Services for young people

Construct your service according to your needs by selecting from the services below.

Careers & Education Interview

A one hour meeting to discuss your current circumstances and your future. We can discuss your plans - or lack thereof - and the pathways open to you including university, other qualifications and quality employer based training. You will receive a write-up of the interview and a detailed action plan. View a sample action plan.

The interview may be purchased on its own, although we recommend you also take our Careers Psychometric Test to get the most out of the process.

You may also opt to receive ongoing coaching and guidance, consisting of two or more meetings. Seeing us again can be useful as it provides the opportunity to review your position and options after following our action plan. Have your ideas changed? Have you encountered any obstacles? Have you undertaken what we discussed last time (such as extended reading for a particular university course or work experience)? What do you need to do next?

Careers & Education Psychometric Test

We use a well-established careers profiling test that measures a wide range of abilities, personality attributes and your interests to produce a revealing report to include career and education suggestions.

You will need to be available for approximately 3 ½ hours to sit the test. Do not worry, however, it is not an exam and there is no pass or fail. Some people even enjoy it!

We recommend following this profiling with at least one Careers & Education Interview.

How to write a Personal Statement? Advice on Preparing your Personal Statement

A compelling personal statement is vital for successful entry to higher education, particularly for competitive courses such as medicine or competitive universities such as Oxbridge. We are adept at helping you bring “your bid for a place” to life.

While you can use us to review and advise on your personal statement soon before submission, we strongly recommend you consider seeing us earlier for a general Careers & Education Interview too. A really good personal statement will often be the result of proper research, including extended reading and then selection of a university course that genuinely suits you. Seeing us early will ensure we can guide you on how to go about this research and selection process.

Services for organisations

How to get into Oxbridge? Oxbridge Entry Preparation

Entry to Oxbridge (Oxford and Cambridge Universities) is intensely competitive but there are things you can do to make yourself a more realistic candidate. Our Oxbridge entry preparation may consist of one or more meetings and includes guidance on:

The subject of study, possibly the single most important issue in a successful application
What you should be doing to ascertain if Oxbridge is for you and if so, maximise your chances of admission
Preparatory reading, work experience (where relevant) and research
Psychometric testing to assess the best subject for you
Choosing between Oxford and Cambridge
College choice (Oxford and Cambridge are collegiate universities and you must apply to a specific college within the universities. College choice is important)
What admissions tutors are looking for in an Oxbridge personal statement
Admission test preparation
Interview advice and practice

How to get into Medical School? Medical School Preparation Programme*

Our programme is bespoke and tailored to ensure medical school entry is right for you and to maximise your chances of admission. Depending on your needs, it may include:

Asking whether you should pursue a career in medicine
Psychometric assessment
Long term preparation for medical school entry such as work experience and voluntary work
Medium term preparation: collecting the evidence to demonstrate a vocational commitment to a career in medicine
Choosing your medical school and type of medical course (traditional, integrated or problem based learning)
Admission test (BMAT/UKCAT) preparation
Medical school interview preparation including the different types of medical school interview
Options for those with lower grades than normally required by Medical Schools (eg. Medical schools abroad, alternative healthcare options)

*Veterinary, law and dentistry school preparation also available

Ongoing Career & Education Guidance & Advice

You may also opt to receive ongoing support, consisting of two or more meetings. Returning for follow-up meetings can be useful as it means we can review your position and options after following our action plan. Have your ideas changed? Have you encountered any obstacles? Have you done what we discussed last time (such as extended reading for a particular university course or work experience?) What do you need to do next?

A possible structure could include:

Career Psychometric Assessment
Interview with action plan (2 weeks later)
In your own time you follow up the actions
Another interview to discuss where you have got to. Do you require new actions? Do you have questions about what you have found out? Have your ideas changed?
You have a goal and require support achieving it. We meet again to undertake university or job application or interview preparation, for example.

Recent Case Studies

Non-Uni Options for a Bright Student

In this case, the student had achieved outstanding GCSE results. However, for a number of reasons, including financial, she was reluctant to go to university at this stage. Despite discussion about her ability and student finance options, she was determined not to go to university. I thought it best that she did not close the door for good on university, but was mindful that continuing her education was not an option she would consider at this point. As such, we identified a year-long gap programme with a top blue chip employer.

We worked on the application together, focusing in particular on key competencies she could demonstrate from her academic and extra-curricular activities. She was invited for an assessment day and won a place on the scheme. She will receive a salary and if successful, can move on to their trainee programme or take up a sponsored place at university.

Choosing the Right Subject for Oxbridge

This student had a particular interest in applying for Oxbridge. She was initially considering Economics at Cambridge. She had mostly A*s at GCSE. Looking at her psychometric profile, however, her reasoning score was average while she had a very high perceptual “spike”. Since applying for one’s best subject is crucial for a successful Oxbridge application, I was concerned that her reasoning score might indicate she did not have the mathematical ability to cope with the demanding mathematical element to the Cambridge Economics course.

As such, I probed her performance in maths at A-level. It was solid but arguably not Cambridge Economics standard. After our discussion and analysis of her psychometrics, I suggested she explore History and Economics (a combined degree) at Oxford, which is less mathematically demanding than the Cambridge Economics course, and also consider Land Economy, a course she had never heard of. Land Economy “ticked” many of her boxes and was potentially compatible with her psychometric profile. We are currently working together to decide on the right course and prepare her for the next stage in the application process.

Bringing Together Artistic and Scientific Abilities

This student was a talented artist and scientist. Initially she was thinking about engineering as a degree but was not altogether enthused about the idea since she did not want to abandon her creative studies. We identified Product Design Engineering (and related degrees) as an option offered by a number of top universities that would bring together robust engineering and creative elements. She secured offers from top universities in this area including from Glasgow, Nottingham and Loughborough. Following her action plan, the student visited all her choices and will take up a place at Nottingham University in 2014 to read Design Engineering and Manufacture.

Identifying the Right University Course

Although this student did not particularly enjoy physics, she was considering engineering as a degree. There was some parental pressure in this case because the parents had heard there was significant demand for female engineers. After we carried out a psychometric test, the results indicated her mechanical and reasoning abilities were average while her numerical and perceptual scores were high. When we then discussed her interests, areas such as visual businesses and finance came up. Eventually, she decided to apply for Finance at university, although we also identified other courses which brought together design and business elements.

She successfully achieved offers from Russell Group universities despite a fairly average GCSE profile. Off the back of our action plan, she plans to do varied work experience at university and knows that a grounding in finance could be of use if she went to more traditional financial companies, as well as within other areas such as fashion merchandising or high-end retail, other areas compatible with her aptitude profile.