Curtis Sharma
Many members of Wolfson’s cosmopolitan community of mature students have interesting backgrounds. Curtis Sharma, from Trinidad, is reading for a BA in Linguistics after a career as a singer/songwriter and busking on the London Underground (watch and listen to Curtis, a.k.a. Jon, in action at Oxford Circus station). Read about his journey to Cambridge and the life he enjoys at Wolfson here…
I believe that as mature students we have a distinct advantage over school-leavers. We have lived life to some extent and know what we want. Our life experience equips us to make conscious and logical decisions in pursuit of our academic goals. This has certainly worked for me, enabling me to fulfil a lifelong dream of studying at what since my childhood I have known to be one of the best universities in the world.
My partner and I both moved from different countries (Trinidad in my case) to London in 2005. From then up until I started my course at University of Cambridge in 2011, I had been plying my trade as a singer/songwriter, my main occupation being busking in the London Underground. This was immensely rewarding in many ways, however, the one real regret of my life was that I had not studied at university. In 2008, after suddenly realising that I was now living in a country with some of the world’s best educational institutes, I decided to do something about that. After much introspection I settled on Linguistics as my subject, and having chosen my field of study, I set about finding out what qualification I would need to begin a BA in Linguistics, especially as it had been many years since I left formal education. My search led me to City Lit – an adult learning centre in London where I was able to pursue an affordable and credible Access to Higher Education Diploma. I attended classes 3 days per week with 5 and a half contact hours per week, allowing me time to work as well. My course ran from September 2008 to June 2009 and I was able to obtain a distinction in my chosen course of Humanities and Social Science. During this time I maintained focus on linguistics eventually basing my extended essay project at the end of my Access to HE course on language acquisition.
I chose my university with equal care. It was my intention to aim for the very best of institutions, and on learning that University of Cambridge would not offer a Linguistics Tripos until 2010, I chose not to apply to universities in September 2008, and instead waited until the following year. In the meantime, I took the opportunity to visit Cambridge a few times. A Mature Student Open Day early in 2009 proved invaluable. I was able to visit the different mature colleges, and attend talks that would prove very helpful in understanding what University of Cambridge looks for in a student, all in an inclusive, pleasant environment. I also attended an open day relevant to my chosen subject, which included brief introductions to different areas of study, tours of the relevant faculty and a chance to meet students already studying linguistics (as part of the Modern and Medieval Languages Tripos), and even some of the lecturers. My partner attended the Mature Student Open Day with me and also came with me to simply explore the city of Cambridge, and this proved to be very helpful in support of my ambitions. What all of this did for me was to help me to know what I wanted, whether Cambridge was suited to me, and what the university of Cambridge would want from me. I was able to write a better personal statement, and to confidently apply to the college I thought would best suit my needs and desires, namely Wolfson. Even more importantly, all these efforts paid off in enabling me to be much better prepared for my interviews than I would have otherwise been.
It will always stand out as one of the happiest days in my life when I received the letter from the University offering me a place at Wolfson College in October 2010. Unfortunately, for personal reasons I had to defer to 2011, and the College was very helpful in this matter. Throughout the coming year I kept contact with Wolfson and they provided continuing support and also helped to allay any fears and misunderstandings I had both as a mature student and as someone who did not always understand how things were done in the UK. The assistance I received with sorting out issues with Student Finance England was invaluable, and bursaries from the College made an strenuous financial situation manageable. I now live in family accommodation at Wolfson College with my partner and child and I continue to enjoy the amazing support Wolfson College provides for its students. Everyday I wake up with a smile knowing that I am at the University of Cambridge – the best university in the world, and enjoying to the full a subject I have been interested in for a long time. Many, many years after leaving school, through Wolfson College, I am making my academic dreams come true.
Curtis Sharma
Mature Undergraduate Student, 2011-2014
BA Linguistics