Surval’s flexible, tailored curriculum offering of American High School Program as well as British IGCSE and A Levels, gives our girls a distinct advantage. Sandra (2019, England) benefited a great deal during her time at Surval, combining AHSP with IGCSE, AS and A Level in a broad range of subjects, really drawing out her strengths and talents, achieving excellent results.
Surval’s multilingual international environment enabled Sandra to hone her natural aptitude for language. Sandra is now fluent in English, French and Spanish, attributing the latter to “attuning” herself to the Mexican influences in the school, and being able to “hold a conversation” in Russian (a modest statement if you ever saw Sandra talking to her friends from Russia, Kazakhstan and the Ukraine with great gusto!).
On graduating from Surval last year, Sandra enthused that each student’s timetable being tailored to suit individuals, “maximises our opportunities to learn exactly what we need to,” and reflected, “Surval’s flexibility definitely helped me find my way to my career choice. When I first came to Surval, I was an entirely different person.”
Sandra went on to study a Pre-Medical Course at McDaniel College in Budapest, Hungary, and is now looking forward to studying Medicine at the affiliated Semmelweis University; one of the leading universities of Medicine and Health Sciences in Central Europe. Sandra has recently updated us on her news.
“I'm doing well thank you. My family and I have all been quarantined in Budapest, where the situation is thankfully being handled quite skilfully. My studies are going great! After a year at the preparatory college, and thanks to study habits picked up at Surval, I was able to power through the final semester where all our classes were online and got accepted to my first choice University. I'll be starting in a month’s time.
My year so far has been interesting to say the least. Many things didn't turn out exactly how I expected them to, but I'm more than happy with the outcome. I've been living in Budapest, studying and spending my spare time with friends, family, and fitness.
I found that while the Covid-19 pandemic derailed a lot of people, I coped rather well, and I owe that to Surval. Ironically, one of the main factors was that Surval life, other than sports, takes place in a single building. Being confined to my apartment during the height of quarantine, and needing to eat, sleep and study in more or less the same area, was a breaking point for many of my peers, as they felt themselves going 'stir-crazy'. I was more accustomed to close quarters, and along with some wonderful study habits that were ingrained during my time at Surval, I found myself doing quite well.
This year I will be starting my first year at Semmelweis. My plans going forward are mostly to survive the upcoming academic year, and hopefully not let myself become too much of a hermit in the process. I'm currently enjoying a breathtakingly hot summer by the Danube river and doing my best to curb my caffeine habits. The chocolate ones remain unchecked"