Jack Grennan writes about the visit to Oxford on Tuesday 6th October 2015
After an extremely early morning start and a 4.5 hour coach journey, we arrived at Corpus Christi College in Oxford. Having entered the courtyard we were met by Brendan Shepard, the Outreach Officer at the link college. Brendan explained to us the admissions process and some of the more obscure courses available (and some made up ones to trick us!). After the workshop, we had a tour of the college by present students in their second year. We visited the gardens, chapel, library and the college bar!
After the tour it was time for lunch. The choice of food was either salmon or roast beef and Yorkshire pudding. This was delicious. We shared the dining hall the new students as it was the Freshers’ first day. After lunch we had another workshop where we talked about the Oxford University Admission process and student finance.
Our second college visit was to Magdalen College, just a short walk away. The college was built near an old priory and graveyard! Notable alumni include Oscar Wilde and CS Lewis. It is one of the colleges which supplies rowers for the Boat Race due to its proximity to the river and has the only complete quadrangle in Oxford.
After leaving Magdalen, we were allowed some free time on Oxford’s main shopping street. This contains lots of shops, mainly catering for students but surprisingly we found McDonalds the most inviting, despite the large lunch! We then boarded the coach at 15.30 ready for the journey back home.
We all thoroughly enjoyed the trip as it gave us an insight , and a head-start, into applying for one of the most prestigious universities in the World.
The trip was part funded by the Aspire programme, Crompton House’s pathway provision for high achievers.
