Does that actually... okay, can I still have action please? Give me a three, two, one action!
[off screen] Three, two, one action!
How did I feel when I found I got Cambridge?
Ooh! Erm...
Oh my gosh! I was super super excited. It was honestly one of the best moments in my entire life
I was shaking initially
I was jumping up and down I was so happy I couldn't believe that I'd achieved something that I thought I couldn't achieve
I was very proud of myself as well and I was a bit emotional because
I'd wanted to go to Cambridge ever since year nine, so I was just excited to fulfil this dream
and to tell my mum I had gotten in, to do her proud!
I run to my sixth form and I told my sociology teacher and then she cried and I cried
and then the whole staff department cried
Hi! My name is Nissy, I go by the name Nissy T
Hi guys! I'm Ibrahim Mohammed
Hi I'm Hollie
Hi guys, my name is Courtney Daniella
Hi, I'm Parth
Hi! I'm Shirley Bekker
Hello, my name is Senthooran
I'm a recent graduate
I'm a first year
I'm a second year
I am a third year undergraduate
I'm a fourth year
I've graduated
I'm a second year at Jesus College
Homerton college
Wolfson College at the University of Cambridge
I am at Queens'
at Jesus College
Corpus Christi College Cambridge
...and I study at Robinson College studying human, social and political sciences
English
Studying human, social and political sciences
Studying biological natural sciences
Studying physics
I studied natural sciences
...and I study medicine. [off screen] boom, yes, that's how you do it!
The number one item I would say, that people need to bring to Cambridge is
(Drum-roll) Extension leads!
When I came I had loads of instant noodles
Plug sockets are put in the strangest of places in the rooms
You need extension leads. Bring a few so you can work out the best-fitting leads - that's a good one
Because it's cheap food, you can cook it quickly, it tastes good
You just spice it up, sometimes you put vegetables, sometimes you don't
Bring them your seasoning
Chicken? Chicken, all day every day
Oh that's a really good question
But my issue is that, the food here is very different, it's not bad,
it's different and salt and pepper isn't going to cut it now and then.
So maybe bring that own seasoning
Ok so personal to me?
What I'd say you pack for Cambridge?
Pack your hair stuff
...and possibly a laptop to Google or YouTube how to make your own wig
Because it's kind of tough finding a hairdresser out here
[off screen] Wink!
Oh! Bring a bike!
Listen, my hair means a lot to me okay
I'm not going to lie to you because there is one black hair shop in Cambridge
so pack your shea butter, coconut oil, products, cream, moisturiser, braids
Pack all of that because finding it is going to be really, really tough okay
Bring a bike because, guys, you really think you can walk everywhere
sometimes you can't, I struggle now and then
The real reason I don't go to societies is because I don't have a bike, so... bring a bike
My first impression of Cambridge was that it looks a little bit like Harry Potter with all the castles
My first impressions were like woah, everything is so fast paced here, it's like this little bubble where things happen
I think I kind of had a moment of doubt just questioning whether this was actually for me
I was definitely quite intimidated
I got really homesick let's be was very real about this
That's completely normal you know, it's like going into any new environment
You're always going to feel a bit of that anyway
But it's an amazing place, I love it now
I've made some incredible friends from the first couple of weeks
and they've been, they're my friends 'til now, so I think that kind of gave me a bit of comfort
So I actually came across Jesus College by accident when we parked in the wrong place
When we went in, it was just amazing. The grounds were huge, buildings were amazing.
But the people were the best, they're some of the friendliest people I've met, and so welcoming
I came here again on a summer school trip and I got to stay at *CLANG*
and I thought the food wasn't nice and I thought the building was quite ugly
so I went across the street to Corpus, noticed that the grass was nicer and decided that I was going to apply to Corpus Christi College
My first impression of Wolfson was: urgh
It was very... it was quite underwhelming, just because our freshers' wasn't that great
But I think like many things, don't judge a book by its cover
When I finally settled in at Wolfson it was the best place in the world
and I love being here and I can definitely say this: When you apply to or when you get into Wolfson College
When you integrate at Wolfson College we meet the world, at Wolfson
Copywrited: Ibzmo
Just go out there and make yourself do it.
You might not make friends for the whole of your three years or your four years here, but you'll certainly meet a lot of great people
From a variety of backgrounds, and there's no point coming to such an amazing place and not making use of that
This is my number one thing okay so, you go in, socialising, you'll go to a bop, you'll go to the freshers' thing, whatever they call it
You say: Hi can I introduce myself please?
