Higher Education Guide

The decisions you make on Higher Education will have profound implications for your future. The process which begins in March during your Lower Sixth year is not concluded until you finally enter university 20 months later (or a year beyond that for those who take a gap year). Not only will you be deciding where you want to study, but you could also be shaping the direction of your future career.

Your choices are not made in a vacuum. The government is determined to increase the number of students in Higher Education, and this inevitably leads to greater pressure on places. The funding of universities is an area of fierce political debate, and those universities which attract the most funding are becoming increasingly selective in their offers. Your chances of rejection on popular courses at popular universities increase every year.

This website is designed for boys in the 5th form, Lower and Upper Sixth at Tonbridge School and aims to guide you through all stages of the choice process, suggesting many further avenues of help (such as books and external websites); you will also attend seminar sessions which help you understand much of the detail. A universities evening in the summer term of your Lower 6th enables you to listen to and question admissions tutors. But the key point is this:

No-one can make the decisions for you. You will spend three or more years studying for just one course in one place. You must do the research yourself and do your best to make sensible choices after many weeks of research.

The full Higher Education Guide is available to current boys of Tonbridge School through the internal intranet, to recent Tonbridge School leavers via the student remote access and to parents via the Parents' Portal.