Thinking of applying?

If you’re thinking about applying to Newnham and want to find out more about this fantastic college then have a look at the events and programs we offer for prospective students. 

• OPEN DAYS: These are a great way to see the college and to meet us (current students)! The college you go to in Cambridge becomes your second home, so it’s helpful to get a feel for the environment and the people. If you’d like to find out more about open days at Newnham, check out the official Open Days page

• SHADOWING SCHEME: The idea of this program is to give people with little or no experience of university a taste of student life at Cambridge, in real time, with real people. The whole trip is funded by the Student Union, the University, and the Colleges. If you’re interested in the shadowing scheme, read more on the CUSU Shadowing Scheme 2009

• ASK A STUDENT: Whether you want to know about accommodation, societies or courses, whatever your question, feel free to email me (Caitlin Devereux) at jcr.access@newn.cam.ac.uk  and I will find someone well qualified to answer your question. Alternatively you can use the CUSU ask a student scheme: Apply to Cambridge.

• ALTERNATIVE PROSPECTUS: Hear what Newnham students think about their college here.

Want to help with Newnham Access?

For more information about Access events or to get involved contact Access and Target Officer Caitlin Devereux at access@newn.cam.ac.uk.

Hi, my name’s Caitlin Devereux and I’m the current Access and Target Officer on the Newnham JCR. My role is to help improve the diversity of backgrounds that Newnham students come from, and encourage people to apply who may not of considered applying to a women’s college or to Cambridge at all. To do this I work with the Newnham access team and the CUSU access officer. My role is particularly focused on getting students involved with access events, which run at Newnham throughout the year. Student participation is absolutely key to giving potential applicants a taste of what life at Newnham is really like and making the process as approachable as possible. By giving a relatively small amount of time to meet potential applicants and teachers, students can have a huge effect on encouraging more people to apply. 

Ways to get involved!

We run many events and projects in college to allow school students to visit Newnham and get a feel for what it is like to study here. These events work best when current students at Newnham are involved. They are loads of fun, very rewarding and help you to appreciate the great college that you are part of. Some of the events this year that we would love your help with are:

• SHEEP-DOGGING at the end of Michaelmas term (December 2010). This involves welcoming students coming for interviews at Newnham and helping them to find their way around and feel at home.
• HAVING A YEAR 12 ‘SHADOW’ you in Lent term (February 2011), as part of the CUSU Shadowing Scheme. This means having a year 12 school student spend a couple of days with you, seeing your day-to-day life at Cambridge.
• OPEN DAYS in college throughout the year, but particularly at the end of Easter term (June and July 2010).
• ASK A STUDENT is a program run by CUSU that allows prospective students to e-mail questions to current Cambridge students.

If you are interested in helping out with any of these admissions projects and events it would be great if you could get in touch with me by e-mail at jcr.access@newn.cam.ac.uk.

You can also speak to someone in the admissions office such as Felicity Macdonald-Smith or Sam Lucy. We will also be holding an ‘Admissions Squash’ at the beginning of Michaelmass term for you to meet the team and find out more about how you can get involved.

How does Newnham encourage students to aim higher?

At Newnham our admissions team work together closely with the access officers at the Cambridge Admissions Office. We support the Group to Encourage Ethnic Minority Applications (GEEMA) and the CUSU Target Campaign. We also fully participate in the Cambridge University Special Access scheme. 

We also have our own access projects, such as the Birmingham-area Project, which we run together with Girton and Selwyn Colleges. This does not mean, however, that we restrict our activities to specific areas of the country. We are more than happy to work with any school or organization that is interested in Cambridge and in particular Newnham. 

We are also aware that schools may sometimes find it difficult to organize visits to Cambridge. We are therefore more than happy to go out and bring Cambridge to schools as part of our "Newnham on Tour" program.