High School Study Abroad in Cambridge, England

This program has been one of the best experiences of my life. The people were intelligent, polite, thoughtful and all around amazing. The classes were challenging and so interesting. I felt I was getting a great preview of college life, and dreaded it ending!

The weeks I spent at the Cambridge Scholars' Programme were the best weeks of my life. No questions asked. I love all the people I met like they were my family, and we acted like it. I have never laughed, danced, hugged, selfied, walked, photographed or cheered anywhere more in my life. My time in Cambridge was incredible. Thank you so much. Before we even finished we were planning a reunion!

I will look back on my Summer with Immerse with amazing memories! I made life long friends from round the world who helped me grow in confidence the summer before starting college. My tutor was so knowledgeable but also approachable and confirmed my decision that Architecture is the right path for me. What I wasn't expecting was the support and friendliness from my mentor throughout the programme. I learned so much from her in terms of what to expect from being an undergrad. She was like a big sister! I wish I could attend every year but will keep in touch with all the amazing friends I made.

The cambridhe scholars programme has been one of my biggest opportunities in life. I came from australia and it was 100% worth it. Organisers were the kindest people ever, mentors and teachers alike. The classes were interesting and the teachers were absolutely phenomenal. I was with a super amazing group of people whom I will be friends with for the rest of my life. The excursions to london and oxford were super cool!! Food, amenities and accommodation was absolutely awesome. I will remember and cherish my time at the cambridge scholars programme forever. I 10000000% recommend!!!!

One would not believe what an impact can 2 weeks have on their life! The immerse physics course at the Cambridge university encompassed fun, learning opportunities and relationships, which opened many doors for me in the future. It was not only an opportunity for me to try out the environment of a university, but also a way to develop myself. The complete beginning of my stay began with an essay competition held by the Immerse Education. It gave me a taste of what writing an academic essay outside of my school feels like as well as it brought an ecstatic feeling of happiness, when the results came in announcing I was given a scholarship for the course. From that moment on, the immerse staff started guiding me towards my stay and were incredibly helpful in trying to meet my needs, which was incredibly useful taking into consideration the COVID situation we have found ourselves in. When finally on the course, I have found myself in an incredibly friendly environment. My mentor, Sam, showed me around and I was able to network with people from all walk of life in an instant. It did not take long before I managed to find some amazing friends, with whom I still am in contact with. These relationships were later on supported by many leisure time activities (such as sports day, botanical garden visit, or murder mystery night) prepared by our mentors and the other members of the Immerse Education staff. The physics part of my course was both challenging and enjoyable. Of course, when it comes to science programs, one must be prepared to study hard, this one was no exception. However, it was all worth it. I was taught by a graduate of the Cambridge University who showed us numerous ways to tackle tasks in various fields of physics. Not only did this help me to understand the matter on a more advanced level, but I have also expanded my problem solving skills providing that our teacher gave us brain teasers as a form of relax during some of the harder sessions. Last, but not least, this course gave me my first ever experience of working with my peers that are all interested in the same domain as I am. We helped each other understand some of the mathematical dilemmas we were dealing with as well as proposed each other some useful studying materials that we had been using in the past. Another enriching part of the program were the mentors themselves. When having a minute of spare time in between different parts of the program, we were able to talk to them about their experience at the Cambridge University. As they were all students there, they were able to give us insides on how to write a good personal statement, choose the correct college, what parts of the city are a must see, or how to get a better room within the dorm. In conclusion, the course was not only amazing in expanding my knowledge of physics, but also created space for me to make lasting relationships, get a better idea of how life in Cambridge is like, and gave me many memories of a well spent summer time. Now, that I am back home, I have found out that my outlook on my future has completely changed and many of the challenges I deemed impossible, now seem easy. I still expand on the knowledge I had obtained on the course and think about the great time I had with my friends.

This program was splendid! I was granted the opportunity to meet and interact with like-minded people who has a love for education and learning. The mentors were great too, giving us a very insightful taste of what it was like to study at Cambridge, also offering us mental and emotional support. The housing was very good, with adequate essentials, good workspaces and a balcony that exceeded my expectations. Additionally the food was okay, but sometimes the lunch meals were slightly unusual, so I found myself leaving campus for lunch often. Apart from that, the course was great!

Taking part in the 2-week Immerse medicine program hosted by Oxbridge was undoubtedly the highlight of my summer break. Due to COVID restrictions, I had to attend the course online. Nevertheless, I still felt really involved and engaged. My tutor, who took us through the medicine course was actually a medical student in Cambridge but he was extremely knowledgeable and was able to answer each question thoroughly and beyond my expectations. He also made sure to explain all the concepts that seemed tough in a simpler way which made them easy to understand. With our tutor, we were allowed 1 on 1 sessions before class on specific days which allowed me to ask questions on the content taught that were not so clear but also about any other content I encountered through further reading that I did not understand fully. In addition to the normal lectures we had in the morning, we also had afternoon workshops hosted by admissions officers who helped us understand how to write good academic essays, how to engage in debates, and what is important in submitting university applications. We also had sessions with students of Oxbridge (I had both a first year and final year student) who gave us virtual tours and insights about the two campuses. Learning with Oxbridge's Immerse was really enlightening because I was able to answer questions based on things I already learnt in regular school and also, expand on that knowledge. After the program, I received a really motivating report from my tutor which encouraged me to move forward with my studies in the medical field. I would definitely recommend participating in the Immerse program because it is one of the most enriching experiences out there. It is also very simple to get into. I took part in the essay competition and earned a discount fee on the course. All it takes is genuine interest and passion in the subject.

