在深圳南山外国语学校高新中学读初中时，Monica从未想过自己会在三年后考上香港科技大学。那时的她，在公立体系里只是个“中等生”——成绩不拔尖，也少有施展综合能力的空间。直到中考后转轨新哲文院，她才真正发现：高中，可以不止一张张试卷。

本期新少年Vol.81，我们跟着2026届毕业生成紫陌Monica，走进她从公立初中到亚洲**商学院——港科大商学院的升学故事。

During her junior high school years at Shenzhen Nanshan Foreign Language School (Gaoxin Campus), Monica never imagined she would gain admission to the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology three years later.

In this issue of Young Talk Vol.81, we step into the inspiring journey of Monica Cheng, who transitioned from a public junior high school student to an admitted student at HKUST Business School — one of Asia’s top-ranked business schools.

01“选择大于努力”：从公立到国际，她找到了自己的赛道

“我不是擅长考试的人，在公立体系下，我发挥的空间很有限，”Monica坦言，“但国际体系看的是你这个人整体的样子——你的学术热情、课外探索、个性特质，甚至你在学校做过的每一件小事，都会被看见、被珍视。”

正是这份“被看见”的可能，让她坚定选择了新哲。

中考过后，初入新哲十年级，挑战接踵而至：全英文授课让她一度崩溃，“那些科目的中文概念都还没搞懂，英文讲就更懵了。”但她没有退缩，而是主动向班主任和科任老师求助。

老师们不仅课后耐心答疑，还为她量身定制学习计划，给予持续的心理支持。“新哲的老师真的特别负责，”她反复强调，“我的班主任Shero和Lluvia就像家人一样，有什么事我都愿意跟她们说。还有教心理的Yanjun老师、教物理的Yixuan老师，上课生动有趣，课下也永远不厌其烦地帮我们弄懂问题。”

▲Monica与老师们

更让她感到自由的是学校的选课机制——只要5个人，就能开一门课。这意味着每个学生都能组合出一张真正契合自己兴趣与优势的课表，在适合的赛道上，稳步前行。

在新哲，Monica终于不再背诵标准答案，而是开始书写属于自己的成长故事。

“I have never been an exam-oriented learner. The public education system offered me very limited room to grow,” Monica admits frankly. “International education, by contrast, values you as a whole person. Your academic passion, extracurricular exploration, personal traits, and even every small effort you make at school are seen and cherished.”

It was this possibility of being fully seen that motivated her to choose Sendelta.

After entering Grade 10 at Sendelta following the high school entrance examination, Monica faced continuous challenges. Immersive English-medium instruction once overwhelmed her. “I had not even grasped the basic concepts in Chinese, so learning them entirely in English felt extremely confusing,” she recalls. Instead of giving up, she actively sought help from her homeroom teachers and subject instructors.

Her teachers not only answered questions patiently after class but also tailored personalized study plans and provided consistent emotional support. “Sendelta’s teachers are incredibly dedicated,” she emphasizes. “My homeroom teachers Shero and Lluvia are like family, whom I can always turn to for anything. I am also grateful for Yanjun, our psychology teacher, and Yixuan, our physics teacher. They deliver vivid, engaging lessons and always go out of their way to help students fully understand knowledge after class.”

What impressed her most is the school’s flexible course selection policy: any course can be opened with merely five applicants. This flexible mechanism enables every student to build a personalized curriculum that matches their interests and strengths, allowing them to advance steadily on a suitable learning path.

At Sendelta, Monica finally stepped away from rote memorization of standard answers and began to write her own unique growth story.

