Cambridge Engineering Student Success Story

It’s important to celebrate the achievements of our students after months of hard work and dedication.

Today we are celebrating Meili’s story of achieving a Cambridge Engineering offer. Meili kindly sat down with Rob, our Content Team Leader, to talk through her application journey from using our Oxbridge Engineering Programme:

1. Initial contact and meeting your tutor

2. Cambridge Engineering application support

3. Our impact and looking towards the future

Let’s start the journey from when we first spoke to Meili about her Cambridge plans during one of our free consultations.

“As a Chinese International student, I lacked confidence with areas like grammar and I was worried I would make mistakes in my Personal Statement and Interviews and sound foolish. But consistently practising with UniAdmissions helped me gain a lot of confidence and the Cambridge Interview ended up going well.” – Meili

1. Initial Contact And Meeting Your Tutor

Going back to last year Meili, what led you to UniAdmissions?

I was looking for a lot of Engineering Interview help, particularly one-to-one support and to do mock Interviews to simulate the real thing. I also wanted some non-academic support too so I was very excited to see the Enrichment Sessions on your website.

Did you have any initial concerns with working with us?

I previously thought that ultimately, studying and improving should be down to oneself. Paying for support may not help with my application. But I think it was a good investment as the support was really helpful and it definitely broadened my horizons and gave me the opportunity to achieve a Cambridge offer.

What was your first session with your tutor like?

My tutor was very encouraging. We spent some time discussing my areas of weakness, for me, this was Interviews so my tutor and I spent a lot of our sessions doing mock Interview practice and just practising explaining and describing. He proposed a plan and then demonstrated what the format of our future lessons will be like.

2. Cambridge Engineering Application Support

Aside from your initial session, how did you find the one-to-ones?

My tutor’s style of teaching suited me. The style of teaching was a lot of questions and then working through methods. This was very useful. He always encouraged me to explain my thoughts and think carefully, then led me to complete problems with different methods. It definitely helped with my Interviews since proposing different methods quickly is what the Interviewers love to see. My tutor also helped me improve my Personal Statement and prepare for some general questions about my discipline.

Tell me about the Enrichment Sessions Meili, did you attend our weekly sessions?

The Enrichment Sessions were exactly what I was looking for to develop my interests and provide more talking points in my Personal Statement and during my Interviews. One of my favourite sessions was on Artificial Intelligence, something I am looking forward to studying when I start at Cambridge. I even included this in my first paragraph of my Personal Statement! The content covered were topics that we never went through in school so I would have missed some learning otherwise. It also pushed me to research more around my discipline in my own time.

How was our Personal Statement support?

Although we focussed more on Interview preparation during one-to-ones, I found the marking service and courses really helpful to make my Personal Statement more concise, show that I was passionate about Engineering and also sound less boring.

How did you benefit from our Interview support?

UniAdmissions provides mock Interviews and each of these are with different teachers. Since different teachers have different styles and methods for students to approach questions, I got to be fully prepared and confident when receiving any response from the Interviewers. I now have a wide range of problem-solving methods in the back of my head.

3. Our Impact And Looking Towards The Future

How has your confidence with your application improved since using our support?

As a Chinese International student, I lacked confidence with areas like grammar and I was worried I would make mistakes in my Personal Statement and Interviews and sound foolish. But consistently practising with UniAdmissions helped me gain a lot of confidence and the Cambridge Interview ended up going well.

The group chats with other UniAdmissions students were great for improving my confidence as there were lots of people to ask questions to and talk about how they were finding the process. It felt like a community.

Tell me about the impact UniAdmissions made on your application process.

Learning and understanding what Interviewers and Admissions Tutors looked for in my application. I don’t think I could have got an offer without UniAdmissions’ support, as I was able to know which areas to revise and focus on and also how to approach problems that came up during Interviews. I also benefitted from being able to explain my extra-curricular activities on paper to demonstrate my passion for Engineering. Without any real support from school, working with UniAdmissions was needed.

Looking forwards now to university, what can you take away from our support to help you in further education?

I have more confidence in tackling harder questions and I feel I have better methods for approaching questions from trying lots of different methods on the courses, and during one-to-ones. This will be helpful during Cambridge supervisions. Also, I feel my interest in Engineering has increased from the Enrichment Seminars which makes me excited to start as I find the discipline fascinating.

Finally, Meili, who would you recommend us to and why?

Of course, it depends on the students, but I definitely would recommend the mock Interviews to my fellow students in lower years who are about to start their Oxbridge applications. I thought the mock Interviews were really helpful and I think they are the best way to prepare for the real thing. Some of the questions that came up during my Cambridge Interview were the same as those I had already worked through.

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Read through our other Student Success Stories:

Cambridge Economics

“I never let myself expect to get an offer, but I can confidently say that I would have struggled in preparing for the process without UniAdmissions’ support.”

Oxford E&M

“My confidence improved massively since using the support of UniAdmissions as I knew I had people I could rely on to help, and that there was expertise at all times.”

Cambridge Engineering

“Consistently practising with UniAdmissions helped me gain a lot of confidence and the Cambridge Interview ended up going well.”

Oxford Medicine

“Working with UniAdmissions really boosted my confidence around the Interviews and Personal Statement due to feeling more aware of the process.”

Cambridge Medicine

“My confidence has definitely improved as a result of UniAdmission’s support. I feel much more assured in my science knowledge and communication skills.”

Oxford PPE

“UniAdmissions made my application process much less daunting and easier to understand. It felt like I had a bigger chance of succeeding.”

To comply with the requests of our students, the photos and names used are not those of our students.