Sara Genovesi
After an eight-year gap from academia, training as a criminal defence lawyer and working within the Italian judiciary, Sara chose to return to her studies. She shares her experience with the Oxford Advanced Pre-sessional Course for Graduate Students and how it prepared her to pursue a Master's degree, ultimately receiving offers from both Oxford and Cambridge.
'When I decided to apply to the Oxford Advanced Pre-sessional Course for Graduate Students in 2024, I already had a background shaped by a wide range of experiences, reflecting my multiple interests. Before graduating in law from the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia in 2016, I had been a musician. After law school, I pursued training as a criminal defence lawyer and ultimately decided to follow what I believed to be my deepest ambition: becoming a judge. After three years as a research assistant within the Italian judiciary, while preparing to sit my final examination, the Covid-19 pandemic struck.
'The almost two-year delay to my judicial examination, beyond the medical tragedy it represented, provided me with an exceptionally significant period of inner reflection. What did I truly enjoy most about practising law? Was I genuinely ready to bear the responsibility of deciding on other people’s lives? What could I do to change a system that had begun to appear so chaotic from the inside? After careful consideration, I realised that it was not the decisional aspect of being a judge that appealed to me most, but rather the study, research and gathering of information that underpinned it. This, I came to understand, was the work of an academic researcher, not of a legal practitioner.
'As I sought a route back into academia, from which I had been absent for almost eight years, I came across the Advanced Pre-sessional Course for Graduate Students at the University of Oxford. It appeared to offer not only the ideal foundation needed for pursuing a Master’s degree at a leading university, but also to encompass many of my areas of interest: law, rhetoric, history and international relations. Overcoming my own impostor syndrome and fear of change, I decided to apply.
'From the moment I arrived in Oxford and began classes, it became my happy place. The course was intense, intellectually demanding and deeply inspiring: I was finally able to research and explore without stifling my intellectual curiosity, thanks to the support of exceptional academic tutors. I had never written academic essays before, but through careful guidance I was gradually able to step out of my comfort zone and overcome my insecurities.
'In addition to providing me with an incomparable foundation for approaching academic work, the course gave me the confidence I needed to apply for a Master’s degree at both Oxford and Cambridge. In February 2025, entirely unexpectedly, I received offers from both universities, and I can say without any doubt that this would never have happened had I not decided, on that rainy day in January 2024, to apply to the Advanced Pre-sessional Course. I am now pursuing an MPhil in Criminology at the University of Cambridge, where I hope to remain for my PhD. For someone long prone to self-doubt, my current position is far beyond my best expectations. I would encourage anyone still uncertain about applying to the Advanced Pre-sessional Course to challenge themselves and do so: you will not regret it.'