Immerse Education

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.

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.

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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!

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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.

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