That's it. They can't say no, because if they say no then they're rude, they're obviously going to say yes
and then you say: I'm Ibzmo, I study this and then there you go
I think when you first get to university a lot of people get wrapped up in: 'I need to make friends, I need to make friends'
and I just feel... chill out and be yourself
and people who have similar personalities to you, you guys will kind of find each other
Just speak to people
Plug yourself into a society
Open yourself up you know, go to different people
so that you meet people who are also passionate about what you're passionate about
...and I know sometimes you know, that's really really difficult
...if it's sports, if it's music, if it's just going to Nando's and eating
I'm not saying that you'll become best friends with all of them, I'm just say, try.
Start the conversation.
You'll find people who share common ground with you and you can all become friends
Also, the real answer is just go on your Facebook page and you try to find like, the freshers' page for your College
So, Wolfson College Freshers'
...and then you can make friends and you can start to mingle before you've even started uni
uni my first friend I made them in the first week yeah made them like in the
first week it was a long time do you know what crazy is so crazy because
actually made my best friend on sitar my first friend Mandy society Randy sorts
in this and we just like talking from there and then and we were the only two
or she was the only other black girls that I knew that would be going to
Hamilton College in the same year as me so for me that was so my first friend I
met when I first got to my accommodation which was on the first day and I'm still
friends of them that in fact is my college husband who I'm now living with
this year as well and yeah we've been friends for three years now so it's
great I met someone my first friend that Cambridge actually
before I arrived so her name is Katie and she is still my go-to like one of my
best friends here in my area that was this event that was hosted for people in
my area that I've got with Cambridge and so it just brought together a few people
yes I met KP she is such a lovely individual and I'm so grateful to us and
that her before going there because when I saw her when I first arrived it was
like it felt so much more like home we all went out to a restaurant and
everyone spoke quite a bit and about things that I wasn't that interested in
except for one person who kept relatively quiet and I decided we were
going to be friends and till today we are still friends
group I don't know if you know so it's out to Europe you know you you know you
are how long it takes I met my first friend fucking the house red that was in
college with Martina Fernandez etc but you've got so much assailing and
I met her on the open day and I was quite scared and I asked you know what
is the intake of be any black am I not we have to do this like here okay
and the president of Wilson excuse me - Martina who was the equality and
diversity of thought and after this at all her high waisted tracks even a white
teacher - had food on it our site - perfect I'm a tramp - the Tramp and we
became better friends and it's been like that we have organized and founded the
Grand Moff society which is just myself in her watching friends and eating
Chinese food perfect
that's not an easy question ok is this my chance to plug my own society I
joined the ferry exercise because you don't have to invest any time and they
just drop a fairy cake in your pigeon all every time so I would definitely
recommend the fairy King Society to join Cambridge was my favorite Society the
ACS aspirin therapy and society why because I'm Africa's table black
fighting home it was literally like finding a home a community of people who
understand you I am the president of the Cambridge University Indian classical
arts society and I play an instrument called the table I've been playing that
for about what if it satisfies we organize lots of concerts we get sort of
full houses most of the time and it's a great way to promote Indian classical
music and dance which you don't see much off in Cambridge beyond it my favorite
supply feeds a freaking Caribbean society why because I was the original
of - the Caribbean society I think is absolutely C was the president before me
and we just have a lot of fun it's a big community and we just want to change the
kind of perception about black students at Facebook for example did have that
viral photo of the hashtag black boys at Cambridge and actually pause that money
I think my favorite is the Polish society because in my
I participated in the annual show I feel my just to do it and I was wanted to do
it and I'm doing it so amazing so I didn't really join a society this year
to be fair I did join the Tea Society the top align us the plant society and
also missing society so people tell I'm very sad however that's probably because
I didn't manage my plan properly next year I'm going to run for student
president and I just announced with this old camera reload so I'm going to run
for the presidency I get it because I love society like Student Association
the JCR which between your common room which it recite leads that work with
colleges and work as a voice for student so I'm hoping to run this within nine
year old to try and voice also student and help our in terms of to help us
progress as the year goes by socially psychologically and of course
academically dealing with the workload can be quite difficult especially for
your first time in your first years or you guy is going to be quite hard plan
around the things to enjoy doing around the things that you like like don't plan
on our work plan around the things you enjoy make sure you were kind of things
we love so that when you do study in what affect it and you enjoy it yeah she
need to dedicate ahead a lot of times of studying know when you should take a
break and know when to really when you're pushing yourself to the limits
because you don't need to crumble at the first hurdle YouTube was kind of my sort
like it was like my solace basically it was something that I could concentrate
