Elmwood School University Placement

Back when I was considering different career options, what I valued about Elmwood was that we had a very accessible guidance department that I could approach if ever I had any sort of professional or university-related question. Our guidance counsellor was a very approachable person.

I had a teacher at Elmwood School who worked with me from Grade 8, up until I was applying to universities. I think having that connection with one person who can see you grow from a young teenager to that university application stage has been just such an amazing experience. I've been so lucky to have that. So as with any big decision, I'd say do research, speak to the students, talk to the teachers, and see whether or not Elmwood School's curriculum has what you're looking for for your child. Go in for that taste of it to experience what Elmwood School has to offer. By going and seeing things in action, you can get a sense of whether or not you feel like it'd be the right school for you. I think that is an important thing to consider when choosing a school.

If I had a question, the guidance department answered it extremely honestly and truthfully. I attribute a lot of what I am today and where I am today to that.

I managed to take a lot of what I learned during my time at Elmwood School and carry it with me through the three years of my undergraduate degree. I will say that this idea of pushing yourself, and stepping out of your comfort zone has stuck with me. I take that value with me wherever I go. There are times when I go for something, and it may be an extra thing on my plate. Perhaps I'm stretching myself too much, and that ends up hurting me. In general, or on average, I think that taking the value of stepping outside of my comfort zone and stretching myself has helped me leverage whatever opportunities I can, and has brought me to where I am right now.

Elmwood prepared me extremely well for university. I took the full IB diploma in Grades 11 and 12. So for those who aren't aware, it simulates the academic environment of what you would see in university, as the assessments are very few and they're weighted quite heavily. So, I received the IB diploma, all my courses were IB level classes, and I even got some credits that I could redeem in university and that was the icing on the cake.

The formative experiences that I've gotten from Elmwood School have shaped me into the person I am today. There were countless opportunities back in high school that I didn't think I deserved, and I wasn't going to apply or reach out for them until my teachers and friends encouraged me to do it because they thought I could. My teachers and my friends believed in me sometimes even more than I believed in myself. One concern that families may have is that their daughters aren't being pushed enough, or maybe they are being pushed too much. That mix of nurture and encouragement at Elmwood School helped me move forward in life, make the decisions that I did, end up in the educational program that I'm in, and perhaps pursue future career opportunities that I want to.

The big thing for me is that our girls develop strong leadership skills. When they enter the world beyond high school, they have all those skills to thrive and take off at University, which we see happen. 50% of Elmwood School girls go into STEM university programs and they thrive there because they're used to taking the lead, challenging perceptions, and taking on anybody in the classroom.

Elmwood School’s day-to-day values are about more than just academics. It's respect, and it’s making sure that family culture is alive and well, and that the culture of supporting each other is there. Schools are about developing the whole person, and Elmwood School is excellent at developing the whole girl. Some of our girls recently went into some amazing rowing programs in the States, which has been new in the past few years. We're getting full rides into some universities in America, and we have a girl in New York studying theatre right now, and we have 50% of our girls in engineering and 30% in the arts. So we have a really strong, balanced approach to curriculum and support. Our leadership program throughout Elmwood School is very deliberate and strong. When our girls come through onwards, we want them to be well-rounded in all areas because they're all important to their development.

I came into the first year having had that experience already, which made the transition from high school to university a little less daunting than it is for most people.

If Elmwood was a person and I had to describe their personality, I would use nurturing, inspiring, and I would also use credibility. So, for nurturing, I chose that one because I think it's obvious that the school cares about the development and the growth of the girls. … Also, I choose inspiring because Elmwood creates an atmosphere that is not only inspiring to the girls, but it creates this environment of wonderment about the world and whether that's on the more of the STEM side or the arts and culture side. I feel that Elmwood really creates this sense of wonder within the girls such that they want to learn as much as they possibly can. Lastly, concerning credibility, I came up with this word because it's an institution that's founded on excellence. I know that might sound a little bit cliche, but what impressed me about Elmwood when we were first looking at researching schools and opportunities for our daughter was some of the statistics that were on your website in terms of 100 percent university placement rates and a 90 to 95 percent scholarship rate.

