Potential

Liliana came to Woodhouse from Highgate Wood School and left us in with A levels in Geography, Mathematics, and Physics. She went on to study Mechanical Engineering at Queen Mary University of London.

“I chose to study at Woodhouse College because I knew would give me the independence that regular sixth forms wouldn’t provide. The independence that I experienced made university less daunting as it reduced the step between A levels and university and helped me to settled into university a lot quicker.

Studying at Woodhouse also provided me with a lot of opportunities to explore what I would like to do after my A levels. Woodhouse organised regular career sessions where I was able to learn about the different routes after A levels, such as doing apprenticeships, and hear different alumni career journeys. I really liked how Woodhouse always highlighted the benefits of doing apprenticeships and encouraged us to consider the alternatives of going to university.

Woodhouse has weekly bulletins which was a great way to find out about the opportunities that were happening in and out of college. Through these weekly bulletins, I was able to join the Sutton Trust Fulbright US Programme. This is a year-long programme that provided me with the opportunity to experience what it would be like to study in the US. Through this programme I travelled to the US and toured different college campuses including Yale, Harvard and Colombia. Although I didn’t end up studying in the US, this programme still supported me with my UK university applications and helped me to meet so many incredible people!

My Physics teachers at Woodhouse also informed me about the different engineering summer schools which I could apply to in order to help me decide on an engineering degree. I did two aerospace engineering summer schools where I stayed at the University of Leeds and Liverpool. During these summer schools, I had lectures in aerospace engineering, worked on small group projects and got a better understanding of what I could do with an aerospace engineering degree. I also had the chance to speak to students at the two universities and got a feel of what it would be like to be a university student. Attending these summer schools massively helped me to decide on my engineering degree and has helped me to get to where I am today.

After leaving Woodhouse, I went on to study Mechanical Engineering at Queen Mary University of London. I did a five-year degree course at Queen Mary’s which included me doing a placement year at an engineering consultancy in Stockport (Greater Manchester) and an integrated Masters. I graduated from Queen Mary’s with a 1^st Class MEng degree in Mechanical Engineering.

During my time at University, I got involved with the Engineers Without Borders society. During the different years, I became the Events Lead and President of this society, and organised social events and got involved in outreach events which promoted engineering to primary schools.

I am now working at Transport for London (TfL) as a Vehicles Engineer for the London Underground trains.

My role involves me supporting the maintenance required for the different Underground trains which I do by optimising the design of various train components, reverse engineering obsolete parts and writing technical assurance documents to implement my new designs. I collaborate closely with Fleet Engineers and frequently visit depots to better understand a problem and trial fit prototypes. I use Computer Aided Design (CAD) to design my new parts and create engineering drawings. I also use simulation software to assess the structural integrity of my design and make sure that all my design modifications will be safe and reliable."