I am from Livingston, a town between Edinburgh and Glasgow and my parents were born in Mauritius. I applied to the Sutton Trust’s UK Summer Schools to get a better understanding of what university and student life was like, as well as to try to decide what I wanted to specialize in Engineering.

Before the summer school, I didn’t know anyone doing it and after being in lockdown due to COVID, I was nervous going into a new environment. Also I didn’t know how well I would communicate with people online. After the first day, I was really comfortable talking to my mentors and classmates and the breakfast club was great as we did some ice breakers and spoke about several topics.

The summer school online was very informative as I managed to attend different webinars about personal statement support, UCAS applications and Q&A sessions with different universities. On the Sutton Trust Online platform, there’s valuable advice on things like mental health, financing university, researching courses and more. I also found out about OSCAR, a personal statement builder on the platform which they recommended me to take advantage of. After applying for Causeway Education’s personal statement mentorship scheme, I now have 121 personal statement support, thanks to Sutton Trust Online. It’s a huge advantage as the mentor is chosen specifically for the course you intend on applying for.

Since partaking in the programme, I’ve gained more knowledge about university life and I learned more about my strengths and weaknesses. For me, the highlight was meeting new people. I made lots of new friends by the end of the summer school and I can’t say how helpful the staff and volunteers were. They were really friendly and made sure everyone had the best experience possible. During the social activities, it helped me engage with my peers who I now keep contact with – hopefully we might see each other at university in-person!

Another thing that I have gained through the summer school was my confidence. After a tough year of lockdown and exams, I doubted my capabilities quite a lot. After completing Year 1 and Year 2 aerospace engineering content at university during the summer school, it boosted my confidence. I enjoyed the process of the problem solving as I had a sense of achievement after getting the solution on my own. I was really engaged in the activities and it was interesting to see how mathematics could be applied to real world problems.

Taking part in the summer school has helped me with my decision making for my UCAS application and the support they provide after completing the program is amazing. The knowledge, skills and experience that I have taken away from this is priceless! I want to study Engineering at university and would like to do something which will contribute to society and impact the lives of people around me.

Thanks to the summer school, I’m even more excited to go to university and study a course that I’m passionate about. If you’re considering to apply, go for it – it would be a big mistake to pass on an opportunity as big as this! I now feel prepared for my university application and I don’t know where I would be without the amount of support I have received during this summer school. Any questions you have will be answered.