The Times: Young mentor secures 60 Oxbridge offers for deprived pupils

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An Oxford student who set up a mentoring scheme using £200 saved from his maintenance loan has just helped to secure 60 offers from Oxbridge for pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Joe Seddon set up Access Oxbridge at his parents’ kitchen table in Morley, West Yorkshire, in 2018 shortly after graduating.

He believed that he could boost the number of under-privileged youngsters at the two universities if only they got the right advice on navigating the “scary” admissions system.

He persuaded students at Oxbridge to mentor the applicants on how to hone their Ucas personal statement, prepare for entrance exams and the notoriously challenging university interviews.

The students also mentor Year 12 pupils on their chosen subjects, in particular on the sort of extra reading and thinking beyond the syllabus that is expected at Oxbridge. The mentoring sessions take place in hour-long, one-to-one video calls via the Access Oxbridge app once a week.

The full online article can be found here.

Charity, Education, Higher Education, Media ArticleSarah NorrisLando Educationmedia article, Oxford, University of Oxford, mentoring, mentoring scheme, maintenance loan, Joe Seddon, under-privileged, Morley, West Yorkshire, admissions, year 12Comment