BY EVIE KITT – PIPPA’S UNIVERSITY ADVISOR

While the history, beauty and prestige of Oxford and Cambridge draws applications from many thousands of students all over the world every year, it is the new facilities, pioneering research, sporting and exciting student-run opportunities that mean these two universities continue to top all the league tables. No wonder it’s a popular choice for our ambitious students!

The competition for places is more fierce than ever, which means that to get offers applicants have to be three things; exceptional, memorable and lucky. While the third is out of our hands, we try our best to help the students who wish to apply tick all the boxes they need to be classed as outstanding candidates. This is everything from reading material beyond their A Level studies, independent research and essay writing, to real-world experience of their chosen subject. All of this is combined into their personal statement, the 500 word essay that can open the first door to offers from Oxbridge.

Along with their grades, and a good performance in any entrance exams, this statement is key to being selected for interview. Pippa’s Guardians offers a University Advisory Service (UAS) to assist students with their applications. The majority of our UAS students get invited to Oxford and Cambridge every year – this year, every single one of our applicants was interviewed, thanks to the strength of their personal statements. We are very proud of this statistic!

At interview is when applicants must demonstrate their intellectual flexibility and problem-solving ability; responding to unseen texts, difficult maths or physics questions, or challenging open-ended questions like ‘what is conscience?’ We encourage our students to think aloud and to be brave when answering, because an interesting guess is always better than saying nothing! Knowing what to expect at interview ensures our students feel as calm and confident as they can when they meet their interviewers.

While we wish we could guarantee all of our amazing students places at these universities, we are immensely proud that such a high percentage of our students who reach interview are given offers, because we know how much hard work goes into applying there. These universities demand so much more from students and we feel very privileged to be able to provide them with all the support they need as they embark on one of the biggest challenges of their lives.

 

We would like to congratulate the following students who proudly received offers this year:

Oxford University:

Summer Wang (Ruthin School) Maths at St Hughes College

Petra Azazoglu* (Cheltenham College) Classics at St Anne’s College

Haru Ishizaka* (Kingswood School) Physics at St John’s College

Eustacia Feng (Shrewsbury School) English at Merton College

Anne-Sophie Lee (Wycombe Abbey) Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Brasenose College

 

Cambridge University:

Connie Yuan* (Oundle School)  Engineering at Sidney Sussex College

Thomas Kan* (Oundle School)  Computer Science at Homerton College

Charity Lai (Uppingham School) Education, Policy and Development at Pembroke College

Saku Nagumo (Shrewsbury School) Maths at Trinity College

Rin Nakamura* (Christ’s Hospital School) Natural Science at Lucy Cavendish College

Rose Luo (Wycombe Abbey) Natural Science at Emmanuel College

*Students who used the UAS Service

Charity Lai (Uppingham School) with her Pippa's Area Manager
Anne-Sophie Lee (Wycombe Abbey)
Eustacia Feng (Shrewsbury School)
Haru Ishizaka (Kingswood School)
Petra Azazoglu (Cheltenham College)