The Oxbridge Mentoring Scheme is designed to help students gain broader subject knowledge, an understanding of how to answer Oxbridge-style questions and the self-confidence to be prepared for any interview scenario. It includes:
- Academic mock interviews with written feedback
- Recommendations for subject-related reading
- Advice on course and college choices
- UCAS personal statement brainstorming and critical review
- Preparation for entrance tests
- Practice in answering Oxbridge interview questions
The OMS is free for all students accepted onto the programme. This is thanks to volunteer Oxford and Cambridge students and graduates who want to mentor dedicated students.
Oxbridge is a shortening of the words Oxford and Cambridge, and is word used to mean either of these two universities.
The OMS is a mini-syllabus of support, replicating the Oxford and Cambridge style tutorial and supervision systems. Also, our mentors are trained to deliver and use study frameworks through online mentoring classes. OMS elements interlink with each other and are underpinned by simple structures that enable students to consolidate their learning. The OMS process develops critical reasoning and creative problem-solving skills so that students can prepare themselves for Oxbridge entrance tests and interviews. Our mentors guide students through what can sometimes feel like a bewildering application process, but empower them to take charge of their own learning.
The OMS is run by a dedicated team of enthusiastic volunteer mentors, all of whom are Oxbridge educated and trained to deliver our unique programme. Tutorials will be delivered via an online teaching platform meaning that geography is no obstacle.
The OMS programme is designed to run flexibly around the schedules of the students and tutors. This means they usually run during evenings or at the weekend, though this isn’t always the case. Tutors and students mutually decide on times which work for them.
Insight Outreach is committed to supporting teachers, not replacing them. The bespoke nature of the OMS programme means that Insight Outreach can work alongside a school’s existing programme, supplementing it with support as appropriate.
Ultimately OMS students will be in control of the UCAS process and are encouraged to seek wider advice from a variety of sources. Insight Outreach runs UCAS brainstorming and critical review sessions to support students in writing high calibre, academic statements that will enable them to compete for places at Oxford and Cambridge and other top UK universities.