As a parent, what I appreciate the most is Elmwood's focus on girls' education and how well the school prepares them for their next steps. Elmwood focuses on girls' education, preparing them for post-secondary education, and creating competent, capable individuals. The school community genuinely cares for each other and creates an environment conducive to learning.

My oldest daughter, who graduated from Elmwood last year, is now in her first year at McGill, and she's thriving. She's not struggling with the workload. She's been able to focus on settling into university life, as opposed to struggling with settling into university life and this huge jump in what's expected from you at university.

There are a lot of different values that I find we're getting at Elmwood. I think the biggest one is they really are helping each girl reach her full potential, get to where she's going, and be happy about it. If they're trying to get into a certain university and they need to do community service, they will come up with the ideas, and then the school will help them put that into action. I could give you an example. My middle daughter has always been a little bit shy. She would love to be a wallflower. But in our first year at Elmwood, she was asked to do a reading for an assembly. She was quite nervous about it, but she actually did quite a good job. Lots of people came after and told her that she had done a good job. So now she loves the opportunity to get up there and speak in front of her peers. She doesn't have that fear of getting up there because that first time, people were so supportive of her. I think that's really a testament to the interactions with teachers and staff.

The academics are held at a very high level at Elmwood School, and that's great. In terms of extracurriculars, there is a vast array of opportunities awaiting you as a student. I would highly recommend that Future Elmwood School students not be shy, and go for whatever interests them. What students choose to pursue during their time at Elmwood School can help them build connections. I have so many friends and past acquaintances who were involved in various extracurricular programs at Elmwood School. For example, the theatre program, and from there, they were able to get theatre internships after graduating, and now they study theatre in university. Being a part of various extracurricular activities at Elmwood School  helps students to make connections, and then leverage those connections to be able to pursue whatever they aspire to do within those fields.

Elmwood School offers an IB program. The International Baccalaureate program is an internationally recognized diploma, and if you're considering post-secondary school in the US or another part of the world, the International Baccalaureate Program diploma is a great thing to have in your back pocket.

Elmwood, like many other high schools in Ontario, has a careers class, which I found to be extremely helpful in coming up with programs to apply to and understanding what kind of a learner I was and what career I would be beneficial for me as a person. So, there I learned about a scholarship at the University of Ottawa. It's a research scholarship where they gave 10,000 dollars to an incoming first-year student in the Faculty of Science.

There's a lot of scholarship opportunities. It's fascinating to read how a lot of the students are going on to different schools, across North America, or around the world.

Fast-tracking, by the end of Grade 12, I did end up getting that scholarship. I have worked in a research lab since I graduated high school and now, I've run projects on my own. I've been a co-author on a paper, and it's shaped my educational and career outlook. My research is more based on biomedical imaging. I was set on a career in medicine, and I still am, but I know that there is this new contingency that I can go towards, and I can pursue a career in biomedical imaging. That's something I would love to spend my life doing if given the opportunity to.

I graduated from Elmwood School in 2017. Since then, well, I'm currently completing the fourth year of my undergraduate degree in biomedical science at the University of Ottawa. I plan to pursue a career in medicine after completing my undergrad. I'm currently in the process of applying to various medical schools. As far as what I've been doing since I left Elmwood School, most of it has just been working on my undergraduate degree, but I've also had a pretty hefty research position at the University of Ottawa. So I have a part-time job with my research lab. My research consists of looking at biological tissues under a laser scanning microscope. So we excite the biological tissues using laser light, then figure out different ways of imaging those tissues and then use those differential imaging methods to develop a new diagnostic tool that could be used in medical clinics and whatnot. So that is what I've been up to since I left Elmwood School.