Pandora
Class of 2022, University of Cambridge
A lot of friends say that I play hard while getting into Cambridge.
I would say that I only agree with half of the opinion. Or three quarters. After all, I had always been free on my way of applying for a university. Back to when I was in IGCSE, I did not either have a clear goal, or passion towards scientific research, and even held a stereotype of the so-called Oxbridge. Once in a while, I might have thoughts like: I should go to a university like Cambridge or Oxford, shouldn’t I? And then hesitates: am I capable of doing that? How hard do I need to work in order to reach there? In universities like that, is it only study that everybody cares about? At the end of my mind flow, I obtain the conclusion that it is too early to think about universities. What food to order today should be the issue that I concern about.
I joined SCIE later in A1. I still remember the day of the entry exam. I followed the crowd into the campus and saw the wall of offers. How impressive and unbelievable that a whole wall was occupied by the offers from Cambridge and Oxford, which used to seem so far away from me. In front of a great scene like this, I could not help imagining if I would be part of it in two years.
SCIE has its own unique school spirit. Students are given a high degree of freedom and hence grow with independence. They have various hobbies and dig into their interested fields. Everybody has one or more talents and skills. I was so inspired that I joined as many as eight societies in the first term, like singing, traditional instruments and so-called tactical squads. I had also made contributions to a series of events, such as house competitions and SCIE Got Talent. Life in SCIE is colorful and inclusive. For the first time, I truly realized that, besides academic study, we could have a lot to pursue.
There were endless activities to attend, so many new faces to meet and interests to explore. Eventually, study had become a rather small part of my life. I would still complete the coursework but much more energy and time were spent elsewhere. This sounds more and more like a “excessive attention to trivia saps the will” story but I do not regret my choice. The precious freedom and opportunities offered by SCIE are such a treasure that do not exist in any other environment. In SCIE, I gained different experiences and lifelong friends while developing my own personality and being the person I want to be. I will cherish the memory of these days forever.
Shortly, there was COVID outbreak. Over half of a year, I was locked at home, idly. I got increasingly anxious as time got closer to university application. That wall of offers broke into my mind. I wanted to be on the wall, and for this I needed to take actions. Therefore, during the summer vacation, I attended a summer school, where I met many current students of Oxbridge. Unlike my stereotypes, they were all interesting and nice people. Their enthusiasms towards majors and concern for me impacted me in a fortnight’s time, and confirmed my direction to Cambridge.
The next half of a year might be my reason for keeping part of the objection to “play but Cambridge”. I started to identify university application as my highest priority, polishing my personal statement and preparing for the interview. During the month before my interview, my life schedule was like: taking a computer to an unoccupied room as soon as I got up, studying about contents relating to my personal statement, practicing interview questions until 0 AM when I went back to sleep. But one year ago, my routine was hanging around and playing as soon as I was awake. You might think that I have finally changed, realizing the importance of study hard. But I would not agree with this, I have never changed. I am still doing what I want to do, approaching my aim, knowing what I want and put it into practice.
The final result seemed to be reasonable after my short period of hard working and long time of daydreaming, but also beyond my expectation for me being just a mediocre student in SCIE.
How did this mediocre student got into Cambridge? In conclusion, the keys were having a clear goal, insisting to it, knowing well that sacrifice and compromise have to be made, springing into action, and a bit of luck. These could apply to anything besides university, as long as you make sure to work hard when you should.
Lastly, I would like to emphasize that the theme of this article is not about Cambridge. University is never the final destination of a person and there is no absolute good and bad. Everybody should have one’s own preferred way of living, and mine is to live a happy life while taking my academic achievement into account. As long as you try hard, just do what you want.
