Our Futures Department arranged an Oxbridge Experience Day for our Lower Sixth (Year 12) pupils. Our thanks to Isadora for her account of the day.
On Monday 17 June, all potential Oxbridge candidates convened for the Oxbridge Experience Day, organised by Mrs Reichardt (Director of Scholars and Academic Enrichment). After a brief outline of the day, the students were asked to do some independent research. We were given a list of challenging questions designed to get each of us thinking in depth about our respective subjects.
After a couple hours, we reconvened in small groups to present our research on our chosen question. This session emulated an Oxford tutorial or a Cambridge supervision in that we learnt what it was like to present our own thoughts and work, whilst also having these ideas examined and broken down. It was a really exciting opportunity to think even more deeply on our topic and to be able to respond and adapt when our thought processes were challenged.
After these tutorial type sessions, we engaged in a critical thinking workshop lead by Dr Florence Curtis, Junior Fellow of Oxford. This not only helped to give us an idea of what a seminar would be like at the University of Oxford, but also helped us to build our interview technique and critical thinking skills. We learned to think on our feet and to be flexible, working with ideas and concepts most of us have not studied, for example in relation to AI
To round off this experience day, Dr Curtis gave us a keynote speech followed by a Q&A. Within this, Dr Curtis gave us further insight into the application process and what we could expect if we were (fortunate enough) to study at either Oxford or Cambridge.
The Oxbridge Experience Day has helped us to better understand what life at Oxbridge would be like. It was tremendously stimulating and we left with many new ideas and thoughts to consider and pursue further.
Discover more about the University Destinations of our Downe House pupils.
