2025 Graduate Story | Anna: Be you. Be Unlimited.

Success belongs to the prepared.

This was demonstrated by Anna, who has been recently admitted to University College London (ranked 9th globally in QS rankings).

In the 2025 application season, Anna received offers from five world-leading universities, including University College London, University of Melbourne, University of Sydney, University of Manchester and University of California, Davis. Three of these universities ranked in the global top 20 in the 2025 QS World University Rankings, a testament to Anna's outstanding academic prowess.

When Anna first joined the Wellington College Hangzhou in Grade 7, she had yet to form clear ideas about her future course, research topics or even personal interests. The university counsellors helped her plan her future more clearly through personality and aptitude tests, helping her gain a deeper understanding of her academic strengths and career interests.

"We explored industry trends, job prospects, and how to turn my passions into viable career paths."

Guided by her teachers, Anna researched courses, internship opportunities and interdisciplinary options of different universities and finally decided to pursue management-related fields. This decision aligned with both her interests and her long-term goals.

Anna and Her University Counsellor

The internationalised environment of the Wellington College Hangzhou provided Anna with fertile nourishment for growth. She mentioned that interacting with schoolmates from diverse cultural backgrounds not only broadened her horizons but also honed her logical reasoning, analytical skills, and strategic thinking.

"The diverse teaching methods and immersive experiences have taught me to think from different perspectives." This environment cultivated Anna's global competence and laid a solid foundation for her future academic and career pursuits.

Anna enjoys pursuing things in life that offer a sense of certainty and solving practical problems, which is exactly how she felt when she first learned about management studies.

"Management studies differ from other subjects that require learning more abstract concepts. It deals with all aspects of life and can easily be demonstrated through communication, easily applicable when interacting with others."

Anna values the transferability of knowledge. After developing an interest in management studies, she began studying business and economics under the guidance of her teachers at Wellington College Hangzhou and fell in love with these two subjects. She also listens to relevant news and speeches to cultivate a business and economic mindset.

When reading the book Thinking Strategically, Anna was drawn by the application of game theory in decision-making. She shared with excitement, "For example, strategies that can change the rules of zero-sum games, such as unconditional actions, threats and promises." Although it was a weighty tome, she was happy to read it a second time until she fully understood it.

While she was studying the subject, she gradually realised that management studies is a multidisciplinary field and shifted her focus to developing her own game theory and managerial skills. Exploring this course also presents an opportunity for her to communicate with others, expanding her perspectives of the world.

Competitions are an essential part of this journey, and Anna is no exception. However, her understanding of competitions goes beyond just collecting honours:

"Things we do in preparation for competitions, such as designing presentation slides, processing and quantifying data, studying cases, and learning more concepts, are all a boost to our academic abilities to a certain extent."

At Wellington College Hangzhou, Anna actively participated in various academic competitions. These experiences not only enriched her resume but also shaped her way of thinking and character. The  HOSA-Future Health Professionals challenge left a particularly deep impression on her.

"HOSA challenge happened during our exam season in January," Anna recalled. "Our team had to complete a public health research project amidst a tight academic schedule, including literature reviews, data analysis, and the creation of PowerPoint slides." Through effective distribution of job roles, their team overcame the biggest challenge of time management and ultimately submitted a high-quality project on time. "We established a detailed timeline, clarified everyone's responsibilities, and set up mid-term checkpoints," she shared. "This experience taught me how to stay focused and efficient when juggling multiple tasks."

In the National Economics Challenge (NEC), Anna and her team faced a thoroughly different set of challenges. They were required to test economic theories and apply them to real-world situations, solving practical economic problems. When confronted with sharp questions from the judges, Anna demonstrated excellent on-the-spot adaptability. "The judge asked me if I had considered the perspective of behavioural economics, which was indeed missed in my initial draft," she admitted. "But it was precisely these kinds of challenges that encouraged me to think more comprehensively."

These competition experiences have brought Anna more than certificates and honours. HOSA taught her the art of teamwork, while NEC cultivated her critical thinking. Most importantly, she learned how to apply classroom knowledge to real-world problems, a skill that will be crucial in her university life and future career.

