Year 9 Girls Engineering Summer School

For this programme, you should:

• Expect to study science and maths in your post-16 studies
• Be studying at least eight GCSEs (or equivalent)
• Be on track to achieve a minimum of five GCSEs at grades 7-9, including maths and sciences
• Be on track to achieve a minimum of a grade 5 in GCSE English Language 

This programme is funded by Imperial College London. It aims to support students from backgrounds under-represented in higher education. We are looking for applicants who attend non-fee paying schools in the UK and who meet at least one of the following criteria. The more of these criteria that you meet, the more likely you are to be offered a place.

We will prioritise your application if: 

• You are currently or have previously been in care

We will also assess whether:

• You are entitled to receive free school meals or pupil premium
• Your family income is below £50,000 per year
• You are the first generation to attend higher education (meaning your parents, step-parents, adoptive parents or guardians have not completed a higher education qualification)
• Your school has a high percentage of students receiving free school meals
• Your school has below average attainment
• You live in a neighbourhood with low overall progression rates to higher education (we use POLAR4 and IMD data to assess this)
• You are a young carer*

* A young carer is someone under 18 years of age who helps look after a relative who has a condition such as a disability, long term illness, mental health condition, or a drug or alcohol dependency. They do extra jobs in and around the home, such as cooking, cleaning, or helping someone to get dressed and move around.

Applications are made through Aspire, our online application system. A link to Aspire will be added to this web page once applications are open.

Setting up your account

You'll need to create an Aspire account before completing your application.

• If you have applied to an Imperial Outreach programme in the past, you can use your existing account. There is a forgotten password feature on the Aspire login page.
• If this is your first application to one of our programmes, we recommend you use a personal email address rather than a school email address when creating your account. Security settings in some school email servers will prevent you from receiving emails from Aspire.

Completing your application

Once you are logged in you will need to start a new application. As part of the application form you will need to tell us about your school, the subjects you are currently studying and the course(s) you plan to study for GCSE (or equivalent). 

Please make sure you select the right programme when using the drop-down options. Some of our programmes have similar names, so double-checking is important.

As well as providing information about your school and future study plans, you will be asked questions relating to the eligibility criteria listed above. Where possible, please try to have this information to hand before you apply. You will also be asked to write a short personal statement. This gives you the chance to tell us more about why you are applying for this programme and what you hope to get out of the experience.

As part of the application process, we will seek references from a parent/guardian and a teacher at your current school. Please speak to the individuals you would like to provide these references in advance, so you can check you have the correct email address and contact numbers for them and that they are happy to support your application.

References

Once you have successfully submitted your application, we will email your parent/guardian and teacher referees. They will be sent a personalised link to Aspire, where they will provide information to support your application.

The reference forms ask similar questions about the eligibility criteria and include the opportunity to provide a supporting statement. These statements can be used to let us know about other challenges you may have faced and/or what you might get out of participating in the programme. Teachers will also be asked to verify the subject/grade information you provided in your application.

Decisions

We will release decisions via email by 6 May 2025. If you are offered a place on the programme, or on the waitlist, you will have a limited amount of time to accept this offer and send back your conditional documents. Successful applicants will receive details on the next steps.

For information about the application process, please see our application FAQs.