Mate

“Very happy, I got three A*’s and an A. Now it’s off to Southampton to study Electrical Engineering.”

Course studied and results: A Level Further Maths (A*), Maths (A*), Physics (A*) and Computer Science (A) 

Former school: Hayle Academy

What’s next: University of Southampton to study Electrical Engineering, a five-year master’s course

For Mate, results day marked the end of two hugely successful years at Truro and Penwith College’s Penwith Campus, and another set of results that place the College among the country’s top performers, a track record built up over more than 30 years of specialist post-16 education in Cornwall.

Having arrived from Hayle Academy, Mate achieved outstanding results across Further Maths, Maths and Physics, all at A*, alongside an A in Computer Science.

“Very happy, I got three A stars and an A.”

The results secure his place at the University of Southampton, where Mate will begin a five-year Electrical Engineering Masters this September.

“I’m off to the University of Southampton to do Electrical Engineering. It’s a Masters, so I think it’s a five-year course.”

Looking back, Mate says one of the things he valued most was the feel of the campus itself, a place where, despite its size, he quickly found somewhere he belonged.

“It’s an amazing campus. It’s small, but that means it’s more close, everything’s accessible. There’s also great facilities, like a gym, it’s really nice. There’s also small facilities, basketball, field buildings. It’s a very nice campus.”

Mate made the most of what was on offer, using the gym every week, and says the small size of the campus made it feel close-knit rather than limiting, more like a community than simply somewhere to study.

That same sense of care extended into the classroom, particularly in his maths lectures.

“Very nice, especially the maths one, very understanding, because a lot of people know different levels of maths. It’s very understanding.”

Coming to College also meant building an entirely new social circle. Although a few friends from school made the move with him, Mate found himself the only student from Hayle Academy taking A Levels, and quickly discovered that finding his people was easier than he expected.

“I brought some friends over from school, but I did make a lot of friends because I was the only one from my school doing A Levels.”

For students weighing up their own next steps, Mate’s advice is simple: don’t feel locked in too early.

“Explore. Of course, when you pick a subject it’s hard to stick with, but especially for the first couple of parts, you can change some parts, so there’s a lot of different things you can explore.”

He also speaks highly of the practical side of his studies, from Physics coursework to the mathematical programmes he worked with across his courses.

“The subjects have been very nice to study, especially the coursework in Physics, the practicals, the mathematical programmes, and all sorts of facilities here.”

With his results secured, Mate is now heading to the University of Southampton to study Electrical Engineering, one of hundreds of Truro and Penwith College students this year progressing to their first-choice destinations.

For Mate, College has been a place where a small campus became a close community, where he was encouraged to keep exploring his options, and where he built the results, and the friendships, to take him confidently into the next stage of his engineering career, the latest in a long line of students to find their place at a College with three decades of experience behind it.