Year 12 Stellenbosch Visit

28th February 2026

With AS exams looming on the horizon and university peering over its shoulder, its about time we start figuring out what exactly is ahead of us. Hence, whilst the rest of you were packing up for half-term, us year 12s were en route to Stellenbosch.

First and foremost, Stellenbosch is a beautiful town. And seeing as the university has an open and sporadic campus, it really takes full advantage of this. Leading us through it all was our lovely tour guide who was very happy to answer any and all of our questions.

With the academic year having started in earnest, we got to witness the sheer amount of people attending the university, apparently over 25 thousand of them. Meeting this demand was more coffee shops per square kilometre than quite possibly pubs in the UK, as well as a student run market.

We got a lot of valuable information and insight into all aspects of life at Stellies, and whilst I won’t bore you with all of it, here are some interesting take aways:

Stellenbosch accepts applicants based solely on academic achievement. Unlike other universities who will take into account extra-curriculars and the like.
For all departments bar law NBTs (National benchmark tests) are not used as a metric.
Student residential is likewise based solely on academic merit. (Note that it is very competitive, with this year’s cut-off being an 88% grade average.)
Interestingly, the first pinotage was invented at Stellenbosch university.

Thank you to all the teachers involved in this logistically, as well as our tour guide for making it all possible.

– Quinn