Students experience the reality of Cambridge

All three 17-year-olds say that they haven’t had a single dull moment since they arrived in Cambridge four days ago to take part in the second Sutton Trust Summer School to be run this summer. “Well, ok, some of the lectures have been a bit long but that’s because I find it really hard to sit still,” admits James.

Richard, James and Stephanie are among 200 sixth-formers who have experienced Cambridge this summer through four subject-based residential courses supported by the Sutton Trust, an educational charity that encourages state school pupils from families with little history of higher education to aim high academically.

Along with 20 or so others, the trio are spending their days at the Department of Engineering, taking part in lectures, project work and small group teaching sessions. During the evening all participants meet up for social activities such as debates, punting on the Cam and watching Shakespeare plays in the College gardens – with Sidney Sussex College providing accommodation.

Richard, who goes to St James’ Catholic High School in Colindale, north London, says the week in Cambridge has given him an insight into the structure of engineering course and has dispelled concerns about fitting in.

“I had a picture of Cambridge being full of elite people but the Cambridge students we’ve met are all normal and down to earth,” he says. “I’ve really enjoyed mechanical engineering, especially when we stripped and rebuilt engines, and also fluid mechanics, because I’d like to go into the aerospace industry. Hopefully, I will be applying to Cambridge in the autumn.”

It is clear talking to these students that some had ambivalent feelings about Cambridge being “scarily out of reach” before arriving.

“Cambridge has huge kudos as a world-renowned university. But it’s easy to feel that only the elite have a good chance of getting in – people who are really, really smart intellectually and probably from private school,” says James (pictured second from left), a pupil at Glossopdale Community College, Derbyshire. “Having spent a week here I feel much more relaxed about applying.”

No-one around the table has encountered anyone at Cambridge “with a really posh accent” or “wearing top hat and tails”, they joke. “I thought that Cambridge lecturers would wear cloaks and expect you to shut up and listen. Now I know that they are happy to have a conversation with you,” says Ali Torabi (second from right), a pupil at St Thomas More RC High School in North Shields.

Ali, who came to the UK with his family from Iran in 2004, says that the summer school has afforded a welcome in-depth look at Cambridge. “I came to one of the recent Open Days where there is so much to take in. So it’s been great to have been treated as a potential student during this week,” he says.

Look out for a personal diary of the Sutton Trust programme later this week.

STOP PRESS: Teachers and higher education education/careers advisers interested in learning more about the Cambridge applications procedure, including recent changes, are invited to book places for an HE Advisers’ Conference on 23-24 September. For information visit the link at the sidebar.