LSE Teacher & UCL Lecturer Declare War on Education Inequality
Only 6% of students are privately educated in the UK. But 55% of Russell Group university students are from privately educated backgrounds.
We started UniRise to level the playing field. No matter what background a student comes from, we give them the best possible chance at getting into their dream university.
We’ve spent the last 5 years speaking to Russell Group University Admissions Tutors to crack the code of what makes the perfect personal statement and university application.
We’re now freely sharing what we’ve learnt with as many students as possible on the UniRise platform - and we've already helped over 4000 students!
THE ALL-IN-ONE SOLUTION
1. The Perfect Statement Course
We learnt from 20 Russell Group University Admissions Tutors and packed their insights into a step-by-step online course on how to write the perfect personal statement and supercharge your university application.
2. Interactive Statement Builder
We then built the Interactive Statement Builder, where students can look up recommended resources (lectures, books, articles etc.) to create content for their personal statements. This content is then automatically structured to make sure students produce a high-quality final statement.
3. 24/7 UCAS Advisors
Students can speak to our expert team of UCAS Advisors 24/7 and get a response in minutes on any of their university questions - whether that's advice on their statement or help choosing what subject to apply for.
4. The WTF Guide
For subject-specific advice, students use our WTF Should I Study At Uni Guide. Inside, students can watch day-in-the-life videos, honest interviews with current students, compare universities and find out how to get in. The WTF Guide is currently available for over 30 subjects.
5. Statement Bank
We got Russell Group University Admissions Tutors to review over 300 personal statements. Students can look up statements for (almost) any subject and see what admissions tutors liked/disliked about the statement. No more guessing!
6. Oxbridge Statement Reviews
Our team of trained Oxbridge Graduate Statement Reviewers review our students' personal statements to double check for grammar/clarity errors and point out all possible areas for improvement.
THE FOUNDERS
Andrew Mitson
Andrew dropped out of school at 16 and self-studied his way to 4 A*s a Cambridge offer. He’s now a teacher at LSE, lecturer at two Oxford summer schools and twice featured in Forbes for his work helping students get into top universities.
Oliver Rutherford
Ollie made the Dean’s List before choosing to teach Maths at one of London’s roughest secondary schools. He's helped over 30 homeless students get into Russell Group universities and is now a Guest Lecturer at UCL, Board Member at the World Education Connection and Global University Advisor.
QUOTES
Andrew said: “Getting into top universities is a game-changer for social mobility. I’d still be stuck in a house with no hot water or kitchen, with snails crawling around on our carpets. Writing the perfect personal statement and making the right UCAS choices is what makes the difference. I'm so excited to be freely sharing what we've built with thousands of students.”
Ollie added: “With COVID-19 limiting access to campuses, and having seen hundreds of frankly dreadful personal statements from amazing students, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. We’ve worked with dozens of admissions tutors from the top UK Universities to ensure our students get their info straight from the source — unbiased and unfiltered — so they can understand exactly what to do, and what not to.”
WHAT NOW?
We'd love to share our own stories and the UniRise platform with more students and teachers, so we can make sure any student - no matter what their background - can get into their dream university.
NOTES TO EDITORS
Over 4,000 students currently use UniRise
Over 120 schools currently use UniRise resources
UniRise's cofounders have invested their life savings to build the platform (with no external funding)
ENDS
For more media information, interviews or images, please contact Andrew Mitson at UniRise - andrew@unirise.co.uk