"Choosing to participate in competitions gave me a strong motivation to learn more about business and economics. After getting ready for external competitions, I found the school curriculum more accessible in comparison. Apart from enhancing my professional knowledge, these competitions also improved my ability to write essays."

Anna was not alone in her journey at Wellington College Hangzhou.

She said she received tremendous support from her teachers at Wellington College Hangzhou during her A-level studies. "They constantly encouraged me to strive for higher levels and showed great patience even when my questions occasionally exceeded the scope of the course," she recalled.

Whether it was raising questions on Teams or engaging in in-depth discussions after class, the teachers always responded to her inquiries, even on weekends. Their dedication deeply moved her and significantly boosted her confidence in academic exploration.

The skills and self-assurance that Anna cultivated through academic contests and teacher support extended well beyond the classroom and test papers. The varied platforms at Wellington College Hangzhou provided her with outstanding chances to turn knowledge into action and potential into leadership. Before long, she encountered a more all-encompassing challenge at Wellington's 2024 TEDx Youth event - taking on the role of finance and budget manager.

This role marked her growth from a learner to a creator and from a participant to a manager. It not only added a highlight to her university application but also subtly shaped her as a future leader.

At the event, Anna oversaw the entire financial management cycle, from initial budget planning, through mid-stage cost control, to final financial auditing. She had to precisely evaluate every item required for the event, including stage decoration, promotional material production, and professional equipment rental.

"My job was to create the entire event's budget plan from scratch. It was quite challenging. For example, I need to balance the desired effect and the actual budget, deal with fluctuations in supplier quotations and so on."

This process, which might seem dry at first glance, was in reality a strategic game of wisdom. Anna had to strike a balance between the high-end demands of the speakers and the actual budget constraints of a student-organised event, all the while achieving the best possible allocation of resources within limited funds. Working with spreadsheets and statistical data gave her a preliminary taste of the managerial responsibilities she might encounter in the future. She found this experience both enjoyable and educational, as it not only taught her how to plan finances reasonably but also cultivated her sense of responsibility and decision-making skills.

That event experience also sparked Anna's deeper interest in management. "I really enjoyed the process of resource allocation and problem-solving," she shared. "Especially when the event was successfully held in the end, the sense of achievement was unparalleled." This practice not only strengthened her data analysis skills but also provided an important reference for her future course selection.

Reflecting on her journey at Wellington College Hangzhou, Anna feels that the most significant transformation has been in her open-mindedness and enhanced language abilities.

"When I first joined the school as a grade 7 pupil, my English wasn't exceptional, but the immersive environment accelerated my progress," she said. Whether it's in-class discussions, extracurricular activities, or everyday interactions, English has become a vital part of her life. She would learn new phrases by watching English programmes in her spare time and flexibly apply them to real-life conversations. This natural and continuous learning approach enabled her to adapt to language and culture with ease.

Anna's peers see her as naturally gifted, to which Anna modestly stated that talent is not entirely innate. "The key is to recognise your own strengths and work relentlessly for them," she said. She believes that everyone has unique potential, and the real talent lies in how to unleash and put it into practice. This rational and positive attitude is the driving force for her continuous self-breakthrough.

"I firmly believe that no one can define your potential. No matter what others think, choose your own path and strive to pursue your dreams. Life is an experience, and it is never too late to pursue your ambitions."

Anna's growth story is a demonstration of the educational essence of Wellington College Hangzhou - committed to cultivating future leaders with a global vision, critical thinking and firm beliefs. Her experience proves that in a diverse, inclusive and supportive environment, pupils can not only achieve academic success but also transform into confident, resilient and open-minded individuals. In the future, she will continue to uphold Wellington's core values of kindness, responsibility, respect, courage and integrity, shining brightly on the global stage.

At the end of the interview, as usual, we invited Anna to share advice with the younger pupils at Wellington College Hangzhou. She thought for a moment and said sincerely:

"Pursuing perfection is not a must. Embrace your ups and downs, identify problems, and strive to find solutions. A positive attitude is crucial, so follow your passion, complete the necessary tasks, and move forward step by step. In the end, you will surely reach where your heart desires."