Amy took part in a Sutton Trust Summer School in 2022 at the Royal Veterinary College, sampling life as a vet student and meeting the student ambassadors who gave her the confidence to apply. She’s now studying at RVC, and is a semi-finalist in this year’s Miss England competition! Amy tells us about her journey and why using her platform to advocate for social mobility is so important.

 

Tell us a bit about your background. 

For me, higher education felt more like a dream than something truly achievable and it wasn’t due to grades, hard work or determination but simply because of personal circumstances. I come from a richer area called Chichester and grew up in a loving but undeniably very low-income family, spending all my childhood surrounded by those in completely different situations to myself. It felt like there were few opportunities for veterinary medicine in general, let alone for someone with no means for financial support, who grew up in a council house with no family members who had ever attended university.

Did you always know you wanted to be a vet?

I’ve loved animals since I can remember and had this dream to be a vet from a very young age. I grew up with 2 cats central to my family, and whenever we took them to the vet, I was keen to know what the vet was doing and how I could help in anyway. Once I started at school, I knew I wanted to pursue education. I loved science at school and maintained perfect grades, but I didn’t know anyone from a background like mine who had been to university, let alone studied veterinary medicine.

How did you find out about the Summer School? 

I asked the careers advisers at school about extra opportunities to help me find out about veterinary medicine, but all the other summer schools and programmes had a cost attached, which was just unattainable for me. I had to do a lot of my own research and eventually came across the Sutton Trust Summer School, which was completely free and focused on widening participation. It was almost by chance that we found it and this is what makes me passionate about promoting the programme – so other people have access to this opportunity more easily. I could have so easily missed the Summer School, and I am not sure I would be in the same place I am now without it.

What was the impact of taking part in the programme? 

I went to the Royal Veterinary College (RVC) for the week-long Sutton Trust Summer School in 2022. The whole journey there I was absolutely terrified, scared I wouldn’t fit in and that my biggest fear would be true – that there was no place for me in higher education. I couldn’t have been more wrong.

By the end of the week, I knew how to apply to university, had a group of friends who would go on to support me through the application process, knew students in similar situations to me thriving at RVC, and left with one big goal: I had to attend RVC.

At the Summer School, I got to experience lectures, DLs (directed learning sessions, used frequently in RVC’s teaching), got to live on a university campus and experience life as an RVC student – something now second nature to me. Studying vet medicine was a dream initially, but the Summer School made it a reality.

There’s often a lot of misinformation about studying veterinary medicine too – for example, a lack of knowledge about the additional work experience requirements and the supplementary forms alongside the personal statement. The Summer School helped me to get the facts straight and set me on the right path to be able to apply successfully to university.

What are you doing now? 

I’m now studying veterinary medicine at RVC and have just finished my second year and keen to begin third year, beginning my clinical years.

Studying at university is so different to high school. Our weeks are filled with lectures, directed learning sessions (in which we work in groups of 5-6 discussing cases), lab work and dissections. I’ve found a new sense of independence, spending hours extra reading up on the topics that fascinate me. Veterinary medicine is an incredibly demanding course, but I love it, and it still feels like a dream to be here, let alone almost halfway through my studies! I had a lot of friends who did the Sutton Trust programme too and are now studying at university, so I can really see the importance of the programme and the impact it has on people like me.

Alongside studying, I also work as a Student Ambassador and I’m working on this year’s Sutton Trust Summer School. It’s inspirational to be able to meet and guide students on the programme, and to be that support for them when I was in their position only a few years ago. I know first hand the impact that these ambassadors had on my journey – they made RVC seem attainable for someone like me and encouraged me to apply. The thought I could be those words of encouragement for someone else is truly an honour.

Why is it important to you to use your platform to support others from similar backgrounds? 

This year, I chose to bring my talent for public speaking and my passion for supporting underprivileged students to the university level – and channel them into something even greater.

In a moment of confidence, I applied to the Miss England competition with the fun fact ‘Despite coming from a low-income family, I study at the World’s Number 1 School for Veterinary Medicine’. This application turned into an interview, in which I spoke about the Sutton Trust and all they had done for me, and why I was so keen to give back, and then that interview leads me here: a Miss-England Semi-Finalist.

Miss England has given me a platform, a chance to take my story onto local radio stations, to write articles on the Miss England website, and to share my story on Instagram.

So now I have this platform, I aim to utilise it as much as possible. People need to know the hurdles that so many students overcome to reach higher education, something that others consider a basic expectation. When thinking about higher education many of us aren’t given the chance to dream of ‘what should I study’ or ‘where is my dream’, instead focusing on ‘can I even afford it?’ Until access to higher education is equal, I intend to keep speaking up.

My chosen Beauty with a purpose project is centred around increasing accessibility to higher education, and at the heart of that is the Sutton Trust – I aim to raise both money and awareness for this charity, and some similar working charities – because I think everyone deserves to experience the growth in confidence they equipped me with and to truly believe there is a place for them in higher education.

Tell us a bit about the Miss England competition. 

Being selected as a semi-finalist in the Miss England competition is more than just a personal achievement – it’s a profound honour and an opportunity to be part of something far bigger than me. Miss England is not just a beauty pageant; it is a platform that empowers young women to use their voice, showcase their values, and drive positive change. The organisation celebrates intelligence, compassion, resilience, and purpose and to stand among such an inspiring group of women is both incredibly humbling and equally empowering.

Miss England provides a rare opportunity to spotlight my passions and has given me a chance to discuss the difficulties underrepresented students truly face when trying to reach higher education. To be part of this the 2025 competition is a great honour but also a stepping stone towards greater impact, something I can keen to use my voice to bring about.

Want to inspire students with your story? Get in touch with us at [email protected] – we’d love to hear from you.

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