Last summer I took part in the International Relations programme in Cambridge and I had a wonderful experience! The course was really well structured and it really gave me an insight in what IR is about! We also got to develop a personal project giving us the opportunity to apply what we learnt to a topic of our choice. All the activities proposed, both in the course and outside, were engaging and well organized! Despite the sanitary emergency we had the opportunity of exploring Cambridge...and Oxford and London as well! In the two weeks I spent in Cambridge I made new lifelong friends and got to meet people from all over the world! I would highly encourage everyone to have this experience at least once in their life!

My Summer Medical Programme at Cambridge university came about in an indirect way. I heard from friends about an essay competition that would give people a full ride scholarship into a summer programme at Cambridge or Oxford that would focus on the career they were interested in. As a potential medical student, I wrote an essay for medicine titled ‘what makes a good doctor?’ I received a partial scholarship and was able to attend this medical programme in July 2021. Me and the other students in the medicine programme stayed at Sidney Sussex College and our lessons were undertaken by a researcher who had done a phD at Cambridge. We talked about pathways into medicine as well as the intricate biochemistry that underpins medical discoveries, breakthroughs and beliefs. I particularly loved our classes as my huge attraction to medicine is its explanatory power and the way actions are based on principles that have been studied and confirmed. I particularly enjoyed dissecting, learning to suture and practicing gel electrophoresis (which I had learnt about in my IB Biology class). Each day, we also had social activities ranging from movie nights and museum trips to quizzes and rides on the River Cam that enabled us to interact with and get to know the students enrolled in other programmes. It was truly an amazing programme and one of the few things that made being unable to go home for the summer enjoyable.

During the Summer of 2017, I attended Reach Cambridge International Summer School, and long story short, it was the best decision I have ever taken in my life. I was lost and didn't know what I wanted to study in University, and I felt like I was under so much pressure to choose. I was standing irresolute in front of the door which was my future, not knowing what path to take. I was stranded between architecture and law, and I didn't know what I would love more to study and was terrified that I would take a wrong step towards a wrong decision, which would change all my life. Hence, I attended Reach Cambridge and chose to take the Law course and Architecture as an add-on. In my Law classes, I had an extremely bright, inspiring and passionate teacher (who has just completed her masters in law in Cambridge University) teach us the course. It was an absolute honor to have such a teacher, teach us Law, and she has definitely made me believe that Law was the choice for me. Every single day we studied different fields of law, fields of law that I didn't even know existed to be quite frank, and she eloquently articulated every piece of information with so much passion. She helped me see that I possessed many skills and talent that are well suited for law, through the numerous debates and writings we did in class. She was also quite knowledgeable on absolutely everything that had to do with Law and the course, so I was able to ask her many questions and was able to have a better perception of it as a whole. As for the architecture add-on, the teacher was also lovely and very passionate, however, I realized that I did not have the passion and the skill for architecture, and so, I was finally able to know what I wanted to study in the future. However, I did enjoy the architecture classes and found them extremely intriguing. We went to the streets of Cambridge to sketch fragments of the most architecturally beautiful buildings in the world, which also encompassed so much history. Also, we did learn so much about architecture when we were seated in the classroom and understood what it means to study the course. Not only did I make a life-determining decision, but I also was able to gain so much knowledge on almost everything. Every evening (except for the weekends) we had an evening lecture, each day on a different topic. The lectures covered so many random and interesting topics such as Brexit, Astrophysics, Archaeology, Music making, Pilots, Creativity and much, much more. Not only did I gain so much knowledge, but I was also able to meet so many people from all around the world with different stories to share, and made lifelong friends. I did not encounter a single unfriendly person but rather the most amazing, bright and loving people. Not to mention, the best part was living in the beautiful city of Cambridge. There are so many shops, cafes, restaurants that would never leave you unsatisfied. Each turn I took, I was indubitably enthralled by the stupendous scenery and architecture that encompasses me. Needless to say, if you ask me to describe that Summer in one word. That one word would simply be, 'wow'.

My experience at Reach Cambridge was amazing! I chose, after the global leadership week, to be an English Literature student. Our course was very interesting and our teachers were truly incredible. Through our classes no the entire experiences, we were able to meet people from all over the world that I've kept in touch with since the summer. The accommodations were marvelous, and the freedom we were given in Cambridge was wonderful. All of the supervisors and staff were simply lovely and very attentive. Reach Cambridge is a mind-broadening program that keeps you on your toes, but still gives you a home in Cambridge, England. Overall, this program was both academic and social. Our excursions were very interesting and let you get a good look at everything from Brighton Pier to Warwick Castle. With our English Literature group we went to the Tate Modern, which was amazing. This has been an experience that I will remember fondly for many years to come, Reach was an incredible and treasured experience.