Admissions mentoring
We map the destination first.
Then we build the programme that gets the student there. The same method as our teaching, applied to the application rather than the syllabus: for competitive university courses, and for entry to leading independent and boarding schools.
- Over 80% of our admissions students receive an offer from one of their top two UCAS choices
- Oxbridge including college strategy, admissions tests and interview preparation
- 11+ · 13+ · 16+ entry to leading UK independent and boarding schools
Two routes
University places, and school places
Both run on the same logic. We map where the student actually is, agree exactly what success looks like, and build a programme around them staffed by people who stay.
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University admissions
For students applying to Oxbridge, the Russell Group, US universities and competitive courses including Medicine, Law, Engineering and Economics.
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School entry at 11+, 13+ and 16+
For families seeking places at leading UK independent and boarding schools, from shortlisting the right schools through to pre-tests, papers and interviews.
Step one
We map the destination before we plan anything
Mentoring begins the way our tuition does, with a Readiness Map completed before we plan. Instead of topics, this one covers destinations: which institutions the student is aiming at, which course and which subjects sit behind it, and for a UK university application, all five UCAS choices, so we can see the shape of the shortlist rather than only the dream option.
Alongside that, the student rates their own readiness across the parts of the application that actually decide the outcome. It is often the first time a student has seen the whole application laid out in one place, and regularly the moment a family realises the shortlist needs rethinking. That is far better discovered in September than in January.
What the map covers
- Course and subject choice
- Five UCAS choices agreed
- Predicted grades on target
- Personal statement
- Admissions test preparation
- Interview technique
- Wider reading and super-curriculars
- Work experience, where required
University admissions
What we prepare students for
Competitive courses do not test the same things. A Medicine applicant, a Law applicant and a Mathematics applicant face different papers, different interview formats and different expectations of what they should already have read. Each student is placed with specialist staff for their route.
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Applications
- Oxbridge applications, including college strategy
- Russell Group and wider UK applications
- US applications and the Common App
- All five UCAS choices, shaped as a portfolio
- Course selection and subject fit
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The written application
- Personal statement, developed across drafts
- Written work submissions where required
- Wider reading and super-curricular planning
- Reference and school liaison guidance
- Work experience planning for Medicine and Law
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Admissions tests
- Subject and university-specific assessments for Medicine, Law, Mathematics, Economics, Engineering and the sciences
- University-set papers and additional written assessments
- Diagnostic first: we establish where a student is losing marks before we set volume
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Interviews
- Structured mock interviews with written feedback
- Subject-specific question banks by course
- Thinking-aloud technique for Oxbridge-style problems
- Ethical scenario practice for Medicine
- Recorded practice, where the student consents
School entry
Entry at 11+, 13+ and 16+
The same method, applied earlier. Independent and boarding school entry is not one exam. Each school sets its own combination of pre-tests, written papers, interviews and reports, and the shortlist matters as much as the preparation.
We help families build a list that is genuinely realistic, with reach schools and secure ones, then prepare the child for exactly what those particular schools ask rather than for a generic entrance exam.
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Choosing the schools
Shortlisting by fit as well as by name, balancing reach and secure choices, and working the timeline backwards from each school’s registration deadline.
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The entrance assessments
ISEB Common Pre-Test and Common Entrance preparation, alongside school-set papers in English, mathematics and reasoning.
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Interviews and references
Practice for the interview format each school actually uses, and guidance on the current school’s reference and how it fits the application.
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Scholarships and awards
Preparation for academic and subject scholarship assessments where a child is a realistic candidate, and guidance on bursary applications.
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On the personal statement
We develop it with the student across drafts. We do not write it for them, and we will not. Universities interview on the statement, and a student who did not write theirs is exposed the moment they are asked about it. Our role is to make the student’s own thinking sharper, better evidenced and better structured.
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On honesty about chances
We will tell you plainly if a shortlist is unbalanced, or if predicted grades make an offer unlikely. Families are far better served by that conversation in the autumn than by an encouraging silence.
Where our students go
Places at world-leading universities and top schools
Across medicine, law, finance, business and graduate study, our students have earned places at leading universities in the UK and the US, and further afield in Singapore, Canada, China, Europe and the Middle East. We also prepare younger students to win places at leading UK independent and boarding schools.
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Oxford -
Cambridge -
LSE -
Epsom College -
UPenn -
Imperial -
King's College London -
UCLA -
NYU -
Charterhouse
A selection of the universities and schools our students have progressed to. Scroll sideways to see more →
Tell us the destination, and where the student is now.
Register your interest and we will send the Readiness Map for the destination you are working towards. Then a fifteen minute call with a consultant, at no cost and with no obligation, including an honest read on whether the shortlist is realistic, ambitious, or both.