich with great fondness. What she recalls most strongly are the tremendously positive experiences she had playing sports at Dulwich International High School Suzhou, particularly Netball and Basketball. Helen said that she was very shy when she first started at Dulwich and as she isn’t very tall, she didn’t think that she would be able to play very well.
“My teacher was very kind to me and that gave me a lot of confidence. I was put in the position of shooter and found that I could shoot very well! I like basketball as well, but my basketball skill is not exactly outstanding!”
When we asked Helen about reading, she told us that her favorite book was The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. “My friends all say that I am very similar to the little prince! He is very warm and curious about new things and kind to others. I can relate to that!”
Helen thinks that one of the great strengths of Dulwich is the wide range of activities that it offers to students to participate in, which make her feel part of the wider school community and allow her to contribute and feel that she is making a difference. She explained: “In my middle school, I was very shy and didn’t have a lot of confidence. Dulwich gave me the chance to grow and develop. I think I have changed a lot since I started here. Dulwich has helped me to become a more confident person.”
Helen was full of praise for her university counsellor Mr. Rau. She explained that “He is a very responsible and responsive person. When I send him questions, he always responds quickly! I like him very much.”
Throughout the interview, Helen was bubbly and optimistic, always smiling, which made her a pleasure to talk to. We wish her every success for her bright future, studying education at the University of Birmingham!
