On Friday 21 February, we were thrilled to meet with over 160 students from across North East England at The Hancock Museum, as they came together to learn more about studying at, and applying to, Oxford and Cambridge.

The aim of this joint event was to offer high-achieving Year 12 students, with the academic potential and enthusiasm to make an Oxbridge application, a ‘one-stop shop’ for initial queries and advice on putting together an application to Oxford, Cambridge and other competitive universities. 

Presentations focused on the unique elements of an Oxford and Cambridge education, the importance of super-curricular study to university applications, advice on writing personal statements, what makes a competitive application, admissions tests and interview guidance, followed by a Q&A with current Oxbridge students.

We received some great feedback about the event. One attendee said: “I enjoyed hearing the experiences of the students as it gave me a good insight as to what different aspects of the university are like, e.g. workload, finance and community.”

Another added: “It gave an in-depth view on super-curricular activities that I wouldn’t have accessed otherwise, and a range of options for super curricular activities.”

The conference was the brainchild of Elaine Effard, Corpus North East Access and Outreach Coordinator and Richard Petty, Senior Access Officer for North-East England at Oxford.

“We are all passionate about working with students in the North-East of England to make sure that they are best equipped to make competitive applications to Oxford, Cambridge and other higher education providers. We also strongly believe that increased North-East representation at Oxbridge is a fundamental good,” said Elaine. 

“We began discussing the idea of the conference as a way of ensuring as many students as possible get access to valuable information and advice if thinking about applying to Oxbridge. It is a useful way of enabling students who have not been able to access outreach programmes such as Cambridge’s HE+, to make sound decisions about their future and to help them navigate the Oxbridge admissions process, which can be challenging.” 

Corpus Admissions and Outreach Manager, Naomi Walker-Pearl was also in attendance, and she took the opportunity to meet with teachers at local schools. “The teachers were delighted to hear more about the ways that Corpus Christi can support their students through our widening participation programmes, such as the upcoming Medieval Worlds Residential and the recently launched Pelican Podcasts.” 

Other Cambridge Colleges in attendance were Jesus and King’s, who also work in the region. Oxford was represented by the Oxford for North East team of colleges, which are Christ Church, Trinity, and St Anne’s.