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UWC General Selection Criteria

We are among the best boarding schools in the world. We maintain this by carefully selecting students who thrive in an international environment, and are well-suited to the challenge of a rigorous curriculum and an experiential learning environment.

Anybody can apply to UWC - we are looking for students who want to become change-makers for a better world, whatever their background and who show: 

  • Intellectual curiosity and motivation: a genuine urge to learn about the world around oneself and the ability to recognise the details and grasp the breadth of issues (for example global and local concerns) involved in any given topic and to analyse them thoroughly 
  • Active commitment: the ability to develop and readiness to reflect, question and confront one’s own values, to measure one’s behaviour within family and community against one’s values, and to act on one’s own beliefs accordingly and responsibly 
  • Social competence: the ability and readiness to make contact with other people, to interact respectfully with them, to work together with them in a team and to achieve solutions; the ability to express oneself adequately in different situations and to different people
  • Resilience, personal responsibility and integrity: the ability to look after oneself physically and emotionally during the challenging and transforming experience that a UWC offers; the personal motivation to adhere to UWC’s common moral and ethical principles, a sense of humility and an ability to listen and value another person’s opinion and experience 
  • Motivation for UWC: passion, ability and serious incentive to contribute to and actively promote UWC’s values

Each UWC National Committee tailors the yearly application process and deadlines to the local education system and culture to ensure they are relevant and appropriate.

The selection process varies from country to country, but all selection committees use the five core selection criteria and may add additional criteria, including minimum grade requirements.