Sevenoaks School hosted an Oxbridge information evening on Thursday 5 May. The aim of the event was to give current and reliable information about applying to both Oxford and Cambridge and to demystify the application process so that students can make better informed decisions.
An audience of 350 including Sixth Form students, parents and staff from Sevenoaks School, The Judd School, Maidstone Grammar School, Cranbrook School, Kent College Pembury, Tonbridge Grammar School for Girls and Dartford Grammar School came to hear a presentation from Dr Richard Earl from the Mathematics Institute at Oxford, and Richard Partington and Dr Caroline Burt from Churchill and Pembroke Colleges in Cambridge.
The representatives from both universities made clear that they want to admit the brightest and the best, regardless of their school or educational background. They said that a strong academic interest in a particular course is what should motivate students to apply. They also emphasised that applicants who genuinely loved their subject, and followed it in their own time to the exclusion of other things, would be looked on no less favourably than those with a broad range of external interests. The shy but intensely committed applicant should not, therefore, be discouraged.
Richard Partington, Senior Tutor at Churchill College, Cambridge, said: ‘Students these days often feel under pressure to excel not just academically but also socially and in terms of extra-curricular activities: they feel they have to achieve brilliant results and at the same time be at the centre of the social whirl, help old ladies across the road and canoe up the Amazon to save the rainforest. It’s really important that universities emphasise to the quiet people that we are interested in them too. If you’re a brilliant and hard-working science student who does nothing other than computing, welcome! At university you will be among friends!’
The academics kindly answered questions from students and their parents at the end of evening. One Sevenoaks parent commented, ‘it was very helpful and professionally done.’ Another parent remarked, ‘The speakers were not only very informative and entertaining, but managed to put everyone at their ease whilst at the same time leaving us in no doubt about how tough the whole process of applying is!’
The evening was organised by Wendy Heydorn and Alastair Dunn, as a joint venture between the Higher Education & Careers department and the Centre for Innovation.