on and focus on outside of the Cambridge bubble outside of everyday thinking
about the next essay that I need to do the next piece of reading that I need to
do whatever is this is an unrealistic goal
set goals that you've moved the cheese do the work in time and not to try and
do it very last minute because you'll get stressed with possibly not
understanding the content and knowing that you only have an hour to understand
and complete it and also working a long-term basis people we want to
achieve at the end of the week at the end of the month and if you work in that
sense you'll get things completed I would say definitely after lectures try
and go home as soon as you've come back from a
lecture to go over the lecture content digest everything that was said in the
lecture and then it should make the supervision
a lot easier for you because you already understand it if you're organized about
it if you ordinary time well to provide Oh an awfully long time ago
yeah I remember ooh this is actually quite an interesting story when I left
my first piece of vision I cried because I thought I had done so poorly my first
revision was actually nerve-wracking all I remember was being scared before
going in my first division at Cambridge were it was a fight and it was a bargain
at the Chelsea was a politics with a vision and the topic was about terrorism
but it turns out to be right everyone to discourage anyone everything that you
think Cambridge is about happens in the supervision I left and I literally had a
headache because I had to think it's very very fasting I think very
critically analytically and I've never done that before
so it was a great experience and Hamid I remember for the rest of my life it
wasn't amazing I was taking a very intense sort of atmosphere or going to
go go with questions however in the moral situation where they were
interested in what I didn't and much less things I had because I thought I
know everything is envisioned when really simple visions of meet are
questions of the media really addressing that I wasn't sure about to help me
understand the concept or a subject is better my supervisor said some words I
did not understand and instead of me to like after what is this massive English
your use of in the power I would just read modern yeah yeah okay yeah yes and
I've got him I didn't understand a thing I couldn't read her handwriting so I
just thought well it's the next three years gonna be a waste of my money
I finally sucks up the courage to go to my future lives and one of our like
end-of-term meetings and just say I don't understand what you're saying and
I don't understand your handwriting and she was like yeah okay good good girl
with that which can be you know initially quite intimidating but you get
used to when you actually realize how amazing super visions are honestly how
great is it to sit in a room or even at one point during the film I remember
sitting on the grass talking about Shakespeare
I didn't this so you know just sitting in these moments and actually going
through the books that you love and that you enjoy that you've read for you
years and years and actually having an academic setting around that the school
I came from if you didn't know how to do something or if you felt like the
homework set wasn't in time with what you've been taught you could simply say
haven't been taught this haven't learnt this year so I did this for my first
division and I got a very very angry email for my daughter you were just like
this is Cambridge yes to work hard this isn't cool anymore he was just angry
that I hadn't completed the work and said that I need to give it a go even if
I had already taught the content but it turned out to be fine and we're friends
now hmm I ended up getting a few words to me was my friend I think I was very
clever and I was part of pedestals you come here and everyone's clever and so
it can feel quite some dating but don't be upset that you're being criticized
because at the end of the day this came with University they won't intersect out
of you and so they're going to criticize you so they could bring the best out of
you so don't be hurt by criticism but learn from criticism learn to be the
best individual and the best academic you can be by listening and overcoming
believe that you deserve to be here and that's something that I say with a lot
of passion and a lot of positive I get so many people who message me email me
and who will say I would love to study at Cambridge I would love to apply but
and there's always a new you know a long leanness of the different but whether it
be well you know do black people really get into Cambridge but and from the
working-class backgrounds because everyone has to be rich
what do I don't I have to have like 12 million a star what do acid is what do I
have to do that please don't let your breath be the reason be to miss out on
an incredible opportunity do things you want to and enjoy it basically
because it's an amazing time of your life as an amazing cat so unique so many
new people that you may know for the rest of your life so enjoy it live in
the moment and stay very positive don't shock so my personal advice would be
speak to how you were people pay work and discipline I'm going
to clear a because work is two weeks full exam and get pretty high marks but
if you're the person who needs to work throughout the whole year make sure you
fix it up there's get influence for how other people work find what works best
for you and follow that so what I would say is that for one you can always step
outside of this bubble to remind yourself that Cambridge isn't the world
and graves isn't everything and after you graduate from Cambridge as a whole
entire world out there that doesn't only value you by what great to get
definitely have some plans in place that you visit your family regularly or just
take yourself out of the problems remind yourself that preys on everything and
neither is Cambridge well some of us even graduated we also have our own
individual YouTube channel link below we also want to wish you good luck in
applying and congratulate is it even made an offer but we also be very good
and best of luck thanks for watching