The Christmas break is nearly upon us! But like busy elves, we’ve been busy preparing for 2020 and making sure there are plenty of incredible opportunities for our students. Some of the events we have taking place include:

• International opportunities with Yale and Harvard
• The return of the Seren-Jesus College Summer School at Oxford University
• LEDLET Summer Scheme in London/Cardiff
• Sutton Trust US Programme

Read on to find out what each entails.

International opportunities with Yale and Harvard

Over the past two years, 69 Seren pupils have received full scholarships to attend the Yale Young Global Scholars (YYGS) Program at Yale University and the Harvard Summer School Pre-College Program at Harvard University.

Building on this success, Seren is continuing its partnership with both institutions for the summer of 2020.

Up to 30 Year 12 Seren students will receive a full scholarship worth $6,300/student to attend the Yale Young Global Scholars (YYGS) Program. In addition to this, up to 20 Year 12 Seren students will receive a full scholarship worth $4,850/student to attend the Harvard Summer School Pre-College Program.

Full scholarships cover Yale Young Global Scholars and Harvard Summer School programme fees (including tuition, accommodation, board & health insurance), but do not cover flight costs. Additional sponsorship may be available to support those pupils most in need of further financial support.

To find out more about both opportunities and how to apply to each, please download the information pack linked to here: Seren International 2020 opportunities.  We recommend that you do so well in advance as the application process will take some time and require input from your school and parents/guardians.

In addition to this information pack, you are invited to join a live webinar for further advice and guidance on 20th or 23rd December. See the information pack for details of how to tune in.

You can also read several blogs about Seren students’ experiences at Yale and Harvard:

• We take a look back at the first two weeks of the Yale Young Global Scholars Program
• My experience at the Yale Young Global Scholars program (YYGS)
• Meet Joseph, whose love of engineering encouraged him to apply to the YYGS
• We hear from Cassie, Tom, Carys, Joe and Yousuf all about their first week at Yale
• Meet Yousuf, whose dream is to set up his own tech company in Silicon Valley. He was one of the first Seren students to attend YYGS
• Meet Carys: the Welsh athlete who was one of the first Seren students to attend YYGS
• Seren student Tyler Rawlings attended the Harvard Summer School last year, and you can read about his experience here

Seren – Jesus College Summer School, Oxford University

Jesus College, Oxford University, in collaboration with Seren, is proud to announce its fourth annual summer school.

Each year, Jesus College welcomes up to 75 students from across Wales to study and live like a real Oxford student. You’ll get to take part in lectures, seminars and the world-famous Oxford tutorial while sleeping and eating in the halls of the leading university.

This year, the theme is ‘Intelligence: Real and Artificial’ and will cover a range of subjects including:

• The promise and peril of artificial intelligence
• The neuroscience of intelligence
• A modern history of the secret intelligence services
• A history of genius in art and music
• Forms of intelligence in plants

Applications will open in May/June 2020; keep an eye on our channels for more information.

LEDLET Summer Scheme in London and Cardiff

Especially for students interested in studying law at university level, the LEDLET summer scheme showcases the different professions available to law students and gives them the opportunity to experience what it really is that lawyers do.

For the first time this year, the scheme will be coming to Cardiff as well as London.

Applications close on 14 February, and you can find more information here: https://www.ledlet.org.uk/summer-scheme-2017

The Sutton Trust US Programme

The Sutton Trust US Programme is designed to support students from state schools across the UK to explore US study and access leading universities. In the past eight years, they have helped more than 400 British students get places and funding at top US universities.

The programme includes two residentials in the UK before all students spend a week in the US staying on-campus at a leading US university and visiting a variety of other American universities. An optional second year of the programme gives students additional support to apply to US universities alongside their UCAS options.All costs are covered by the programme – including travel, food, accommodation, admissions test preparation and more.

To be eligible to apply, students must:

• Currently be in Year 12
• Attend, and have always attended, a state-funded school or college i.e. non-fee paying
• Not hold US citizenship
• Be from a low- or middle-income family (generally, this will mean a household earning £45,000 or less)
• Be interested in US culture and higher education

To apply, and for more information, visit https://us.suttontrust.com/

The application deadline is 19 January 2020. However, we strongly advise you get started earlier, as the application form requires some thinking.