Top Universities Visit Caterham

Last week saw the annual university fair take place, where we welcomed thirty-five of the UK’s top universities to Caterham School. For a fantastic three hours our pupils had the opportunity to talk to representatives from institutions such as the Arts University Bournemouth, Durham, Imperial College, Exeter, Bath, Bristol, and Cardiff, to name just a few, enabling them to find out more about the courses they offer and how to make their application stand out. We were also delighted to welcome one of the top overseas university consultants in the UK, David Hawkins from The University Guys, to the event.  

There was a palpable buzz in the Humphreys Theatre where the main exhibition stands were located, as pupils from across the year groups as well their parents and guardians, used the chance to delve deeper into the array of courses available to them after leaving school and what A Levels were required to make a successful application. It surprised some to find out that you did not need A level psychology to read this discipline at university, nor was it necessary to have economics A Level for many undergraduate courses in this field because maths is far more important. 

As well as the exhibition aspect, a programme of 12 talks took place across the fair, covering subjects in a wide range of topics from preparing an art portfolio, fantastic personal statements, getting into medical school and creative careers to student finance, applying to competitive universities and global opportunities to showcase just some of the themes. Whilst these talks were not recorded, some of the presentation slides are available of the careers section of Firefly under the university fair tab. 

We were also delighted to welcome over one hundred and fifty pupils and the parents from our local schools including Oxted School, St Bede’s, Warlingham School and Sixth Form College and Reigate College, to this event. 

A huge thank you to all our guest universities and the University Guys for making this event such a success and to everyone who turned up and engaged with everything on offer. I am already planning next year, so please do let me know if you have any suggestions for how to make the event even better. 

Mrs Clare Brown 

Head of Careers, [email protected]