We recently chatted with James, an outstanding pupil of Wellington College Tianjin, to find out more about his background, his achievements, and his plans for the future.

Later, when James achieved a good score in Nankai Xiangyu School, Wellington offered him a three-year scholarship. One of the reasons that James chose to study at Wellington is because the College is an English medium school and learning English would help him fulfil his dream of going to study in foreign countries.

Speaking of his academic activities, James said that before coming to Wellington, he thought his English was adequate, but once he was among foreign students, he realized that it was actually not that good. However, through the ELA, which is a course in English that also helps students to prepare for the TOEFL, he learned a lot of English skills.

Regarding other activities, James said that while he has been at Wellington, he has taken part in many different activities, including badminton, swimming and basketball, and he has learned a lot of sports skills. He praised the College’s excellent facilities, mentioning the heated swimming pool as an example.

James performed in the Chinese Drama - Under the Roof of Shanghai

James has also participated in various prestigious competitions. One of these was the United States Academic Decathlon (USAD), which is a ten-event scholastic competition for teams of high school students and includes maths, economics, science, social science, literature, art, etc. He worked on preparing for this competition from December 2019, to February 2020. During this time he learned a lot of academic words In English, and after six months of hard work, he achieved really good results and received a gold medal in the speech section.

In years 2 and 3, James participated in a lot of maths and science competitions, such as the UKMT (United Kingdom Mathematics Trust) and AML (American Regions Mathematics League) competitions, winning gold medals in both, and this gave rise to some of his future interests.

At the end of year 12, the school offered James an opportunity to participate in an EPQ (extended project qualification) program, which involved doing some research and then writing an essay about his research and doing a presentation in front of an audience.

Explaining his choice of topic for his research, James said that as a child, when he had seen aeroplanes taking off, he had wondered about the mechanism behind them. His father had explained it from an engineering point of view, and that's where James first developed his interest in aeroplanes, which led him to focus on maths and physics in school. His EPQ topic was about the fuel efficiency of aircraft. He had the opportunity to visit Airbus with one of his teachers and was able to see how aeroplanes are assembled. In addition, he learned about the process of becoming qualified to work on aeroplanes. He also had a chat with one of the senior engineers at Tianjin Airbus Final Assembly Line, who made a comment that for James is unforgettable, namely that he enjoyed his job and was proud of it.

After this experience, and in line with his childhood dream, James completed his EPQ research program, and when he started his university application, he immediately chose aeronautic engineering as his major. Teachers in the University Guidance Team at Wellington helped him a lot with his personal statement and with choosing a university. He then received offers from Imperial College, Manchester and University College London.

Imperial College London, Aeronautical Engineering

Sources from https://www.imperial.ac.uk/

Regarding the offers, James told us that he felt grateful to the university guidance teachers at Wellington who had helped him such a lot throughout the application process. He also said that he is excited about becoming a university student because that means he is becoming a true adult and beginning his own life. He is especially excited about being able to use the outstanding lab at Imperial College and eventually, after learning the basics, being able to do his own experiments there.

James would definitely recommend Wellington College to other young people because being there has broadened his horizons. He would also recommend it because of the fully English environment, and the excellent academic and sports facilities.

In conclusion, James expressed his deep gratitude to his parents and teachers for their guidance and support, without which he could not have succeeded as he has, and also to his friends and classmates, who motivated him to focus fully on his studies.

We certainly wish him well on the next stage of his journey. Good Luck!