Academic Opportunities

1. Target Oxbridge for Year 10 Students

Target Oxbridge is a free programme that aims to help Black African and Caribbean students and students of mixed race with Black African and Caribbean heritage increase their chances of getting into the Universities of Oxford or Cambridge (known collectively as Oxbridge).

Students on the Target Oxbridge Year 10 Programme will take part in four online webinars receiving advice from Black students at Trinity College Cambridge, Target Oxbridge alumni and the Trinity and Target Oxbridge teams. The webinars will provide insight into what life is like at Cambridge, what tutors are looking for in applicants, how to make the right A Level and course choices, and the chance to take part in a mini lecture.

 To be eligible students will be in Year 10, of Black African and Caribbean heritage, including mixed race students, and predicted at least three GCSEs at Grade 7.

 More information can be found here, and a poster is attached.

 Applications are open now and close on 7^th February: https://cambridge.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_1B8cYcvPRWpZM8t 

2. Open Student Talk: The Veterinary Consult - A Day in the Life of a Vet

On 10th February at 6 pm the talk is aimed at any prospective veterinary students who would like to find out more about what it means to be a vet. We hope this will provide a great opportunity to discover what the 'veterinary consult' involves and to gain more of insight into what veterinary medicine really is. This past year it has been largely impossible to carry out work experience placements and we hope this online event will go some way to enable prospective students to gain a better understanding of careers and opportunities within veterinary medicine. This talk is principally aimed at students in their final years of school before applying to university and will also be attended by current veterinary students.

The structure of the talk will allow students to follow a clinician in their work up of different case examples, exposure to diagnostic tools and learn about client communication. This talk will be held over Zoom. Pre-registration will allow us to ensure the link is only accessible by students who have signed up. The sign-up document can be found here.

The title of the talk will involve speakers from amongst the vet school clinicians. Our planned speakers and cases are outlined below. At the end of this talk we also hope to give prospective students an opportunity to ask current students about vet school or university life. Please see the attached poster for more details.

• Small Animal Medicine - Anna Cronin working through a brachycephalic obstructive airway (BOAS) case (research aspects, clinics, welfare, individual care, CT, rhinoscopy and surgery).
• Farm Animal Medicine - Robert Knott speaking on two cases, starting with Lily, a calf with a broken leg (X-rays), followed by Vera a vomiting tiger (blood work, ultrasound and endoscopy)!
• Equine Medicine: Sarah Voss will be discussing a surgical colic case (haematology, abdominocentesis, nasogastric intubation and ultrasound).

 

3. Selwyn College: Women in STEM, Year 10

Selwyn College, Cambridge is offering Year 10 students the chance to:

• attend subject lectures by Cambridge academics
• learn about what happens at university and how to make A Level choices with members of our Admissions Team
• get your questions answered by our panel of current Cambridge science students.

This event is open to any woman currently in Year 10 who is curious about pursuing sciences at university. In particular, we’re looking for attendees who have an interest in Maths, Computer Science, Engineering and Natural Sciences (especially Chemistry, Physics and Materials). More info & apply here by February 12th. Women In Stem | Selwyn College (cam.ac.uk)

4. Film Competition

Students are invited to make a short film inspired by one of the 50 Religious Treasures of Cambridge with a chance to win a share of £500. Open to all UK Year 9-13 students. Closing date: 1st March 2021 https://www.divinity.cam.ac.uk/study-here/open-days/filmcomp

5. Cambridge Language Collective

Since launching in October 2020, the Cambridge Language Collective have published over 80 articles and have had 5K visits to our page, with readers coming from 61 different countries! This term, to widen the scope of the blog and to engage language students across the UK, they are running an essay competition for secondary school students. There is the opportunity for individual and group submissions in two categories; junior (yrs 9-11) and senior (years 12-13). The winning submissions will be read by Cambridge academics and posted on the blog which we hope is an exciting prospect for those hoping to apply to study languages at university. Deadline for entries is Friday 9^th April 2021 at 5pm, and details of the competition and recommended texts are attached.

6. Super-curricular ideas

For your students who may be interested in applying to the University of Cambridge or other selective universities, it is important not only to do very well academically, but to also explore their chosen subject through wider reading outside the classroom.

In collaboration with colleagues from across the University, we have compiled a list of suggested reading and resources, organised by subject, which may be of use to your students during the current COVID-19 lockdown. It is important to note that these are suggestions only, and certainly do not represent required reading for Cambridge applicants! The document is hosted at both sites below.

7. HE+ Website

HE+ website is our open-access website aimed at secondary school students and provides access to supercurricular resources written by Cambridge students/academics. Each of our undergraduate courses is represented with a subject page; within the subject pages, you’ll find links to over 30 curated and updated supercurricular resources which go deeper into a particular topic. The new website’s resources feature more video/audio content, glossaries, worksheets and reflective questions for each resource, a feedback mechanism and links to further reading.

8. Sidney Sussex College information videos

A series of videos have been made for prospective applicants detailing: choosing a subject, choosing a college, admissions assessments, and making a competitive application

 

 

9. Imperial College London Lockdown Lessons: COVID 19

The Imperial College London Lockdown Lessons series includes 12x online lectures that inform students about how scientists at Imperial have responded to the COVID-19 pandemic – the recordings can be found here:

https://www.imperial.ac.uk/be-inspired/student-recruitment-and-outreach/schools-and-colleges/students/lockdown-lessons/