The 'week in the life' project was co-created with 11 students currently studying at Cambridge from different disciplines and with different interests. The students created this content in their own voice to represent their own experiences of navigating the Cambridge 'week'.
There are occasions within the university and colleges for students to undertake small-scale work opportunities. For example, colleges might ask for students to help with tours of their college on open days and answer the questions of prospective students.
This page gives you some ideas of the things we have been involved in at our time in Cambridge.
Mentoring is a great thing to be involved with as it is easier to do alongside your own studies. It usually involves mentoring current Year 12/13s interested in the same subject. There are many mentoring schemes available, from schemes such as Apply Cambridge or the Cambridge SU Shadowing Scheme. They are usually available from JCR emails or Library Webpages.
Here are some examples of mentoring schemes:
You can usually find more, it's about knowing the right places to look and reading through JCR emails.
Many colleges have widening access and participation programs, and they are always on the lookout for students to help. My own college, Churchill, does a lot of STEM outreach programs or BAME outreach programs. For such opportunities, it's always good to look around boards in college and college emails.
A bunch of the colleges also do Telethons, encouraging students to call alumni and ask for funds as well as where they have gotten with their degree.
If there's anything I have learned whilst studying at Cambridge, it's that there's always someone doing a study and they will pay you for your time. Look out for student union and JCR emails.
In Cambridge University you can work at May Balls during May week.
You usually have to fill out a google form in order to apply, talk about why you want to work there and the relevant experience you have. Some colleges also require you to do an interview for the role. This is a really good way to make enough money to pay for your own May ball ticket if you wish to attend one. Also, it is a great way to experience a May ball from the backstage and to meet a lot of different people all across Cambridge.
If you are working at a May ball you will be assigned under a team leader and will have a specific role, such as: guest hospitality, ticketing or catering. However, your team leader could move you to a different department if necessary so be ready to adapt to change.
Online Interviews in the Christmas holidays:
At my college, I worked as an administrator for online interviews. This involved talking with interviewees before their Cambridge interview, checking their ID and equipment and briefing them on the interview, for example, giving them pre-reading material.