Chelsea’s story

Chelsea lives in a busy household, so comes to the centre for a quiet space to concentrate and complete her schoolwork. Staff in Oxford have seen Chelsea greatly grow in confidence and becoming much more willing to speak to adults. She was also initially very unsure about her future, however in sixth form really began to open herself up to lots of opportunities that the centre offered her.

Chelsea, IntoUniversity Oxford South East

“From the get-go [IntoUniversity] helped me make friends, which was really important for my confidence at the start- I made friends with so many people from different schools and ages. It also helped me gain more knowledge; I was able to work with them, which solidified some of the things I knew and also taught me new things. I also met different volunteers who had degrees in different subjects. For example, one of the volunteers had amazing maths knowledge and was able to push me to ensure I fully understood some of the topics I was less confident with.

IntoUniversity has also given me so many opportunities in terms of experiences and interviews. It’s been so helpful for my CV, being able to write really valuable things that I have done with IntoUniversity. My CV is now really packed – for example, I took part in the Social Mobility Business Partnership and will soon be doing an internship with Big City Bright Future. I am also hoping to take part in the law work experience opportunity this summer with Allen and Overy. I recognise that these opportunities aren’t always easy to come by. Even the application process for these things have been so useful [and have] really helped me reflect on what I want to do.

My main goal is go to university and study law, and I’m going to [the University of] Exeter to study law this September. I was impartial to university at the beginning – I felt I didn’t have a strong interest in a particular subject, but by working with IntoUniversity I realised that the experience of applying and going would benefit me so much.