My Journey

I first became interested in Philosophy when I was in Year 11, after watching a YouTube video about the Ship of Theseus paradox; a thought experiment which asks whether a ship remains the same even if all its component parts are replaced. There were so many different variations of this puzzle and such interesting implications on human personal identity that I ended up down a very deep philosophy rabbit hole which eventually (after many more videos, books, articles, etc) led to my application to study it at university!

My Schooling

I sat my GCSEs and A Levels at my local grammar school in Manchester. I always very much enjoyed school, and had an especially great time during Sixth Form as I found my A Levels so interesting. It was also nice to actually sit them, since my GCSEs were cancelled due to COVID! At A Level I studied English Language, Psychology, and Religious Studies, with the latter containing topics in Philosophy and Ethics which I found fascinating. This confirmed to me that Philosophy was most certainly what I wanted to study at university, the prospect of which excited me very much.

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Joining Cambridge University

In the summer between year 12 and 13, I was selected to attend an arts and humanities residential at Trinity College, Cambridge, which provided me with invaluable insights as to what life at Cambridge would look like. I thoroughly enjoyed both the academic and social side of the residential, and so a few months later I sent in my UCAS application to study Philosophy at Trinity College. Following my subsequent admissions test and interview, I received a rejection email, stating that I had been placed in the winter pool (a metaphorical ‘pool’ of applicants which each college found sufficiently strong but decided not to take, from which other colleges can choose to take students if they so desire), but not selected by any other colleges, and so unfortunately had been rejected.

Out of curiosity, I decided to request feedback from Trinity to see their reasoning for the rejection, and was surprised to find that it was my admissions test essay being only two sentences, as I remembered writing a much longer one! To cut a long story short, after thorough investigation they eventually found my whole essay and were deeply apologetic that for some reason only the first two sentences were read. This discovery resulted in my initial application being voided, and so in March of year 13 I re-did the admissions process with Trinity, however unfortunately after my interview they decided that they could not take me after all. This was a difficult decision to navigate, as I had gotten my hopes up about being accepted this time around, but I remained excited to study at Durham, my second choice university, who had given me an offer for their Philosophy course.

After sitting my A Levels and receiving A*A*A on results day, I was delighted to have met my offer to study at Durham. However, my Cambridge application journey picked up again a few days after results day when the August Reconsideration Pool occurs. It is similar to the winter pool, but consists of students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds who narrowly missed out on offers and received strong A Levels, and occurs due to some students with offers missing their A Level grade requirements meaning that most colleges have a few extra spaces to fill before term starts in October. During this pooling process, I received a phone call from Churchill College offering me a place to study philosophy there! This was very unexpected to me, and I remember feeling overwhelmingly both shocked and ecstatic. While my Cambridge application journey was long and tumultuous, the year over which it occurred was a time of great personal growth for me as this was the first time I had dealt with a major rejection, and so I am ultimately grateful to have experienced joining Cambridge University in such a unique way!

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My Experience

I had so many wonderful experiences at Cambridge, and especially loved being involved in college life at Churchill. At the end of my first year I became social events officer for Churchill’s JCR committee, and was responsible for organising events such as formal dinners, ‘bops’ (themed disco-style events in the college bar), and much more, for around 500 undergraduate students. I loved being on the committee and found it rewarding to be able to make a difference to people’s college life, and was therefore inspired to hold further committee positions at Churchill! In my second year I led the Christian Union, where I planned at led multiple weekly meetings, and in my third year I joined the executive committee of Churchill’s May Ball as Vice President and Secretary, which while being a very large responsibility, was a lot of fun too.

Outside of committee positions I also enjoying working for the college as an ambassador in various ways. I have co-ordinated online admissions interviews, worked as a fundraiser in the annual telephone campaign, and helped with many summer residentials for prospective applicants in year 12. The latter was definitely my favourite, perhaps because it felt quite full circle to be able to support students on similar residentials to the one I attended when I was their age! I also continue to work with Churchill College as I recently accepted the role of Year Group Representative for Churchill students who joined Cambridge in the same year as me, which means I will get to organise various alumni events such as reunions!

Student Life

I initially found student life at Cambridge very intense, especially in the first few weeks when I was trying to balance the huge workload I instantly received with meeting so many new people and attending social events most nights. However, once I became more accustomed to the busyness and settled into a routine, Cambridge began to be much more manageable and enjoyable! Across all three years of my degree, I found my lectures, readings, and essays super interesting, especially when I took modules I had never encountered before, such as Aesthetics or Philosophy of Mind, but ended up loving. I also enjoyed the unique teaching style of one-on-one weekly supervisions in which I could discuss my essay with and receive feedback from a more senior academic, as they challenged me to be a much more thoughtful and articulate philosopher and person.

As for the social side of university, while I was often very busy, especially once I began taking on committee roles, my life in Cambridge was profoundly enjoyable. One of my favourite aspects of Cambridge life was the formal dinners that students can attend in college, especially themed ones such the Christmas (or ‘Bridgemas’!) formal; they are a uniquely beautiful way of bringing people together that made me appreciate more both the people I shared them with, and the place I was lucky enough to be in.