Girls get top admissions tips at UCAS day

For our recent UCAS Day, we were fortunate to have been well supported by the University of Cambridge and Lancaster University in our preparations. Dr Emily Tomlinson, Director of Admissions for Christ’s College, Cambridge, was our keynote speaker. She spoke to our students about following their passions and how a journey may take unanticipated twists. Her advice about what universities are looking for in candidates was also greatly appreciated.

We were joined by representatives from Leeds and Lancaster university. Our students benefited from their very thorough and accessible advice about interviews, Student Finance, and writing a personal statement. The students also received a fascinating presentation from Michael Englard who is in involved in setting up a new university, The London Interdisciplinary School. Alongside these speakers, all students have a UCAS account, had time to begin their personal statement and evaluated where they are in the process of decision making. Students also have electronic copies of the UCAS entry booklet, academic engagement, and have copies of all of the presentations from the UCAS day. All students also have access to our KUDOS programme to help them in the decision-making process. 

Lower Sixth Form student, Keren O, comments: "On Thursday 6 June, St Mary’s held its annual UCAS day for our current Lower Sixth. With guest speakers from The University of Lancaster, Leeds and Cambridge, our girls learned about student finance, how to write a good personal statement and interview skills. We were also visited by The London Interdisciplinary School, a new university that prepares students to tackle some of the most complex problems that we face in the world. In the afternoon, students made a start on their personal statements and started thinking about university choices and courses. Overall, it was a very successful day. It’s an exciting time for our Lower Sixth as they start taking steps towards life after Sixth Form. I found the UCAS day very useful as I learnt things that I didn’t know so much about, like student finance. I also think that the guest speakers and our tutors were very useful in terms of giving us tips about how to write a good personal statement."