Pembroke and St Catharine’s Summer School Success

High-achieving Year 12 students from state schools across East Anglia, the East Midlands and London attended the 9th annual Pembroke and St. Catharine's Summer School this July. The 70 young people who took part in the free residential event chose lectures on topics from xenotransplantation to volcanic plumes; and from the behavioural patterns of meerkats to the media and crime. Additional seminars and supervisions - small-group teaching sessions unique to the Cambridge Collegiate system - gave the participants an opportunity to explore their subjects of interest with each other and with University academics. Maciek, from London, said: "These sessions really showed me the value of a Cambridge education." The two Colleges' admissions tutors, Philip Oliver and Caroline Burt, gave a talk and took part in a Q and A to demystify the Cambridge application process, while workshops on UCAS personal statements and academic interviews aimed to give the participants the tools to build a really strong university application. The Director of the University Careers Service, Gordon Chesterman, gave the students a taste of what Cambridge students go on to do after they have graduated. Participants also had the opportunity to visit departments and faculties, as the residential summer school is timed to coincide with the University-wide Open Days. In the evenings social activities included a formal meal in College, a scavenger hunt and ghost tour of the city, showing another side of Cambridge life.