Wycombe Abbey or St Mary’s Calne?

[jkwsl]

My DD has received an invitation to sit the Academic Scholarship for St Mary’s Calne and it seems like a sort of unconditional offer. Does anyone know how common these invitations are?

The issue is that, if she takes up this offer to merely sit the Academic Scholarship, she can’t take Common Entrance, and as such, wouldn’t be accepted into Wycombe Abbey.

What would you recommend she do? Enter Wycombe Abbey as a normal girl or possibly enter St Mary’s Calne with an Academic Scholarship (which, due to our circumstances, might not amount to much money).

Purely interested, no help, but it will bump the thread at least.

Why can't she sit for CE if she is trying for the Scholarship at St Mary's? That seems a bit off to me.

Also, aren't these two very different schools? I could well be wrong, but I don't recall every hearing St Mary's as being at all similar to WA. In which case, shouldn't you choose the school you think will suit most?

That seems very unusual. Usually scholarships are before CE and why is this restriction being made? They are two very different schools?

I think the St Mary’s Academic Scholarship place can only be taken up if you commit to St Mary’s Calne as your first choice school. You show this commitment by saying to them that it’s your first choice but also by taking their Scholarship rather than CE. I.e. It does not seem to be accidental that the Academic Scholarship clashes with the the CE.

I sense my DD would thrive in A-level performance at either of these the two schools. But are they very different schools now in 2017?

OP if you have already heard that your DD has a conditional offer from WA after the September assessments then in any case you would have to choose between the two schools fairly soon as WA CE is in January. The scholarship makes no difference to you financially so you and your DD are free to select the school that you both prefered from visits etc before this invitation was made.