So, firstly, if you haven't heard of UNIQ before, here's a little bit about it: UNIQ is a summer school which is part of the University of Oxford, which has the aim of raising the aspirations of students studying at UK state schools and colleges regarding their Higher Education choices - you can check out their website (www.uniq.ox.ac.uk) for more info, including lots of info about how to apply! The summer course really gives you a good idea about the reality of life at Oxford - showing you that it can be loads of fun as well as hard work, and often that the work is fun too (especially tutorials!). Looking at oxforduniq on Instagram will also give you a great idea of what the summer course is like and how much fun it is! I went on UNIQ when I was in Year 12 and have written a blog post about that, but as I'm now a student at Oxford, this year I had the opportunity to work on UNIQ as an Ambassador for a week over the summer. (As a side note, there are a fair few UNIQ student meet-ups during the Oxford interview period and then during term time if you get in to Oxford, so you end up with a little UNIQ family here in Oxford!) As an Ambassador, I was based in a college in the week when students from my subject were on UNIQ. This year Classical Archaeology & Ancient History (CAAH - my subject) was based in Brasenose, in an annexe, alongside two other subjects, History and Psychology. We did loads of communal college activities in the evening, including a quiz night, a scavenger hunt, and personal statements workshops, and also ate breakfast and dinner as a college in Brasenose. In the evenings there were also loads of UNIQ-wide activities, such as the opportunity to watch a Comedy Night, go to Flash Talks at Magdalen College, or play sports in University Parks. During the day the students do loads of academic stuff, designed to imitate life at Oxford, so the other CAAH Ambassador and I would take the students to the Classics Faculty for classes with Oxford tutors, reading time, essay prep time and loads of handling sessions, including a vase handling session in the Beazley Archives (part of the Classics Faculty) and tours and handling sessions in the Ashmolean Museum (which backs onto the Classics Faculty). This was also fun for the Ambassadors, as we got to join in with the handling sessions! Because the Ambassadors spend all day with the students, we are always on hand to answer any questions about academics or an Oxford social life. All of the students on UNIQ and all of the Ambassadors were given lunch vouchers to be spent in local food shops in Oxford, including Taylor's, Jimbob's, Morton's, and Green's (which are all excellent food places) - after getting food, everyone can sit and eat together, or you can go and explore Oxford, and the UNIQ Ambassadors often run college tours during the lunch break. The week was so so tiring, but also loads of fun, and it was especially lovely to see how close all the students had become by the last night (when we had a party at Osler House), and so I'm definitely going to apply to work on UNIQ again next year!
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