I Benefit from Independent study at Dulwich: Nicole

Nicole Ren graduated from Dulwich international high school Suzhou in 2016. She studied for a BSc in Architecture at University College London (UCL). Now she works in an architectural design company as an architect in Shanghai.

 

Dulwich Life

When Nicole was a student at DHSZ, the community was very caring, supportive, and motivational. Nicole and her peers worked hard and played hard together. She still frequently contacts her old high school friends and shares her life stories with them. She also likes to talk with a few high school friends to discuss problems. Just talking to them comforts her a lot. The friendships she developed back then are the most precious gift she got from the school.

"One of the most unforgettable experiences was that before graduation, all students invited friends and teachers to sign our school shirts. I still keep that shirt at home. The signatures remind me of the good times at Dulwich."

Academically, the courses, such as A-Leve art, maths, and sciences that Nicole studied at DHSZ, helped build a good foundation for her university studies and job. Studying Architecture at UCL requires a strong ability to experiment, develop creative ideas and innovate. Working as an architect requires logical thinking, measuring, and calculating.

Crucial Skills

There are some skills Nicole developed at DHSZ that found essential at university and in the workplace.

Firstly, it was the ability to study independently. Nicole found out that at university, teachers would not teach everything, nor would they tell students what need to study outside of class. In addition to working hard, so she could cope with the challenging courses at UCL, she needed to spend more time after school reading about Architecture, learning how to use different kinds of design software and modeling facilities, which her teachers never asked or taught her to do. The skills built by her independent studies boosted her chance of success in job interviews and enabled her to transition effectively into her first job. 

When Nicole looked back at her life in DHSZ, she constantly heard classmates complaining about why teachers didn’t teach everything for exams. It took years for them to understand that student agency is crucial in the process of learning, and it’s never the teachers’ responsibility to push you to learn.

Secondly, communication skills play a very important role in life and work, because people are all social beings and have to interact with others from different backgrounds. As an architect, Nicole needs to cooperate with different departments, and each of them has targets to meet. Highly effective communication helps her reduce the time wasted in negotiation, and make fewer compromises. 

At Dulwich, students are encouraged to participate in or lead various clubs and organizations, where they learned to compete and cooperate. When she was in DHSZ, she set up a graphic design club with a friend and engaged fully with challenging but fun activities, such as recruiting new members, organizing weekly activities, and designing fundraising events. This experience helped develop her communication skills.

Why Choose Architecture?

Architecture attracts Nicole with its creative and experimental nature. As an architect, she enjoys both the process and the result of constructing a building. She also consulted a former DHSZ student, who was studying Architecture in the US, before she decided to major in this subject. After studying the subject at UCL, she deepened her understanding of Architecture and strengthened her passion for it. Therefore, she went to work in this industry after graduated from UCL.

 

Future Plan

Nicole is open and flexible with her professional development, as it is hard to predict the future. Currently, she is focusing on building her professional skills, such as designing and time management, and enriching her work experience. She believes that these skills will help her further on in her career exploration, no matter what she does.