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For the 10th year running, Wellington College and The Good Schools Guide held the ever popular ‘Applying to US Universities: Advisor Training Conference’, with parents and career counsellors pouring in from across the UK, others catching early morning flights from Germany and Lithuania, and one delegate making the journey from Singapore.
Experts and admissions officers from top American universities gave behind-the-scenes insight on every angle of the process: a beginners’ overview panel on the US system; detailed advice on essays; an explanation of SATs and ACTs; guidance on reference letters; the difference between US and UK universities; and how to guide pupils to the best fit.
Some of our favourite repeat speakers from Harvard, Bowdoin, the University of Southern California and the University of Chicago were joined by admissions officers from Claremont McKenna College, Babson College, Boston College and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. We also heard from a recent graduate of The Sutton Trust Programme and Yale University. Moderators from Wellington joined advisory expert, Anthony Nemecek; sports expert, Jonathan Ilori; Ann Smith, scholarship expert from Morehead Cain (UNC); Simon Ware from Latymer Upper School as well as Wellington’s own star-studded A-List team, who spoke about financial aid and exams.
A noticeably more experienced crowd nearly all raised hands when asked if they had sent students to the US, and a startling number said they had attended this conference over a number of years. To date, we have trained over 1000 career counsellors across the UK, so find it gratifying to see so many success stories, and it is reassuring that returning fans feel that they always learn new tricks at this conference.
One delegate commented: “Thank you for putting on such an informative conference. There was a broad range of US universities which allowed us to have a good overview of the US university landscape. It was incredibly useful to have up to date information on application procedures and first hand advice on both the college admissions essay and the teachers’ report”.
Report by Harriet Plyler, Editor, The Good Schools Guide & Tarla Woolhouse, Educational Conference Manager, Wellington College