02做计划、敢尝试：她的成长靠的是“韧性”而非天赋

Monica并非传统意义上的“学霸”。她选修大考课程，却从不盲目堆量，而是坚持做每日任务清单：“不一定每个时间段都排满，但今天列的任务，一定要完成。”这种自律，让她在繁重课业中稳扎稳打。

课余，她同样全力以赴：作为新哲女子篮球队队员，征战校内外赛场；也是“三毛”管弦乐团的长笛手，在校园活动和公开演出中传递音乐热情。

▲Monica在篮球队与管弦乐团

学术上，她敢于走出舒适区——参与HiMCM数学建模竞赛，用ANP模型分析奥运会项目入选趋势；在上海国际电子展实习期间，整理上百位客户数据，锤炼商业洞察力。

最令人瞩目的，是她作为组内**一名高中生，与分布在全球五地的大学生、研究生合作完成论文《接纳抑或抗拒：Sora 时代人工智能艺术的公众舆论》，并成功发表。面对时差难题，她主动申请使用学校深夜开放的小教室，组织线上会议。而新哲，也总在她需要的时候，默默打开那盏灯。

▲发刊论文

她的故事没有天赋异禀的光环，只有一次次“再试一次”的坚持——不是等机会降临，而是用韧性，把可能性变成现实。

Monica is not a stereotypical straight-A student. While taking rigorous exam-focused courses, she avoids blind overloading. Instead, she adheres to a daily task checklist: “I do not fill every minute of my schedule, but I always finish all tasks I set for the day.” This consistent self-discipline allows her to progress steadily amid heavy academic workloads.

She devotes herself wholeheartedly to extracurricular pursuits as well. She is a member of the Sendelta women’s basketball team, competing in on-campus and interscholastic tournaments. She also plays the flute in the school’s Sanmao Orchestra, sharing her passion for music at campus events and public performances.

Academically, she dares to step out of her comfort zone. She participated in the HiMCM Mathematical Modeling Contest, adopting the Analytic Network Process (ANP) model to analyze the selection trends of Olympic sports events. During her internship at the Shanghai International Electronics Exhibition, she organized data from hundreds of clients and sharpened her business acumen.

Her most remarkable achievement is her published research paper Embrace or Resist: Public Opinion of AI Art in the Age of Sora. As the only high school student in her team, she collaborated with undergraduate and postgraduate researchers across five global regions. To overcome time zone barriers, she proactively booked the school’s late-night classrooms for online team meetings. Sendelta always supported her growth, standing firmly behind her whenever she pursued breakthroughs.

Monica’s success stems not from innate talent, but from persistent resilience. Rather than waiting for opportunities, she takes continuous action to turn every possibility into tangible achievement.

03升学路上，被“全程托住”的安全感

Monica的目标很明确：避开纯理科，选择一条能融合兴趣与就业前景的商科路径。但“管理还是市场营销？”起初她也犹豫不决。

在新哲升学指导老师的帮助下，这个模糊的方向被一步步具象化——从学院大类到细分专业，最终精准锚定港科大市场营销。“老师做了十几页PPT，帮我分析每个专业的课程设置、职业走向、甚至和我性格的匹配度。”

这份“托举”，贯穿她的整个高中生涯。

升学规划老师Connie在她入校初期就通过性格评估与能力画像，为她定制了清晰的成长路径：选什么课、打什么竞赛、做哪些课题，全都围绕商科核心素养展开。她先后完成四项高质量研究，从数字经济、AI商业应用，到非遗文创商业化，逐步构建起兼具宏观视野与微观实操能力的商科思维体系——而这，恰恰高度契合港大、港科大等**院校对“多元融合+社会洞察”型人才的期待。

到了申请季，文书指导赖老师从9月起便与她并肩作战。每一篇文书反复打磨，线上线下多次沟通，从故事内核到语言细节，确保真实、独特、有力量。

而最让她感动的是面试准备——面对港科大、港理工等四所学校的面试，赖老师提前3-5天逐校模拟，梳理回答逻辑，甚至精准押中港科大面试**题。“10万题库里押中一题，真的太神了！”她至今难掩激动。

“升学老师们在整个高中阶段全程没有疏漏，事事有回应。”Monica说，“我感觉有人始终在我身边，稳稳托住我的每一步。”

正是这份“被用心托举”的安全感，让她敢于探索、敢于坚持，最终抵达理想的彼岸。

Monica has always maintained a clear developmental goal: avoiding pure science tracks and pursuing a business path that integrates personal interests with promising career prospects. Nevertheless, she was initially torn between two specializations: management and marketing.

With the guidance of Sendelta’s college counseling teachers, her vague career direction gradually took shape. From broad faculty disciplines to specialized majors, she finally pinpointed Marketing at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. 

