In a world and a careers' market where people are beginning to think in more global terms about their future prospects, it is interesting to see that nationally the number of applications to American universities from pupils based in the UK has risen noticeably in recent years.  This, too, appears to be a trend at LEH, and so we were delighted to invite Lisa Montgomery to speak to an invited audience of Upper Fifth and Lower Sixth parents and pupils from LEH and Hampton about the merits of an American degree course.

Lisa runs her own company, ‘Edvice', providing advice and guidance to candidates applying to American universities, and is a familiar face to several LEH families who have benefitted from her impressive knowledge and expertise. There is a whole new vocabulary and outlook for such applications, and Lisa was very clear about defining such important terms as ‘SATs', ‘Liberal Arts', ‘Early Action' and ‘Early Decision' to name but a few. We were also treated to the benefit of her wisdom on such topics as the application forms themselves where candidates may be asked questions as diverse as ‘what is your favourite word?' or ‘no good deed goes unpunished – discuss'. Questions of sports' scholarships, recruitment, interviews, perhaps most importantly, finance, were also answered with Lisa's typical enthusiasm and understanding.

Applying to an American university can be a hugely daunting and time-consuming business for the Sixth Form pupils of today, but parents, pupils and teachers alike were indebted to Lisa's expertise in unravelling the various complexities of such a process for us.

Mark Tompsett, Head of Sixth Form