WAB Grade 12 students have already begun to get early offers to universities in the UK, Canada and Europe, many with scholarships included! These early acceptances are made possible by Concourse Global, a platform that is flipping the script on how college admissions work by making universities apply for students.

Concourse Global’s mission is to increase access to higher education by making admissions simpler, student-centric, and more equitable. At WAB, Grade 11 students are introduced to the platform by their counselor. The students are first invited to map out their college goals and criteria. Once they know what they want, they can then create a profile on the platform and select their preferred destination(s). The profiles are reviewed and certified by the counselors before they are distributed to universities. Where there is a match, universities make admission and scholarship offers with no applications required. This is a safe and secure online environment moderated by the students’ counselors and students who use the platform can typically expect the first offers to roll in during the first semester of Grade 12.

“Counselors identify which students are a good fit for Concourse Global. It’s open to anyone who’s interested, but the platform is especially good for those that have a clear vision of what they’re looking for. The platform encourages students to get to know themselves, and what they like and then put themselves out there. Once offers come in, the students have the power to review and interview the schools, rather than the other way round. It's a very empowering process for our students,” WAB’s Head of Counseling Michelle Chow-Liu explains.

Most students receive an average of 5.8 offers per application. As in the case of WAB’s students this year, the majority of those offers come with scholarships.

The early offers also give students peace of mind during their final year at WAB and reduce the typical anxiety and stress that come with the college application process.

“Everything was easy to set up and communication with schools I have been offered admission to has been very straightforward, especially as I was given an option to video chat with each school that I was interested in. Using Concourse has been a huge confidence boost and because I know that I've been offered admission to a couple of good schools, this has allowed me to focus my energy on applying to only the schools I'm truly excited about,” said one of the current seniors.

Another senior who used the platform added: “I wholeheartedly recommend it! There really aren’t any downsides. It gives any student using it the opportunity to hear about different schools and has guaranteed acceptances.”

The platform is focused on increasing students’ opportunities without adding extra pressure, which means they don’t have to commit to an offer if they don’t want to. Many WAB students are combining Concourse Global with traditional written applications. Students can keep their offers from Concourse Global on the table until after they’ve received feedback from their traditional applications.

For both students and counselors, Concourse Global is expanding the school’s university list and introducing new opportunities that students may not have considered before. That, combined with the fact that WAB graduates consistently score exceptionally well in their IB Diploma Program, means the sky is truly the limit!