By Jenny Bates
UNIQ is an incredible access program run by Oxford University. It’s aimed at state school students doing their first year of A-Levels or equivalent who aren’t sure if Oxford – and university in general – is for them. (You can find the eligibility criteria here!)
UNIQ offers residentials in the spring and summer as well as a digital programme with the aim of giving prospective students a realistic experience of student life and providing support with the admissions process. There’s a whole range of subjects you can choose to apply for including history, linguistics, experimental psychology and classics amongst many others!
I applied for and attended the UNIQ PPE residential in summer 2018, spending five days staying in student accommodation, attending lectures and experiencing the social side of university life too. UNIQ provided me with such a brilliant insight into Oxford University and really helped with the often-stressful admissions process! It was also a really fun week and a great way to meet other people who are navigating the process of university applications as well as current Oxford students.
I only found out about and applied for UNIQ a short while before the deadline, so whilst you’ll need to apply by the 27th January 2020, there is still plenty of time to get your application in if you are interested. UNIQ is an incredible experience and it’s all free – I really can’t recommend applying for it enough.
If you’re not sure about whether Oxford is for you, applying for UNIQ might just help you make up your mind. When I applied for the UNIQ PPE summer course this time two years ago, not really knowing what I’d got myself into, I didn’t imagine I’d now be writing this as a PPE student at Oxford!! UNIQ really is such a brilliant experience and incredibly helpful to those thinking about applying to Oxford or other universities. You’ve got nothing to lose by applying, and there is still time to get applications in before the deadline later this month. The UNIQ summer school gave me the confidence and skills to apply to Oxford and it can do the same for you.
Useful Links
This is the link for the UNIQ website: https://www.uniq.ox.ac.uk/
For more of an insight into what UNIQ is like have a look at their Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/oxforduniq/
A video from a previous UNIQ student: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kcSzzPElKA&list=RDCMUCMgOvlRUnvICWGBwvIpiBWA&index=5
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