FORGE STUDENT WINS PRESTIGIOUS PLACE AT BROWN UNIVERSITY
Lee Harding, 18, from Rowley Regis, who is completing his A levels at Ormiston Forge Academy, has won a place and a financial aid package to study at a top US university after participating in the
Sutton Trust US Programme, run in partnership with the
US-UK Fulbright Commission.
Lee will take up his place at
Brown University in Rhode Island this Autumn. Located in historic Providence and founded in 1764, Brown University is the seventh-oldest college in the United States. Brown is an independent, coeducational Ivy League institution.
Brown’s vibrant, diverse community consists of about 6,580 undergraduates, 2,255 graduate students, 545 medical school students, more than 6,000 summer, visiting, and online students, and more than 700 faculty members. Brown students come from all 50 states and more than 115 countries.
Last year, Harding was one of 150 students selected for the programme, which included a summer school in the US at either Yale University or the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). They competed with over 1,000 applicants to win a place on the programme and spent a week living on campus and visiting many other US universities.
The students benefited from residential activities and received an intensive programme of support, delivered by the US-UK Fulbright Commission over several months before and after their US visit, which covered admission tests, college choices and the application process.
The aim of the Sutton Trust US Programme is to encourage academically talented British students from low and moderate income homes to consider studying at American universities.
The 2017 – 2018 programme cohort comes from across the UK. 76% of the students admitted early will be the first in their family to go to university.
Harding from Rowley Regis and currently studying at Ormiston Forge Academy said:
“
I’m delighted to have been accepted into such a prestigious institution. The support I’ve had from school, the Sutton Trust and the Fulbright Commission has been invaluable, they’ve broken barriers down and made something happen that I thought would be impossible.”
Harding is one of 42 students who have been accepted under the early application deadline to US universities, and more students will be applying by the January deadline with results available later this spring.
The participants admitted early have been offered a total of approximately $11m of financial aid from the universities over the next four years. They have been accepted to 31 different institutions, including Harvard, Princeton, Yale, and Columbia.
Support for the US Programme was provided in part by a grant from the Robertson Foundation. The programme is also made possible through support from its founding corporate partner, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, as well as Peter Baldwin and Lisbet Rausing who have generously supported the programme since its launch. The programme is also supported by Jerry del Missier, Martin and Antoinette Sullivan, The Neuberger Berman Foundation and EducationUSA.
Sir Peter Lampl, Founder and Chairman of the Sutton Trust and Chairman of the Education Endowment Foundation, said:
“
America’s leading universities are bastions of progressive values and outstanding education. Their campuses are welcoming places for international students, whatever country or social background they come from.
“
I’m delighted that 42 state school students have won places to study in the States. They will benefit from a broad and varied curriculum as well as in-depth study and generous funding for both tuition and living costs.
“
I hope more young people will look to their success and realise that a university education in the States is well within their grasp.”
Penny Egan CBE, Executive Director of the US-UK Fulbright Commission, said:
“
These results echo the wider continuing upward trend of British students choosing US universities for their undergraduate studies. American universities offer an experience that is very different to that of a UK university and are actively looking for students from diverse backgrounds from across the UK to join their next intake. We are proud that this programme is successfully tapping into this demographic and giving these young people the chance of a lifetime.”
Andrew Burns, Principal of Ormiston Forge Academy, said:
“
Lee has worked hard at Forge and his enthusiasm for learning has been infectious. We are all very proud of him as he continues his learning journey at such a prestigious institution like Brown.
“
Lee paves the way for the next Forge student who will no longer see a barrier to a place at Oxford, Cambridge, Yale or Harvard. Instead, through Lee, the Sutton Trust and the Fulbright Commission, our students see opportunity. Opportunity to be the best.”
The US Programme is based on the Sutton Trust’s successful flagship programme in the UK which now runs at 11 leading British universities and has benefited over ten thousand state school students.
