Breadcrumbs

Congratulations to our finalists

Many congratulations to our finalists.

Somerville has a great showing of firsts and high 2:1s; 29 first-class degrees out of a cohort of 109, better than all but two previous years out of the fifteen since Somerville finalists first included roughly equal numbers of men and women. Among our high performers are several university prize winners, and our graduate students on taught courses have done well too.

Please keep checking this page as it will be updated frequently. If you are a 2011 finalist and would like your profile included please email webmaster@some.ox.ac.uk

Josephine Holland- Bachelor of Arts - Experimental Psychology  

Highlights of my undergraduate career:

  • Being Welfare Officer in my second year. I loved the responsibility of being a go-to person. I also enjoyed organising events from weekly yoga to an Ann Summers party!
  • I remember every 8th week as being blissfully happy; handing in my last essays of term and simply enjoying Oxford with my friends.

What's next?

  • I'm so happy to be staying here at Somerville for another 4 years to read Graduate Entry Medicine. I'm going to look to continue taking part in many aspects of college life including: Welfare, Peer Support, Chapel, Football and Basketball.

Rowena Scott - Master of Chemistry

I found out my first year result by text message. I had had a friend visiting, and after he left I barely had time to rush out to the celebratory chemistry drinks, let alone visit the Exam Schools. I immediately sent another friend out to check that I had really got a distinction, and only after this second friend and my tutors confirmed it did I begin to believe it was true. Thenceforth, maintaining that result was my goal.

Another high point of my degree has been helping out at the interviews and open days - seeing and welcoming all the new faces for future years and remembering my own experiences. It was through the Somerville interviews that I met my now fiance, when we were both volunteering during my first year.

The 4th year research project has had it's ups and downs, but I have thoroughly enjoyed working in a lab and organising my own studies. In September, I am moving to Birmingham, where I am beginning a PhD in zeolite chemistry. The following May, my fiance and I will be returning to Oxford to be married.

Katie Borg - Bachelor of Arts in Human Sciences

There have been so many wonderful experiences for me at Somerville. Favourite memories have included using travel money from college grants to interview African healers in Malawi, choir tours to Milan and around the UK, and winning the women's football cuppers final in my second year (Dame Fi's Barmy Army!). Hitch hiking to Morocco from Winchester as a part of the Link Community Development charity was also a pretty amazing experience, and certainly not something I imagined doing during my time at Oxford before I arrived. But most of all, the numerous summer's days lying on the quad, the strong sense of community in college and the friendships I've made have been the most wonderful and important things to me at Oxford. For the next six months I plan to work as a carer in Oxford, before starting my nurse training in Southampton in February.

James Rosenfeld - Bachelor of Arts in History

Reading history at Somerville was both a challenge and a privilege. One of the many high points of my degree was writing my undergraduate thesis, 'The Great White Hope: Larry Bird, Race and Culture in 1980s America', which studied the rise of white victim culture in the United States through an analysis of popular attitudes to a successful white basketball player. The academic freedom I was afforded, the chance to be supervised by a leading historian in that field, and the fact that I was writing on a topic I am genuinely passionate about, made writing my thesis a truly memorable experience. Outside of my studies, I had a wonderful time at Somerville, meeting many fantastic individuals  throughout my three year course. Since completing my degree I have begun working in London in the Investment Banking Division of Goldman Sachs.

Nick Cooper - Bachelor of Arts in Psychology, Philosophy and Physiology

Somerville has been a wonderful home for the last three years - its reputation as the friendliest, most welcoming and most encouraging college is firmly set in my mind. I have so many memories, but spending a year amongst the wafer-thin walls of Vaughan and the fantastic evening that was the Somerville-Jesus Ball were notable highlights. It will be very sad to leave, but fortunately I won't be too far away: I am moving to St John's College to complete a MSc in Psychological Research, followed by a DPhil looking into causes and possible interventions of dyslexia and other developmental disorders.

  

 

 

Sacha Wason - Master of Chemistry

My time at Somerville has been fantastic.  I tried my hand at skiing on the Varsity ski trip; made good use of the college common rooms/ bar; enjoyed many a picnic on the quad; started friendships that I hope will last forever and worked harder than I ever thought was possible.  The result is something I will look back on with great pride for the rest of my life. In August, I start at the Oxford University Press (just across the road from Somerville!), where I will be assisting in the publication of medical journals.