Applications for the 2024 Sciences Summer Taster will open in May 2024. 

If you have any questions about the event please email outreach@robinson.cam.ac.uk.

What is the Sciences Summer Taster?

The Sciences Summer Taster is an opportunity for students to gain an insight into university learning at Cambridge, through subject taster sessions and lectures led by the College's academic community. The event will cover a variety of topics from within the following discipline strands: 

• Biological Sciences (Possible subjects: Biology, Chemistry, Medicine, Psychology);
• Physical Sciences (Possible subjects: Chemical Engineering, Computer Science, Engineering, Physics, Chemistry).

This structure allows students to consider and compare multiple subjects - including those they may not have previously encountered - and gain an insight into the connections and skills that underpin degree courses within each discipline.

The 2024 Sciences Summer Taster will be held at Robinson College, one of the Colleges that form the University of Cambridge. There will be subject taster sessions, admissions information, and exploration of the College and the wider University. The event is free-of-charge, with accommodation and meals provided by the College. Travel expenses are not typically covered unless students meet our Travel Costs policy.

The event will fit around the University-wide July Open Days, to allow attendees to make best use of their time in Cambridge.

When is it? 

The Sciences Summer Taster will run from the evening of Friday 5th July - the evening of Saturday 6th July 2024. 

Who is it for?

The Sciences Subject Taster is open to all students currently in Year 12 (England & Wales), Year 13 (Northern Ireland) or S5 (Scotland).

If the programme is oversubscribed, we will prioritise applicants who:

• Have an academic profile (e.g. subjects studied, predicted grades) suitable for progression to their stream at Cambridge.
• Have at any time been under the care of a Local Authority.
• Are currently eligible for Free School Meals, or who have been eligible for Free School Meals in the last 6 years.
• Are currently attending a school with low progression rates to higher-tariff universities.
• Are the first in their immediate family to attend university.
• Have home postcodes in areas with low local participation in Higher Education (POLAR4 quintiles 1 and 2).
• Have home postcodes in areas of high socio-economic deprivation (IMD quintiles 1 and 2). 
• Are from an ethnic background currently under-represented at the University of Cambridge (Black African, Black Caribbean, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Arab, Roma, or Traveller).
• Live or attend a school in our link areas of Swindon, Wiltshire, Gloucestershire or the London Borough of Wandsworth.

How do I apply?

Applications for the 2024 Sciences Summer Taster will open in May 2024. 

We will ask you for the following information in the application form:

• Your details: first and last name, date of birth, postcode, school/college, email address;
• Your current school subjects and predicted grades (if you do not have official predictions you will be asked to estimate the grades at which you are working);
• Further contextual information related to our Widening Participation criteria;
• Information about making any adjustments should you attend the event;
• Name and contact details of a nominated school teacher or contact;
• Name and contact details of a parent or guardian.

The application will be saved automatically so can be filled out in stages. Please make sure you open the form in the same browser to continue where you left off.

Teacher Verification

We ask students to provide a nominated school contact who can verify the academic information they provide within their application.

Nominated school contacts will receive an automatic email once the student has submitted their application form. This email will provide the verification form for that individual student, identified via their first name. If you are a teacher who is verifying multiple students with the same first name, please email outreach@robinson.cam.ac.uk.

We do not require school contacts to provide a reference, simply to verify the information provided by the applicant.

If you have not received the automatic email, please follow the below steps:

1. Confirm with your student that they submitted their application (they will have received an automatic email with a copy of their response if submitted successfully).
2. Check your Junk or Spam mailbox. The email will be sent from 'Robinson College' (noreply@qemailserver.com), with the subject line 'Robinson College - Summer Subject Residentials - Teacher Verification Required'.
3. Email outreach@robinson.cam.ac.uk with 'Subject Residentials - Teacher Verification' in the subject line. Please include the name of your student and the name of the school in your email.