For some students, arriving at Cambridge means stepping into a world where they know no one and have little idea what to expect. Selwyn's Bridging Course gives a group of around 15 students a week to ask questions, meet people who know Cambridge well and experience college life before term begins.

The course will now be funded for the next four years, thanks to Peter and Christina Dawson, who continue to support students through their philanthropy. The first two years were established using the Isaac Newton Trust's Widening Participation and Induction Fund.

Dr Tom Smith, assistant senior tutor, who directs the course, said: "Cambridge can feel like an alien prospect even for students with excellent academic track records. The Bridging Course gives some of those most likely to have had limited first-hand access to knowledge about Cambridge the opportunity to experience what teaching and learning here is like, to get their bearings, and to build confidence.

"The feedback we have collected across the first two years suggests that this is a programme valued both by the participants and the wider college community, and we are grateful to the Dawsons for allowing us to continue."

The week-long residential is aimed particularly at students from schools and areas that do not traditionally send many people to Cambridge. Selwyn selects those who might benefit most using a data-driven approach, founded on the University's eligibility criteria for the August Reconsideration Pool. Invited participants experience everything from small-group supervisions and using library catalogues to the customs of formal dinners, while meeting other students and current members.

Feedback from past participants has been consistently positive:

"I feel much more ready to navigate Cambridge, and have a good understanding of the expectations set for my course and the different sources of help that are available."

"I am feeling a lot more confident that I will make new friends like myself during my time at Cambridge and now feel that I deserve to be there."

"Initially, starting at Cambridge felt very daunting, but the Bridging Course helped familiarise me with what starting at Cambridge would feel like. By the time term started, I definitely felt more comfortable and at ease than I would have without it."

"I definitely feel more confident in starting. This means I can focus on studying and joining societies rather than spending most of my time worrying."

The Dawsons' support for Selwyn students extends beyond the Bridging Course. Their benefaction funded the College's Nurse and Welfare Officer post in 2022, moving it from a part-time to a full-time role, and the Dawson Fund also supports students needing specialist mental health expertise.

Kathryn's story

Kathryn (SE 2025) came to Selwyn from an area with low progression to university, where, she says, "going to uni, going to a top uni" wasn't something that was discussed. She nearly didn't take up her place on the course at all, then decided she had nothing to lose.

"I didn't know anyone else who'd been to Cambridge, and I had so many questions," she says. "It was really helpful to have a week with people who go to Cambridge and work in Cambridge who could just answer them."
The course shifted what she'd assumed Cambridge would be like. Meeting other students and ambassadors during the week, she says, "very much cemented that most people aren't" the Cambridge stereotype she'd expected, "which helped me feel like I might fit in."

Kathryn was so struck by the ambassadors who supported her that she became one herself. "They were so reassuring, and I felt so reassured by being around people like me that I thought, I'd like to be able to do that for someone else."