Engaging education that can take you from college to Cambridge

We spoke to Capital City College alumna and current Cambridge student Elysha Smith to find out about her experience doing A Level courses at Capital City College.

Elysha Smith studied A Level courses in History and Philosophy, while also completing an Extended Project Qualification (EPQ) at Capital City College (CCC)’s Sixth Form campus in Angel.

Now in her final year studying History at Trinity College at the University of Cambridge, we found out about how studying at CCC helped Elysha prepare for the academic rigours of university life while also allowing her to pursue her creative passions.

What did you like most about your A Level courses at Capital City College?

I loved the teaching on my courses. My philosophy teacher, Dan, was an absolute legend. He made philosophy so engaging and was fantastic at explaining concepts but also encouraging us to challenge the arguments. The course itself was also great – I still refer to concepts that I learned from the philosophy course and use some of its terminology in my essays at university, like the idea of something being necessary but not sufficient and vice versa. 

I had three history teachers and they were all great as well – John, Peter, and Henry. They cared a lot about us and about making sure that we learned. You could see their passion for what they were teaching – and part of my decision to choose Capital City College was because of the history course. They used an exam board that went beyond the typical educational parameters of British/European history as we studied India, the US, and the British Empire. Now I’m studying both ancient empires and world empires for my university papers and I’m drawing on things that I learned during my time at CCC.

What did you like most about the college?

I liked the atmosphere of the college the most. It’s a lovely building in a buzzing part of London. There was a real energy in the air that prepared me for the day and made me ready to learn. But I also loved the calm of the library – it had just the right ambience, not silent but not too distracting either.

What challenges did you face during your A Levels, and how did you overcome them?

During my A Levels I struggled a lot with commuting. It took me about 90 minutes to get to college, and it sometimes meant that I was spending more time travelling than at college. In Year 12 I struggled to build a routine that I was happy with and it got me pretty down because I felt like I wasn’t keeping up with work. But in Year 13 I decided to treat studying like a job and use the library to get all my studying done so at the end of the day I didn’t have to work at home. If I only had one class, I would either get there early or stay afterwards until the library closed to get all my work done. Developing this routine and using the library as a workspace instead of commuting just for my classes seems obvious, but it really helped.

How did the college support you in applying for your university course?

The staff were great in helping me apply for university. Stephen was my tutor and he was incredibly supportive during my whole UCAS application process. When I decided to apply to Cambridge just a few days before their application deadline, he was the one who got me to the careers team and got me sorted. The staff there were also fantastic in telling me what I needed to do and making sure that I had it done by the next day so that my application was completed in time.

How did the college support you in achieving your goals?

During my time at college, I began to consider pursuing a career in video games, and I couldn’t believe it when they offered a video game design competition run by Fusebox Games that involved creating a game design document for your own original concept. I participated twice and ended up winning the Best Narrative category in Year 12 and coming second overall in Year 13. Ever since, I have used the ideas that I came up with for that competition as an anchor to keep pushing and pursue my dream. I’m really thankful to the college for that chance to partake in an opportunity which allowed me to believe in myself and get a taste of what it is like to work with video games.

What are you studying now and what attracted you to this subject? 

I’m studying history right now and am currently in my third and final year. I’ve always been interested in it because both my dad and older brother are big history buffs. Neither of them have studied history, they just have a passion for it and I sort of absorbed their love for it. I love storytelling in all forms, and I consider history as a way of learning about stories of humanity from the past. Looking through Cambridge’s choice of subjects, I will admit that I was tempted by Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, and Anglo-Saxon and Norse and Celtic Studies, but their history course offered the greatest range and freedom.

How did your time at Capital City College prepare you for university study?

The self-study that I did during my time at Capital City College definitely helped me transition to life at university. I knew what it was like to have to hunker down in the library to finish some work and treat student life as a 9 to 5. I feel like the relationship that we had with our teachers was also a bit similar with the relationship you can have with lecturers.

How did you find the transition from college to university?

The transition from college to university was hard. The workload increase was immense and I was expected to write an essay on a new topic each week – and this was without being given any guidance on what that essay was supposed to look like. It was also hard being away from home and my parents – though my dad’s frequent visits offset that somewhat. University for me was just a quicker pace of life that I had to adapt to in order to make it through.

What do you like most about studying at Cambridge?

I’ve come to be very appreciative of the opportunities that I get at Cambridge. There’s some sort of seminar every week that you can attend for free just to learn about a new field in history – or whatever subject you’re studying. I attended one on the controversy surrounding Assassin’s Creed: Shadows! There are funds and awards and chances to study or involve yourselves in things that you otherwise would never have the chance to. There is just so much to learn and experience if you want to.

What does a typical day look like for you?

There probably isn’t a typical day for me until Easter term when it’s just library, library, library – revising for exams. And that’s because historians don’t have many contact hours so they have to create their own routine without lots of lectures to shape them around. But my typical Tuesday would look like this: wake up and read my Bible with a cup of tea, check my emails, head to my seminar, study and have lunch and then head to my Mandarin class, head to the University Library to study and then have dinner, hang with my friends and finish off any leftover work for the day before chilling with some video games or a book and going to bed. 

What are you working on at the moment?

At the moment I’m working on my dissertation. I’m (trying) to look at the development of Ijaw political thought in Nigeria and the influence that Biafran secessionist thought has had on it. Over the summer I was in Nigeria to see family and I conducted interviews (oral histories) as part of my primary research, and I’ve spent many hours poring over political pamphlets and other primary sources at the University Library. For the historians doing a dissertation, Michaelmas (autumn/winter term) is dedicated to writing it so all of the supervisions for this term are just dissertation ones. That means that the bulk of my work is just dissertation research, and some reading for my coursework subject. On top of that I have a weekly seminar for my coursework subject, and two lectures a week for my exam paper.

What’s next for you?

I don’t know! I don’t want to become a proper adult just yet so I’m thinking of applying for Master’s programmes to delay the inevitable. But I also don’t mind the idea of just working a casual job for a year while I build up my game design portfolio to start applying for entry-level roles in narrative design. I would also just like to graduate and go work on a farm for a few months. So, lots to think about and pray on with no clear answer just yet – but I suppose that’s the exciting bit.

If you’re thinking about getting into Higher Education, we offer an excellent range of A Levels and T Levels as well as other courses which are recognised by universities. We also have a number of college-based Higher Education courses spanning an impressive variety of subjects. Apply now!

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