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Student view: Sinisa Milosevic

From participating in Imperial College London’s Global Summer School back in 2018, to mentoring programme students and graduating in BSc Physics from Imperial in 2022; the two-week summer programme has played a big role in the past five years of Sinisa’s life. In this blog he gives the inside view of Imperial’s flag ship STEM summer school.

Global Summer School student SinisaGlobal Summer School takes place over two weeks, with the first week focused on a specific subject area. My field was Physics which covered topics such as oscillations, waves and computer programming. Taught by Imperial academics, I recall finding it a challenging but rewarding curriculum to digest in the space of only a few days. Thankfully the support from both the academics staff and student mentors meant there was always someone on hand to answer my questions. The teaching staff shared their subject knowledge with such passion and enthusiasm, making the content all that more engaging for us students.

The second week revolved around solving a real-world challenge within a team of students from other academic subjects, whilst using the knowledge and expertise acquired in the previous week. This was my first time working within such a diverse group of people and meeting people from all over the world. It truly opened my horizons and with Imperial being such a diverse international community I felt like it really helped me when starting as an undergrad at Imperial myself.

Getting a taste of student life

My favourite part of Global Summer School was the unique insight it provided to being an undergrad student in London, along with the incredible social activities organised by the team; from seeing my very first musical on the West End to our day trip to Brighton.
I was left with such a great impression from my time at Global Summer School, so much so that it had solidified my decision to not only make Physics my area of study, but to make Imperial my first choice when applying to university.

Becoming a mentor

At the heart of the programme are the mentors, who are current Imperial undergrad students. The mentors support both the academic and social side of the programme and played such a key role in my experience, that it prompted me to sign up to become one myself. I have enjoyed working multiple different sessions over the years both online and in-person. It has been fascinating getting to know all the students, helping to coach and support them as they each use their strengths to come together for the final project. Having attended Global Summer School as a student myself and watching them present their impressive final presentations always feels like a very full circle moment that I am proud to be a part of.

Preparing for undergraduate studies

I believe Global Summer School holds so much value in preparing students for an undergraduate degree, providing them with the independence and responsibilities that come with starting university and living in halls. As such a big city, London can often be deemed intimidating, especially for students that young. However, I really feel that the exposure to living in the heart of London whilst on the programme was really beneficial and made the move there that little bit less daunting.

If there was one piece of advice, I could give to students looking to apply to Global Summer School it would be to make the most of it and not be afraid to ask questions. It is the perfect opportunity to learn more about the subject you may want to study at university and get that first contact with Imperial academics and mentors.

Looking back at my time at the Global Sumer School, I would highly recommend to anyone looking into summer schools to consider applying for Global Summer School as you never know where it might lead to and you might even decide you like it as much as I did and choose to apply to Imperial when the time comes.

Introduction webinar | What is Imperial’s Global Summer School?

What will I learn from this webinar?

Hosted by the Global Summer School Manager, you will gain insight into what the Global Summer School Online Programme 2021 is about, how it is run and what you will learn.

You will hear the programme details for our three learning streams: Engineering, Physics, Medicine and Life Sciences.

You will learn about the real-world STEM Challenge brought to life by Enterprise Labs.

You will discover our masterclasses lead by our Careers Service and Student Recruitment.

At the end of the webinar, you will have an opportunity to ask questions to the programme manager.

The webinar is for 16-17 prospective Imperial undergraduates and guidance counsellors from both the UK and internationally.

What are the Webinar event details?

  • Date: Tuesday 20 April 2021
  • Time: 11.00 am – 12.00 pm
  • Where: Online

The webinar is free to attend and lasts 60 minutes.

How do I attend the webinar?

This event requires registration.

Click here to register for this event.

Find out more:

Apply now or find out more about the Imperial Global Summer School on our website.

Contact the Imperial Global Summer School team for more information.

Global Summer School opens applications for 2021

Exclusively online in 2021, we are thrilled to be we be opening applications for this year programme.

After the success of our 2020 Online Programme, we are running the Summer School online again in July and August of this year.

Our two-week online programme offers 16–17-year-old students across the globe the chance to learn Engineering, Physics, Medicine and Life Science from academic experts at our world leading university.

Lectures, seminars, STEM challenge project work, masterclasses and social activities will be hosted live. Students will interact with staff and current students to ask any questions they may have about the programme and university life at Imperial.

“I really enjoyed the chance to hear about different departments, (particularly from different students’ perspectives), and also seeing the strong link between Imperial’s courses and current research.”

– Apellia, Physics, Greece (Online programme 2020)

Working with multiple departments across the University, our Global Summer School brings together the best of what Imperial has to offer. We provide a solid introduction into academic life at Imperial alongside social opportunities.

This year we are excited to be running our entrepreneurial STEM challenge with the Imperial Enterprise Lab and to be continuing our existing partnerships with facility academics and Student Recruitment team for our series of Masterclasses.

“I love the lectures about different disciplines. The experience broadened my horizon and showed distinctive aspects in the academic world.”

– Jintong, Medicine & Life Sciences, China (Online Programme 2020)

Apply now or find out more about the Imperial Global Summer School on our website.

Contact the Imperial Global Summer School team for more information.

 

Global Summer School delivers new Online Programme

Following the cancellation of the on-campus programme due to COVID-19, the Imperial Global Summer School team adapted their offering this summer to deliver an exciting online STEM programme to students in multiple countries.

“94% of students say they are more likely to apply to Imperial following the Online Programme.”

In a partnership, comprising nine academic departments, a selection of online activities were deployed for students to access, with additional support from the Careers Service and the Student Recruitment team.

122 students aged 16-17 from 27 countries enrolled and participated in a range of activities, from live demonstrations of liquid crystals and designing evolving creatures in the Engineering sessions, to exploring the discovery of the Higgs particle and the pros and cons of being a doctor in the Physics and Medicine sessions. Students who attended the Masterclasses also learned more about applying to university, student life at Imperial and their future career options.

“100% of attendees and guardians would recommend the Online Programme.”

For many years, Imperial Global Summer School has continued to encourage talented individuals, interested in studying Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics to study as an undergraduate student at Imperial by giving them a taster of what life could be like over the summer months. Approximately 180 Global Summer School alumni have gone on to study at Imperial between 2016 and 2018, and we expect to have further international enrolments this year.

Global Summer School Programme Manager, Itziar Banerjee Martin commented ‘While organising and running the Online Programme posed a new challenge to the Global Summer School team, the students’ enthusiasm and the experience they gained while participating has given us reassurance that we may see some of them back at Imperial in the future.’

Register your interest or find out more about the Imperial Global Summer School on our website.

Contact the Imperial Global Summer School team for more information.