Submitted by Rachel Gardner on Mon, 12/08/2024 - 18:29
Students on our Sutton Trust Summer School last week learned about algorithms, experimented with computer graphics and attended lectures on cybersecurity as they learned what it's like to study Computer Science at university.
We run this Summer School every year with the Sutton Trust, a charity that works to ensure all young people can have access to life-changing educational opportunities.
Participants on the Summer School are high-achieving A Level students at UK state schools. During their week with us they attend lectures, practical classes and small-group teaching sessions and stay in a Cambridge college. This helps them gain insights into the Computer Science degree course we offer and experience what it's like to live away from home as an undergraduate.
From architecture to quantum
Computer Science is a broad field and our degree course is wide-ranging, as the week's programme of activities demonstrated. Students heard talks on areas from computer architecture to quantum computing. They also visited the University's Institute of Astronomy nearby to hear how computer science is helping researchers advance our understanding of space.
In addition, we took them on a trip to Cambridge's fun and interactive Centre for Computing History. Here, they could try out computers and video games from the last 40 years, and learn how the development of IBM's chess-playing 'Deep Blue' supercomputer in the 1990s advanced AI and the ability of computers to handle complex calculations. They were also able to see a 10 meter-long 'Megaprocessor' that demonstrates the inner workings of a microprocessor on a large scale.
Seventeen-year-old Bashir from Walsall applied for this summer school because he wants to study computer science and become a software engineer.
First-generation university student
He says: "I don’t know much yet about University because I'll be the first generation in my family to go, so I'm here to get a taste of what Uni life will be like. I’m finding it really good so far, and experiencing what it's like being in a lecture and meeting other students has been very helpful."
Erica from south-east London loves programming and "thought the summer school would be an interesting opportunity learn more about it." As a student in Year 9, she started spending three hours a week teaching herself programming. "I'd get things wrong," she says, "but every time I got something right, I realised I could see where I’d made the mistake before. It was a subject where I kept learning new things and I feel very passionate about it because there's so much to learn."
She particularly enjoyed the lecture on computer architecture because "it made me realise that up until then, I'd had only a basic level of understanding of it," she added. "I'm now looking forward to learning more about Computer Science and seeing what directions I could go in."
Hafsa from Coventry is considering applying to study either Computer Science or Physics at university. She says "Not a lot of people get the experience of coming to Cambridge, so I felt that doing this course was a privilege. And I've really liked it: it's let me see different areas of computing and find out which ones I prefer."
We enjoyed hosting our Summer School participants and wish them all the best of luck in their future studies.
