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̽��ֱ��CUSU shadowing scheme, now in its eighth year, is targeted specifically at high-achieving pupils from families with little history of higher education and from schools that have made few Cambridge applications in the past.

A total of 260 pupils, aged 16 and 17, will benefit from this year's scheme, which runs over three consecutive Thursday-Saturday slots. ̽��ֱ��visiting year-12s shadow a current Cambridge undergraduate, attending lectures and seminars, staying in College and getting a real-life taste of Cambridge.

All participants' expenses, including accommodation and travel, are met by CUSU with support from the Colleges. This funding enables pupils from families with modest incomes to take part. “Feedback suggests that without this level of support, many students would be unable to access the scheme. We want students to realise that Cambridge is open to all, regardless of background,” said Charlotte Richer, CUSU Access Officer who coordinates the programme.

Six of the pupils on last week's scheme are members of ACDiversity, an aspiration-raising programme for academically-able black pupils at state schools in and around London. Set up by a group of black professionals, the charity has the backing of major partners, including JP Morgan, Clifford Chance and Goldman Sachs, to run a mentoring programme and a residential summer school.

ACDiversity pupils said that their views of Cambridge had changed dramatically as a result of their first-hand experience of the ̽��ֱ��. Sixteen-year-old Chimdinma Nwagbo (pictured second from right), from Richmond upon Thames College in Middlesex, shadowed Joe Farish, a third-year chemical engineering student who is Student Access Officer at Trinity College.

Chimdinma commented: “I thought everyone would be pompous snobs but everyone was all right. I will definitely be applying to Cambridge to study chemical engineering.”

His views were echoed by Rachael Adekunle (pictured far right), 16, a pupil at City of Islington Sixth Form College in North London, who is interested in studying law. She was pleased to discover that collegiate life was such a strong feature of Cambridge. “ ̽��ֱ�� ̽��ֱ�� seems very friendly and community-based which I didn't expect,” she said.

Asked why they had signed up for the shadowing scheme, pupils said that it was a unique opportunity to sample student life at Cambridge, and discover whether they would fit in.

Four students had travelled from Northern Ireland. Julie-Anne Hewitt, 16, from Strathearn School in Belfast, arrived wanting to study history and left having changed her mind to anthropology as a result of shadowing an anthropology student. She said: “Student life at Cambridge is fantastic, the people are lovely and the work is fascinating. I expected an arrogant, competitive atmosphere but everyone was welcoming and friendly.”

Michael Digby, 17, who is at St Louis Grammar School in Ballymena, and is interested in studying architecture, said that the scheme had shown him that Cambridge students defy the stereotypes and are “just like any others”.

̽��ֱ��three-day programme ended with a talk on the Cambridge admissions process, complete with a mock interview, given by Steve Watts, Admissions Tutor (Arts) at Homerton College. Questions ranged from basic queries about application deadlines to detailed points about the workings of the intercollegiate pool system.

Mr Watts commented: “There's no doubt that getting potential students from the maintained sector actually to see the place and hear directly from students what Cambridge is like is enormously valuable. It's the quickest way to end myths about Cambridge and to show students, who may not otherwise think about applying, just how much we have to offer.”

Applications for the 2008 CUSU shadowing scheme were up on the previous year and a growing number of undergraduate students volunteered to take part.

Each year the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge invests more than £3 million in access and widening participation, working with state schools and colleges around the country to encourage increasing numbers of high-achieving students from groups currently under-represented at Cambridge to consider making an application.

CUSU will be running Open Days for prospective students on March 7, 10 and 12. For more information and application forms see the sidebar.