• by MIT Ivy League and Oxbridge Educated Insiders
  • Trusted by over tens of thousands online subscribers

Marlborough College

School rating 3 / 5 by

Bath Road Marlborough Wiltshire SN8 1PA United Kingdom
Boarding
6th to 12th
Day
6th to 12th
Gender
Coed

Academic

Marlborough College review by .

Marlborough's academic programme taught in a way that was a perfect transition between GCSE's (where I found "spoon-feeding" and lots of help) and University teaching (I attended Marlborough for 6th Form). The classes were taught as a variation of lectures, interaction, handouts and guidance in small classes which prepared myself for university (where it is primarily lectures with little guidance with self preparation for each class). The schools teaching philosophy was primarily lectures with some discussion with peers. I would say at a 70:30 ratio. This is a great transition to university because it allowed me to experience a different style of teaching than I was used to at GCSE level. My classroom sizes varied between 6-15 people which is a great size as it allows students to bond with teachers and have more help if necessary. The workload was usually one or two assignment's a week which took around an hour for each assignment. Because the class sizes are small, I usually asked for help during the class or at the end. One of my A-levels was Geography which was taught by two teachers: Mr & Mrs Hodgson. Their standard of teaching was excellent: the teaching was very thorough, explained at an understandable level and help was always offered in extra hours after classes and on weekends. In addition to this they knew the AS and A level system very very well and tactfully planned our exams at different parts of the two years (january and june) to ensure the best grade possible. Without them I don't think I would have got an A grade! The Art History course was very interesting and I learned a lot- the teachers were enthusiastic and clearly very knowledgable of Art History which I really appreciate and like as a student. However because of this, the course was very popular which made the student to teacher relationship weaker than my other classes.

College Counseling

I decided to take a gap year so I applied to the UK and USA....

Sample insights on college counseling

  • They have contacts at most of the major universities and feel perfectly comfortable picking up the phone and advocating for a student to get accepted somewhere they feel is a good fit for that student. However, these counselors are certainly not magic bullets. They cannot guarantee that a student will get into an Ivy League university...
  • For those wishing to move on to Oxford or Cambridge, the provision is second-to-none. In the months running up to application and interview, every subject faculty offers classes (often run by former Oxbridge tutors) exploring further areas of their subject as well as offering advice on personal statements, interview technique and more...

Admissions - Getting Accepted

I applied to Marlborough during my GCSES which was very late. Luckily one person had....

Sample insights on admissions

  • For the interview, dress conservatively. Try to be very clean and put together. Also, I was a tour guide for two years and at the end of every tour, we were asked to evaluate the candidate so if you think the tour is not apart of the process, you are very wrong. Ask questions and be interested. Also, tip for the parents: the kids speak on the tour. Do not ask their questions for them...
  • Most younger siblings have an easy time in the admissions process. I can only think of one case of a younger sibling not being admitted. About half of the students who entered with me had come from public schools. The remainder came from private K-6 schools, or had transferred from other New York private schools The Elizabeth Morrow School and St. Bernard were two of the larger feeder schools...

School Life

Campus life was great. Marlborough is spread over Marlborough town which is adjacent to the high street where you can go for lunch or shopping during the day or evening. The student community is conservative and there is a strong sense of community amongst all years. There is a housemaster or house mistress who check up on you two or three times a day. There was also a tutor who was around during 9-4 who checks up on you and another tutor for academic help from 6-1030. I didn't visit the chaplain. I think the schools discipline was too rigid....

Popular Comparisons