Former Student Bridey Returns to College to Give Students Higher Education Advice

Former student, Bridey, recently returned to BSFC to talk to our current Oxbridge cohort about the Higher Education+ application process.

Bridey gave the Year 1 students advice on applying to the UK’s top universities, and shared her experience of the application process and how BSFC supported her when she was a student at College. Bridey left BSFC in 2023, and is currently studying physics at the University of St Andrews.

The University of Cambridge’s HE+ programme is a supra-curricular activity that the College offers, and works to support students to access top university places. Having had this same support herself as a student here, Bridey relayed her experience to current students and discussed how the College supported her to reach her full potential:

“You’ve got to be able to balance between all of your supra-curricular work and also your College work. It is possible, and now I stand here as BSFC alumni who goes to St Andrews. It’s really good to have an idea now about what you will go forward to do and how to make sure you’re balancing [your College workload and supra-curricular workload]. I made sure I was doing a lot of ambassador work at College, so it made me shift my focus a little bit in my second year to prioritise my academic studies and I really made sure to emphasise that because you have to get the grades to go to those select universities”.

The HE+ Programme supports students who have the potential to progress to selective higher education but may be from under-represented backgrounds and, therefore, may be less likely to progress on to such universities. In addition to studying for her degree, Bridey works with students all over the UK to encourage them to go to any university, and inspires them to push themselves regardless of their background, providing support and enthusiasm that is complimentary of the support she received at BSFC.

Bridey is a fantastic example of the student success from the HE+ Programme, and demonstrates that if you approach life and studies with Positivity, Ambition, Resilience, and Thoughtfulness, everyone has the potential to be highly successful. It was great to welcome Bridey back to College as BSFC Alumni, and we wish her all the best with her Physics degree.

Bridey's HE+ Talk