Sarah L Accepted into Goldsmiths

With her portfolio, Sarah L, who won a biochemical award, has conquered the world's top art university! The Choice of passion!

She wanted to be a biologist when she entered school. Driven by her dreams of becoming a biochemist, she joined the school Chemistry Club in order to gain a better understanding of experimental principles. She focused on biology for a year, preparing for the international famous brain neuroscience competition, and won second prize in the brain bee brain neuroscience competition!

In her third year of high school, she insisted it was Art she wanted to study most and changed her major to design. She spent a year working on her most characteristic works in order to impress the admissions officer of Goldsmiths, University of London, the world's top art university!

She is full of vitality, Chinese Dance Level 10, electronic piano level 10, in her spare time she paints quietly in her studio, love piano and flowers; full of interest, but also keen on adventure experience, bungee jumping, skydiving, tourism, everything!

• 'I like to experience life,' she says.
• She is Sarah L of Dulwich International High School Suzhou!

Goldsmiths, University of London

Goldsmiths University of London, founded in 1891, is a member of the University of London Alliance, specializing in the teaching and research of Arts, media and cultural creativity courses. The university has produced more than 20 Turner Prize winners, the most representative art award in Europe. The design major is the most important major for Goldsmiths, University of London. It is second to none in the UK. Its reputation has increased in recent years. It was established in 1990 by merging all design-related departments and has developed into one of the most active fields in Goldsmiths.

Biochemical dreams take root in Dulwich

"Year 10 and 11 I wanted to be a biologist."

Doing experiments, studying insects, participating in biochemical competitions... Biology and chemistry are very difficult in the eyes of most students, but in Sarah’s mind, "biology and chemistry are both interesting.".

"We have had microscopes in our family home since I was young. Every time I look at the world through a microscope, I find it amazing."

Speaking of her dream of studying Biochemistry, Sarah mentioned her parents who graduated from Zhejiang University and now work in biochemistry. For her, her childhood enlightenment was the most magical and interesting.

After joining Dulwich, Sarah L, who was fond of experiential life, discovered that Dulwich had a rich and colourful range of club activities. She immediately had so many choices. Drama club, women's handball, chemistry club, Animation Club, drone club, ballet Club…

But when she was young, her parents' subtle education made her fall in love with biology and chemistry. In the chemistry club, she learned how to make soap and how to study the relationship between chemical elements. The chemistry education at Dulwich also fits Sarah’s "experiential" style. Practice first, then theory.

Sarah was impressed by the brain bee brain neuroscience competition. As soon as she heard of the competition, she decided to take part in it. At the same time, Dulwich’s teachers specially taught students to participate in this international competition. For one year in a row, Sarah was learning about the brain tonic region.

"When I took the exam, I really didn't expect that there would be so many questions that I couldn't finish." Sarah, who had only just entered the biology competition field, was disturbed by the variety of topics, but she has always adhered to the principle of "do the things that must be done" and she did not give up.

Sarah's idea when dealing with problems is to be calm: "There were still a few questions I couldn’t finish, so getting second prize was an unexpected joy!"

Sarah's scores in biochemistry are among the best in the class!

Compose the melody in painting

Sarah's road to painting began with the Enlightenment of her parents. "My parents have always taken me to see some art movies since I was a child, such as “Girl with a Pearl Earring”. When I was a child, I always felt very wonderful when I saw these films."

Sarah's first approach to painting was to try to express her inner world with brush strokes and techniques. With her parents support of her interest, she began to connect with painting at the age of 6 or 7. After four years of sketching and three years of oil painting, she has persisted for more than 10 years, making it more and more difficult for her to give up the art road.

Over more than 10 years of an art career, Sarah has won many honours: the first prize of the Sixth National Children's calligraphy and painting competition, the second prize of the 17th PHE International Youth art competition, and the successful completion of the elite production project Hong Kong C3 creative design organized by EDU Association Ltd & HKGCSE.

Sarah's most unforgettable experience is the C3 creative design experience in Hong Kong, in which reality and ideals collide. 

EDUA, together with the largest Hong Kong Federation of social enterprises in Hong Kong, organized a practical business planning campaign to enable the trainees to carry out a "big transformation" for Hong Kong enterprises.

Sarah was responsible for designing the outer packaging of the company's products. In the process of team practice, Sarah is surrounded by elites, such as Ogilvy 4As advertising and public relations company, JWT, and even tutors from Facebook or Google.

Daily brainstorming, discussing how to design the product outer packaging, logo design, size and style, these are the problems that Sarah and her team members needed to solve.

With the concerted efforts of the whole team, the design of the outer package was completed. But before the deadline, Sarah found that the size of the product was not correct. So she and her classmates searched for printing factories everywhere in the rain to try to modify the size. However, their efforts paid off. In the rush, they finally found a printing factory that could make the size they wanted.

Finally, before the deadline, Sarah rushed back to the company with published works. In the PPT display, their teams successfully completed outer packaging design was praised by the company's general manager.

And this experience also made Sarah realize that "it's important to be firm with your own ideas when working in a team for the first time."

When she decided to apply for a British university, Sarah began to prepare her portfolio. However, due to the epidemic situation, she could not discuss face to face with her teachers, which made her stressed out to some extent. Currently, her way of relief is to play the piano.

"This year I have been thinking about what to do in the future. It's easy to fall into a strange circle. In this case, the melody of the piano can help me get out."

When it comes to the relationship between art and music, Sarah connects them with "Melody".

She believes that if you listen carefully, you will hear that the paintings have their own voice: in his short life, Van Gogh created 11 sunflowers. Together, these paintings have a unique melody, such as people's mood. When it rains and clears, you will know that it is not only images but also sounds that greet you.

So when we talk about design, we're talking about people's comprehensive experience. For Sarah, the notes and melody of space are common. And this kind of experience about melody is also written into her own personal statement.

Break the boat and stick to what you want most

"When I wrote my application, the first edition I wrote was about biochemistry. But I couldn't let go of art all the time, so after chatting with the teacher, I completely overturned the first edition of the document. In fact, it was a complete wreck, but I still wanted to stick to what I wanted most. "

There is no doubt that Sarah is fond of biochemistry. She was so fascinated with biochemistry in high school that she wanted to be a biologist, but in the end, it seemed that the charm of the design was even better.

In the process of creating a collection of works, Sarah has considered two issues: one is how to express her personal style, the other is how to let others understand her works. "In fact, at the beginning, my typesetting was a little messy, and my style was not very clear." In addition, Goldsmiths, University of London requires students to submit digital works, and only 20 pages can be submitted.

Throughout this series of difficulties Sarah did not stop and with the help of her art teacher Mr short, she followed her own ideas. She wanted to create a collection of works with illustration style, and the content was more storytelling, mainly about the story from her initial contact with art to her growth from art.

In her works, Sarah integrates elements of surrealism and modernism into the Chinese landscape. Before painting, Sarah made a detailed analysis of the representative works of Paul Nash and Peter Lanyon. These artists inspired Sarah.

Facing graduation, Sarah has feelings for everything in the school, but what she wants to thank most is her art teacher. "From the beginning of entering Dulwich to the end, I haven't given up because of Mr Short."

Sarah was deeply impressed by the help and meticulous care of this teacher at the critical moment. On the platform provided by the school, she continued to grow, and her teachers and parents made her a success. Finally, she got an offer from Goldsmiths College, University of London, a top art university, not because of chance, but because of love and strength!