Ivy League for Springwood student

Sprinter Ella Goldring is heading to an Ivy League university in the summer to try out life in America thanks to receiving a prestigious scholarship.

An A level student at Springwood High School, Ella had been exploring the opportunity to study abroad off the back of her athletics as she was approached by an agent to take up a place in America, but the cost proved prohibitive.

“After research I came to a bit of a dead end and decided to ask a teacher if he knew of anything and he told me about the Sutton Trust Fulbright USA Programme and where I could apply,” she said.

There was stiff competition as around 1,800 students applied to be in her cohort, and only 120 places were available for UK students to take part. The process included a three day residential session at Nottingham University.

Ella,17, is studying A levels in maths, physics and economics at Springwood, a member of the West Norfolk Academies Trust.

“We have weekly assignments to prepare us for the US admission process. This includes a lot of writing about our extra-curriculars and studying for tests and documenting financial aid forms. The US process is very holistic, which is vastly different to how we’ve been taught to apply to UK universities,” she said.

Ella will be heading to Princeton for a week in New Jersey in July, and it will be her first trip across the Atlantic. It will also give her the chance to experience life in America as a student which will be invaluable if she ends-up studying overseas.

“I’m looking forward to experiencing American culture and seeing how their lives compare to ours. My parents are very excited for me, especially my mum as she travelled a lot when she was younger, including to America. It’s not my first trip alone, in high school I went to Italy, France and Spain. However, these are not nearly as far away as America.”

With ambitions of a future in engineering, Ella is aiming to secure a place at a Russel Group university in London, either University College London or King’s. But she is a talented athlete and has also researched Loughborough and universities in America where the facilities are advanced.

“I have thought about engineering management, automotive engineering and even petroleum engineering. I also aspire to be a pro athlete, as I am a sprinter and run the 100 and 200m,” she said.