Elizabeth Moir School students have been offered places at six of the world’s Top Ten universities. This includes the current top three in The Times Higher Education World University Rankings – Oxford, Cambridge and Stanford – as well as UPenn, Imperial and UCL. Other students have won scholarships to Cornell, another Ivy League college, and NYU Abu Dhabi, each worth over Rs. 10 million per year. Courses range from Medicine to Music, from Computer Science to Chemistry. ‘The cost of studying at a top university abroad is prohibitive for most of us earning in rupees,’ says Head of School Elizabeth Moir. ‘Thus, it is immensely rewarding for educators to be able to find financial assistance for students who would otherwise not be able to get the opportunities their talent and hard work deserves. Together with other schools here, it is wonderful to be able to show the world how good students from this country are if they are given the chance. That being said, I was recently told by a university admissions officer that many of the applications and essays from Sri Lanka are similar in theme, style and content – they are often about making the world a better place! We encourage our students to avoid clichés and to stand out even if it means taking a risk or two, because the competition for places at top universities is so stiff.

In addition to that, our past students, at the best universities in the world, are willing and able to assist our current students. What they encourage is that our students grab any opportunity they can to challenge themselves to grow as people and applicants. ’ Last year, a team of Moir students represented Sri Lanka in the inaugural First Global Robotics Olympiad in Washington, D.C. that made headline news all over the world. This may have helped the students’ applications stand out over others with top academic results. Moir Head Prefect Akash Gnanam won a place on Stanford’s renowned Computer Science course, which counts the founders of Google, Netflix, YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat and WhatsApp among its alumni. Vinidu Jayasekera will also be studying Computer Science, at Ivy League UPenn, founded by Benjamin Franklin and home of the famous Wharton Business School. A third member of the team, Ishini Gammanpila, who represented Sri Lanka at the International Junior Science Olympiad as well, has been awarded a 90% scholarship to study Maths, Physics and Philosophy at Cornell, currently ranked 14th in the QS World University Rankings.

The school’s other Head Prefect, Aanya Gunawansa, who achieved 11 A* grades in her IGCSE examinations and won the World Prize for English Language, has been offered a place to study Veterinary Science at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge. Anjali Attygalle will read Chemistry at Magdalen College, Oxford, one of the university’s largest, most beautiful and most prestigious colleges. Two students have been offered coveted places to study Medicine in the UK. Arshad Dahlan has been offered a place at Cardiff and Naveen Kulasingha at Queen’s University Belfast. Both epitomise the allround ability that medical courses look for: Naveen is both one the stars of the school’s football team and a brilliant violinist, who first played with the Symphony Orchestra of Sri Lanka when he was 12 and already has an A in A Level Music to accompany his 10 A* grades at IGCSE, while Arshad is President of the Debating Club. Many students face tough choices. Arpana Giritharan had to reject Imperial College London in order to accept an offer from UCL to read Human Sciences. Amjad Hamza also has to choose between two Top Ten universities, UCL and UPenn, to read Politics, Philosophy and Economics; while Maya Weerasinghe has a choice between New York University and UCL to read Economics. Many top US universities now have branches in Asia that are a great option for Sri Lankan students. Tripti Mathews was offered a place at Yale-NUS while Asel Kularatne has become the school’s 10th student to be offered a full scholarship at NYU, Abu Dhabi in the past seven years.

For more details about Elizabeth Moir School visit www.elizabethmoirschool.com