双UCL、美本32录取，174万奖学金Teresa：曾想过复读，是斐特思撑住了我

Teresa received 16 university offers in total, along with RMB 1.74 million in scholarships, bringing her application season to a remarkable close.

Her offers included two from UCL, three from the University of Toronto, admission to the US Top 32 University of California, Davis, as well as offers from The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, The University of Manchester, The University of Melbourne and The University of Sydney, among other leading universities across the UK, the US, Canada, Australia and Hong Kong.

What few people knew, however, was that before entering Year 12, Teresa had seriously considered repeating a year.

Teresa had always been realistic and clear-headed about both her academic performance and university ambitions.

During the summer before Year 12, she spent a great deal of time thinking about her future. Based on the subjects she had chosen and her grades at the time, the safest path to her dream university would have been to apply for a management-related degree — even though it was not a subject she particularly liked.

“In truth, I really wanted to study Economics,” Teresa recalled. “But to apply for the universities I hoped for, I needed to add Further Mathematics in Year 12.”

The problem was that Teresa had no background in Further Mathematics. At her previous school, the Further Mathematics course had already begun in the second half of Year 11. If she had joined midway through Year 12, the school would not have been able to provide the support she needed, and catching up with the class would have been extremely difficult.

“At that time, our family was preparing to move to Guangzhou, so we looked into many international schools in the city,” Teresa said. That was when she came across Fettes College Guangzhou.

What ultimately convinced her to transfer was an in-depth conversation with the school’s Mathematics  teachers.

“The support they could offer — both academically and emotionally — really matched what I was hoping for,” she said. “I wanted to push myself further and make more breakthroughs, without leaving any regrets behind.”

Under the standard Further Mathematics pathway, students study AS content in Year 11 and A2 content in Year 12. Teresa, however, had never studied A-Level Further Mathematics before. She was starting entirely from scratch.

Within a single year, she needed to complete both the AS and A2 Further Mathematics curriculum and sit all the examinations — an enormous challenge.

After assessing her academic profile, the Mathematics teachers adjusted her timetable, allocated specialist teaching staff, and designed a personalised support plan combining small-group lessons with targeted tutoring.

For the AS stage, Teresa joined the Year 11 Further Mathematics small-group class led by Jim, Director of International Curriculum. Jim used differentiated teaching strategies in class and provided additional support after lessons to help her progress more quickly.

“Whether during self-study sessions or in class, I could really feel how motivated everyone around me was,” Teresa said. “We encouraged and pushed each other forward all the time, and that motivated me to keep climbing as well.”

After studying AS Further Mathematics for just over a month, Teresa sat the October S2 examination — and achieved a perfect score.

For the A2 stage, Head of Secondary Mathematics Tim provided Teresa with specialist tutoring, supporting her intensive preparation for the full A-Level Further Mathematics course within a single year.

More importantly, Tim’s approach to teaching completely changed how she viewed mathematics.

“Before, I thought mathematics was simply about drilling knowledge points and studying for exams,” Teresa explained. “But Tim would explain the principles behind everything. He showed how formulas were derived from the beginning, and even talked about the history behind them.”

“He also shared real-world applications of Further Mathematics and concepts usually introduced at the university level.”

Gradually, Teresa’s perception of the subject changed entirely. She even began to find Further Mathematics genuinely fascinating.

With support from both the academic and university guidance teams at FCG, Teresa became increasingly confident in herself. Just five days before the US application deadline, she made the sudden decision to add American universities to her applications.

The application systems, essays and timelines for different countries all vary significantly. Yet rather than telling her it was too late, the university guidance team immediately stepped in to help.

The guidance counsellors worked with Teresa to review past student cases. They also invited Daniel, a former FCG student now studying at Lafayette College in the United States, to share advice on US applications and offer tips based on his own interview experience.

The British and American application systems required completely different strategies. Teresa’s counsellors helped her understand what admissions officers in different countries were really looking for.

For universities in the UK, there was a stronger focus on competition results, academic performance and a student’s intellectual commitment to their chosen field. American universities, on the other hand, were more interested in understanding the student as a person — their character, experiences and individuality.

For Teresa, life at FCG was not entirely consumed by Further Mathematics and university applications. 

Even during the busiest year of her school life, there were still many moments of joy beyond academics.

During the school’s Science and Arts Festival, she performed in the opening dance with classmates and watched exhibitions featuring AI and robotics.

“I thought it was incredibly creative and exciting,” she laughed.

At the college fair, Teresa volunteered to support admissions officers. She translated for university representatives and had in-depth conversations with admissions staff from universities, including The University of Hong Kong and the University of California system.

“I learned so much information that I had never known before,” she said. “It broke through the information gap for me and gave me a much deeper understanding of university applications.”

She also tried horse riding and skiing for the first time. 

“When I first visited the school and discovered there were skiing lessons, I was genuinely surprised. I had never even imagined myself trying skiing before.”

Looking back on the year, the word Teresa used most often to describe FCG was “diverse”.

“The subjects, the student life, the opportunities to develop different interests, and even the people around me all created a really diverse environment,” she said. 

“Everyone came from different places, but we all shared excitement about the future.”

What Teresa described was the genuine experience of a student: at FCG, there were enough opportunities to explore, enough new perspectives to challenge her thinking, and enough kindness to make her feel secure.

From “wanting to repeat a year” to applying across multiple countries, from “not daring to choose Economics” to achieving full marks in Further Mathematics, Teresa found herself in a place that believed she was capable—and that it was not too late.

And from there, she stepped towards her dream and into a much wider world.