Dear WAB Community,
Welcome to the first in my series of messages celebrating academic excellence at WAB. These communications are an opportunity for me to share some objective data with you about the quality of education at WAB. There will be five messages focused on the following topics: how WAB prepares students for their next steps, test results at WAB, our dynamic teaching staff, the mathematics program and technology at WAB.
The first of these topics -- how well our students are prepared for their next steps -- is an especially important topic for our mobile community, regardless of the age of our children. Though some of you will be at WAB for just a few short years in the Elementary School, we know that university acceptances are one objective measure of our program, and as such is of interest to all of us. Equally, WAB surveys families who transition to other schools in various parts of the world to gauge how well their children are prepared academically. I'm pleased to share several examples of how well WAB students transition into their next steps.
Come June, WAB will have graduated three classes of Grade 12 students. Since the High School opened in August 2006, all college-bound Grade 12 students have been accepted by a college or university of their choice. Last year, 70% of WAB students who submitted applications were accepted by their first choice school; some were accepted by 6 colleges each.
Over the past three years, WAB graduates have been accepted into 5 out of the world's top 10 universities, as ranked by the Times Higher Education Supplement. They include: University of Oxford, Imperial College London, University College London, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Columbia University.
WAB's reputation as a leading world school has grown rapidly, with an increasing number of college and university representatives visiting WAB from around the globe. This year alone, WAB received over 60 visits from college and university representatives from over a dozen countries, including Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, South Korea, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States. Such broad interest from universities is a sure sign that WAB graduates are sought after.
University acceptances and scholarship offers are still coming in for the Class of 2009, but this year's Grade 12 students have already received 165 college and university acceptances. Students from last year's graduating class received scholarship offers from 19 North American colleges, ranging from $2,000 (USD) to $64,000 (USD), many of which were merit based awards.
All in all, we are justifiably proud of how the quality of our programs, hard work of our teachers and commitment of our students is placing WAB on the map.
Many of you will leave WAB not for university but to re-enter the educational systems of your own countries. Each year WAB surveys families in the January following their departure. Families who respond to our transition survey indicate that their children are performing at or above the level of expectation at their new schools.
We've heard many transition success stories from our families, including those whose children have returned to their home countries during their high school years. One student, for example, who returned to the US for Grade 12, was so well prepared that she was only required to take two classes in her final year. She graduated and was accepted into one of the top 100 universities in the world, as ranked by the Times Higher Education Supplement.
Another student, who left WAB after Middle School, wrote to inform us, "At the time, I don't think I recognized the impact WAB would have on me later in life, but the mathematics skills and preparation I received at WAB have without a doubt allowed me to put my best foot forward in my American high school."
These examples and figures provide only a glimpse of the excellent academics we celebrate daily at WAB. With our third class of Grade 12 students about to graduate, and WAB's worldwide global network of alumni growing each year, we look forward to reporting more and more stories of successful transitions.
Look out for my next message focusing on our dynamic teaching staff, coming soon.
Kind regards,
Robert Landau
WAB Director