What Students are Saying

I loved my summer in the Cambridge program. It was the first time I was truly on my own - which was scary and exhilarating! I have wonderful memories of that summer  - seeing Prince Charles outside the Globe Theatre, punting on the Thames and walking on the grass for the first time. Early on in my career, the experience was also something that set me apart from the competition. I would recommend studying abroad to all students. The Cambridge Program was the perfect length of time for me.

Elaine (Polsi) Keough, Cambridge Summer 1995

First of all, Cambridge is beautiful. I was in awe of the whole experience of being there. A simple night out led me to the pub where Watson and Crick announced they'd discovered DNA, or "the secret of life." Everywhere I roamed there was historic architecture, lovely views, and the imprints of the brilliant minds who taught, researched, and studied there.

So what was that nagging feeling that seemed to be eating at me? I was encouraged in my travel writing class to turn the lens inward to try to sort it out. This led me to Newnham College, where Virginia Woolf delivered the speech that would later become the iconic "A Room of One's Own." After several interviews, I had a draft of the essay that would be published by the Montreal Review. With the help of my workshop  classmates and professor Sue Hertz, I worked through several drafts, researching the history of Cambridge, and following up on the critical questions they asked that helped my essay find a clear focus.

I am very grateful for the experience of being in Cambridge, which inspired my writing, and for the time Sue and my classmates so generously took to provide feedback for my work, which ultimately made my fragments of prose into a publishable essay.

To read Kristina's "Letter from Cambridge" essay entitled White Goddess Ghosts in the Montreal Review, click here.

Kristina Reardon, Cambridge Summer 2010, University of New Hampshire M.F.A. 2010.

. . . The Cambridge experience in the summer of 2003 was definitely a most pivotal moment in our lives. During our time at Caius we met some of the best friends of our lives, took some of the best classes we have ever taken, and had some of the best professors (or tutors!) we have ever had, and experienced a feeling we had never felt before that summer. It about killed us when we had to leave on August 15. However, we learned enough about ourselves that summer that returning to England for a longer stay was in our best interests.

Patrick Macgill, M.A. Program, Royal Holloway, University of London (undergraduate degree from Towson University, Maryland) and Tom Sebrell, Ph.D. Program, Queen Mary, University of London (undergraduate degree from Virginia Military Institute, M.A. from Virginia Tech)

I just wanted to let you know some very good news that has to do with my Cambridge trip in two ways. First off I was invited to share my study abroad experience at the Tennessee Consortium for International Studies held in Knoxville on February 6, 2007. This was the inaugural meeting and I served on a panel and shared my adventure and thoughts about why studying abroad is important. The link to the meeting website is http://www.tncis.org. I put in a few good words about the UNH trip!

Also, in even better news, after I returned from Cambridge my whole outlook on grad school changed. I looked beyond my small institution here in East Tennessee and I applied to Ohio State, Illinois, Ole Miss and then two programs in the UK, St. Andrews in Scotland and Birmingham in England. Thanks in part to Jan's reference [Jan Golinski, Professor of History at UNH and faculty on the CSP 2006] and my hard work here, I have been accepted to both programs in the UK. The other schools are still evaluating my applications at the time of this writing but I am leaning heavily on St. Andrews. Both UK programs are MA's in Early Modern Europe and the Reformation, right up my alley! Many thanks for taking me along to Cambridge. I think about the trip every day and it has certainly been a huge benefit for my future in grad school.

Andy Drinnon, Cambridge Summer 2006, B.A. May 2007 from East Tennessee State University (NOTE: Andy Drinnon is now studying at St. Andrews University, Scotland)