This steady and powerful support accompanied her throughout high school.

Connie, her college counselor, designed a personalized growth roadmap for Monica at the early stage of her enrollment through personality assessments and competence profiling. Every arrangement, including course selection, academic competitions, and research projects, was tailored to cultivate core business competencies. 

During the application season, Ms. Lai, her personal statement instructor, worked closely with her starting from September. They revised each essay repeatedly through numerous online and offline discussions, polishing the core storyline and linguistic details to present an authentic, distinctive, and compelling personal profile.

She was most touched by the rigorous interview preparation. Facing interviews for four universities including HKUST and Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Ms. Lai conducted targeted mock interviews for each school three to five days in advance, sorted out logical response frameworks, and even accurately predicted the first interview question of HKUST’s admission interview. 

“The college counseling team has been meticulous and responsive throughout my entire high school journey,” Monica shares. “I always felt firmly supported and accompanied at every step of my growth.”

It is this sense of security brought by dedicated guidance that empowered her to explore bravely and persist steadily, ultimately leading her to achieve her ideal admission outcome.

04“开朗+韧性”，是她脱颖而出的底色

在港科大面试中，Monica的自信与清晰逻辑让她脱颖而出。“我不怕表达自己，”她说，“但更重要的是韧性——遇到困难不轻易放弃，愿意不断试错，直到找到擅长的领域。”

如今，她已手握港科大、伦敦国王学院、加州大学戴维斯分校等多份录取，即将启程探索“数据+情绪+市场”的交叉未来。她的梦想不止于就业，更希望未来创业，让商业与社会价值共生。

Monica的故事没有惊天逆袭，却充满真实的力量：

一个曾被标签为“中等”的女孩，

在新哲被看见、被引导、被托举，

最终用自己的节奏，走到了世界**学府的门前。

正如她所说：

“选择大于努力——而新哲，给了我选择的权利，和走到底的底气。”

Monica升学老师Connie寄语：

陌陌，祝贺你毕业啦！从我们最初做规划开始，你全程高度配合，执行力和目标感都很强；你善良、听话、努力，还有无限的潜力。从学术、竞赛和活动上不断给我带来的惊喜，到音乐殿堂里演奏着长笛闪闪发光和在篮球场上挥洒汗水健康阳光的你，都是特别美好的记忆。

转眼你圆满毕业了，祝愿你在香港能实现梦想，平安顺遂，未来可期，还有，常回来看看。

Monica stood out in her HKUST interview with self-assurance and lucid logic. “I am not afraid to voice my opinions,” she says. “More importantly, resilience matters. I do not give up easily when obstacles arise, and I am willing to keep experimenting until I find the field where I excel.”

She now holds multiple offers from institutions including HKUST, King’s College London and the University of California, Davis. She is about to embark on exploring an interdisciplinary future integrating data, human sentiment and the market. Beyond securing a career, she dreams of launching her own venture someday, enabling business to coexist with social value.

Monica’s story is not a sensational rags-to-riches turnaround, yet it brims with authentic power:A girl once labelled an average student,who was seen, guided and supported at Sendelta,and finally reached the threshold of world-leading universities at her own pace.

As she puts it:“Choice matters more than effort — and Sendelta granted me the right to choose, as well as the confidence to see things through.”

Words from Teachers 

College Counselor Connie

Momo, Congratulations on your graduation! Ever since we first mapped out your study plan, you have been highly cooperative throughout the whole process, with remarkable execution and a clear sense of purpose. You are kind, diligent and receptive, and possess boundless potential.

I cherish so many wonderful memories.Now you have successfully completed high school. I wish you every success in pursuing your dreams in Hong Kong, along with peace and smooth progress. Your future holds great promise. Do come back and visit us often.

- 开放日 -

OPEN DAY

新哲文院2026年秋季入学招生进行中

我们期待更多心怀热望的少年加入新哲，在这里：

依托AP/A-Level课程体系，联动研创、艺体资源，量身匹配个性化成长路径；

秉持“学术好、研创强、用心托举每一个孩子”理念，赋能全人成长。

Sendelta Fall 2026 enrollment is now open.

Scan the QR code to book our Open Day and apply for admission.