Auckland teen 'super excited' to secure spot at Cambridge University

An Auckland teenager is one of a small group of international students to be accepted to study at Cambridge University this year.

Kevin Guo, 17, is also the only international student to be offered a place at Peterhouse College, which is the oldest of the Cambridge colleges, founded in 1284.

The Mairangi Bay teen even got offers from Imperial College London and Auckland University but he says it wasn’t a difficult choice to make considering Cambridge was his dream school from a young age.

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“One thing that really attracted me to courses within the UK was that there was no need for that extra year of where we have to do these tests again, we have to do the interview again [to gain entry to the medical programme].”

Guo remembers wanting to reach for the stars from a young age.

“The true story is I watched this movie and the doctor saved the day. So like from a really young age, I was like that seems really, really interesting,” he told Afternoons.

“It was only [through] talking to my mother and listening to the stories of my birth, where I learned I was actually diagnosed with - it's called congenital muscular torticollis, which is basically my sternocleidomastoid muscle near my neck had like basically an issue, a deformity.

“I think learning about the time how these doctors supported my parents, supported me was really inspiring and that was kind of the thing that sealed my future career ambitions.”

So he laid the foundation to his reach his dream by getting into the St Johns volunteer programme and securing a rare opportunity with North Shore Hospital.

Most hospitals wouldn’t accept someone under the age of 18 as a volunteer, but Guo pleaded his case directly with the director of volunteering at North Shore Hospital and went on to set up a pathway for his mates too.

“I thought I have a couple of friends from school that really want to go into medicine also, but they wouldn't have access to this opportunity.

“After a few months of work, we eventually created this system and now I think every single year we can get maybe seven to I think maybe nine or 10 students from Pinehurst to go and secure these volunteering positions basically, that allows for young generations of people, [who are] really wanting to go into medicine, to have a shot in gaining this kind of really important work experience.”

Although his studies have been a major focus, he also takes the time to enjoy extracurricular activities like chess, basketball and the debate club.

Now the teen is “super excited” to be heading to the United Kingdom in September.