19 Mar 07

8,000 school and college students are expected at this year's Oxford and Cambridge regional conferences to find out first-hand from undergraduates and tutors about applying to the Universities.

The conferences, which are free of charge, kicked off at Glasgow and Edinburgh last week, and continue this week at St James' Park in Newcastle, Old Trafford in Manchester, the Walkers Stadium in Leicester, Cheltenham Racecourse and the Emirates Stadium in London.

Katy Edge, who is currently studying English at Balliol College, Oxford, attended a regional conference two years ago when she was still at school. She is now going back to the conference in Leicester to help encourage the next cohort of applicants.

She said: 'I considered applying to Oxford after I received my GCSE results, which were much better than I had expected but if I had any doubts, the conference definitely encouraged me to give it a go.

'I had the opportunity to ask any questions that I had to admissions staff, Oxbridge tutors and perhaps most importantly of all, current students. I'm hoping I can be of as much help to future students now.'

Each conference offers an introduction to Oxford and Cambridge as well as course-specific talks and information about interviews, student finance and careers.

Leyla Ohkai, Access co-ordinator at Oxford University, said: 'We think it is important for potential applicants to find out for themselves what Oxford and Cambridge have to offer. The conferences provide them with an opportunity to meet tutors across the range of subjects, as well as admissions staff and students, all in one place. We hope that this will dispel some myths and encourage them to think about applying to our universities.'

The conferences will be taking place on the following dates:

19 March, Newcastle
20 March, Manchester
22 March, Leicester
26 March, Cheltenham
29 March, London