When I arrived at Oxford Train Station, dragging my suit case behind me, I had absolutely no idea of what I could possibly expect from the week to come, in fact I even had a brief moment of panic where I thought that I had made a huge mistake! As I approached the growing crowd of equally nervous looking Sixth Formers wearing Oxford University Lanyards, my trepidation subsided, the diversity of the group made me realise that the week to come would be an incredible experience-and our walk to Exeter College started a week-long, accent based, debate on the pronunciation of different words! The Oxford University Summer School was undoubtedly an incredibly demanding week, as it included an intensive educational programme, daily social activities and even a field trip to allow us to appreciate the true experience of an Oxford Student.
I had chosen to study the Law course- and since I do not currently pursue any formal studies in the subject, it was an unrivalled opportunity to ascertain whether or not I wanted to study Law with French at university for four years. The legal academic programme was enriching: we attended daily lectures on rather complicated concepts of the law and we were expected to have a sufficient understanding of the cases discussed to be able to write an essay and participate in a one-to-four tutorial with a world leading professor the following morning. Since our social activities meant that we returned to the college at 11pm, we would stay up until quite late in order to prepare what was needed for the tutorials- the atmosphere created by such dedicated and passionate students working into the night to meet deadlines was merely a taster of what awaits all prospective university students! The most memorable part of the academic programme was the moot: we were given the case, assigned sides and expected to prepare speeches and arguments for a moot which took place in a mock court room- we were all so nervous about doing something which we had never done before, however our preparation and work meant that the moots were exciting and quite passionate.
In addition to this, the links that Oxford University had were used in order to allow us to consider our possible career options: we were taken LinkLaters, one of the ‘magic circle’ law firms, in central London, where we were able to explore the different areas of law that graduates could pursue. We also had a formal dinner with prominent Oxford Law alumnus who had all had very different careers linked to law- though most of us were confused by the cutlery presented to us and were preoccupied by trying to use the correct utensils for the correct course!
The Social Programme was equally enjoyable and allowed us to experience everything that Oxford had to offer: there was a fancy dress night during which we had to choose a costume themed on the one of the letters from UNIQ (the name of the summer school), certain costumes were ingenious and we were repeatedly stopped and photographed by amused tourists, who could not understand why somebody would willingly humiliate themselves publically in such a way! For me, the most enjoyable social activity was a hilarious improv comedy show called “Hickory Dickory Muder” by “the Dead Secrets”, which included them acting out an audience member’s suggestion of “#YOLO”
All in all, the Summer School was absolutely amazing- and whilst it hasn’t made me confident of getting a place at Oxford, it has given me the confidence to apply and think that I am deserving of a place. I would advise all of the Year 12s to do some research into the “UNIQ Summer School” and “The Sutton Trust” for some truly amazing and free opportunities to see whether the courses they wish to study are truly for them.
