Felpham student to take degree in US

Felpham Community College A-level student Carol Rossell has been awarded a place at a US university

Carol, 18, has won a place and a financial aid package to study in the USA. She has turned down a place at Cambridge University to take up the offer for a leading science degree programme at Tufts University in Boston.

She is completing her A-levels at Felpham Community College and was astounded to be chosen for the Sutton Trust’s US programme to encourage academically talented low and middle income British students to consider studying across the Atlantic Ocean.

Carol said: “I was so overwhelmed when I found out I had been successful in getting a place and will be spending the next four years in the US, almost all paid for by the programme.

“I will be able to study not just one subject but many under the liberal arts curriculum. This means I can study all the subjects I couldn’t cover at A-level and get a first-rate science education at Tufts.

“I am planning on majoring in biochemistry and I want a career helping the world – either in pharmaceuticals, agriculture or sustainable energy.

“I am so excited about what will happen after my A-levels. Now, I just need to work hard and finish them successfully.”

Carol is an integral member of the college community and stood as the Liberal Democrat in last year’s mock general election.

She runs the college’s science club and mentors younger students in the sciences and maths. She also works as a lifeguard at Butlin’s.

Coming from a single parent background, she will be the first member of her immediate family to attend university. She secured her place after she took part in the US programme run by the Sutton Trust education charity with the US-UK Fulbright Commission.

Last year, she was one of 150 students selected for a summer school in the US at either Yale University or the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

They competed with more than 1,600 applicants to win a place on the programme and spent a week living on campus and visiting several other US universities.

The students benefited from residential activities and received an intensive programme of support from the comission over a number of months before and after their US visit.

This covered admission tests, college choices and the application process.

The aim of the Sutton Trust’s US Programme is to encourage academically talented low and middle income British students to consider studying at American universities.

Carol is one of 43 students who have been selected under the early application deadline to US universities.

They have been offered a total of about $10m from the universities for the next four years.

Sir Peter Lampi, the chairman of the Sutton Trust, said: “Our US programme is a life-changing experience.

“The 43 talented students will enjoy a broad and varied curriculum and, with generous financial aid packages on offer, will graduate from some of the world’s best universities debt-free.”