Any tips on how to get into a great university?

I am only starting year 11 in September however, I am aiming to get into Cambridge and am wondering if there are any extracurricular activities and things that would be helpful? Thanks

I am only starting year 11 in September however, I am aiming to get into Cambridge and am wondering if there are any extracurricular activities and things that would be helpful? Thanks

Hi there! We're the admissions and schools liaison team at Peterhouse, one of the Colleges at Cambridge. Part of our job is to support prospective applicants so we'd be happy to help!

The most important thing is that you choose the right course for the right reasons. This will mean that you will get the most out of your time at university, both in terms of the fun you have and the skills you gain to support whatever you do afterwards. Forget about prestige or rankings or your parents'/teachers' opinions, careers (to an extent) and think about what your ideal university course would look like. What topics would it cover? How would it be taught? Would it include lots of practical training, a year abroad, a year in industry? Remember that you apply for up to 5 courses so make sure you're thinking about all 5 of them.

Another way to think about course choice and preparing for applying is to get exploring your subject. This is very important and something you can get on to now. What we mean by this is to start reading and exploring things that interest you, going above and beyond what you cover in school. This sort of thing is generally much more important than other things like work experience or other kinds of extracurriculars. Read, read, read, read, read! If this all seems to much, we and some of the other Cambridge colleges have twitter accounts and post things of interest to people like you under the #ExploreYourSubject hashtag.