Ellie’s Story

Name: Ellie Powlesland

Subjects studied: History, English Literature and French A Levels

Former school: Penrice Academy

What’s next: History at Oxford University (Mansfield College)

Ellie, who has received an offer to study History at Oxford, credits her lecturers and the great learning environment at Truro College to help her achieve her goal.

When choosing where to study after finishing school, Ellie says of Truro College: “I liked what courses it was offering, and I liked the facilities and the general feel of the College.”

She now studies A Levels in History, English Literature and French, describing her favourite thing about choosing this pathway as; “being able to study different things in more depth than at GCSE”.

When asked her favourite subject to study, Ellie explains: “Definitely History. I really enjoy the British Empire part of the course because it’s something that is completely different to what I studied at GCSE, and it’s interesting to study global history, looking at different countries, rather than just Western history.”

When deciding to apply for Oxford, Ellie reached out to her lecturers: “They helped me a lot, especially with the [Oxford] application process. It’s quite a stressful time writing a personal statement and applying for the admissions test, and they helped me a lot with one-on-one chats about what I need to do to improve and helping to direct what different topics I focussed on in my personal statement.”

To Ellie’s delight, she was offered a place to study History at Mansfield College, part of the University of Oxford.

Ellie’s advice for prospective students thinking of coming to Truro College is: “Go for it! I think it’s a really good environment for learning here, all of the lecturers are really supportive and helpful.”

Ellie says of her future plans after university: “I’m quite interested in the idea of being a researcher for documentaries or TV programmes.”