School-choice research in Shanghai runs on brochures and league tables; what follows is the rarer thing, a current student's own account. The Chinese original was published with the student's permission, and she is entering Grade 11. The school - Shanghai United International School's Gubei campus - was among Shanghai's first 21 international-curriculum pilot schools, teaches IGCSE and IBDP with a high proportion of international staff, and its graduates have gone on to universities including Oxford, Cambridge and Stanford.
Why IB, and why this school
She left a top state middle school before finishing, worn down by its pressure, and chose her curriculum by honest self-assessment: sciences were her weak side, which ruled out the A-Level route most state-system students take, and her target was the UK rather than the US, which set AP aside. IB allowed a subject combination that avoided her weaknesses, and its heavy writing load built exactly the skill her university plans needed.
The school itself she chose for atmosphere: strong enough academically, but westward in style and not run at the intensity that had exhausted her. The entrance test, in her words, was not difficult - most who sat it got in.
The everyday texture
- Streaming and roaming. Sciences and PE are set-grouped; most subjects have their own groupings, and every lesson happens in a different room. The form class exists mainly for morning registration and class activities. Official policy denies grade-based banding, though students notice patterns.
- Houses. Every student is assigned to one of four houses and competes in house events wearing the house colour, alongside sports day, charity sales and a second-hand clothes swap.
- Clubs and competitions. Weekly ECA sessions are first come, first served, and include academic-competition clubs, school sports teams and a wide arts range. Her honest note: for the harder competitions, club sessions alone are not enough - serious preparation happens outside them.
- The card. The student card is meal card, snack account and library card in one; losing it costs 20 yuan to replace, a fact she can confirm twice over.
- The rules. No phones on campus, no nail art, no unnatural hair colour, no filming on campus or in uniform for social media - and two late arrivals earn a detention.
Choosing a school is the first decision in a longer plan; the curricula it teaches are compared on our international curricula pages, and the competitions that strengthen an application sit alongside them.