My brother went to Leeds University to study Theatre and Performance three years before I started at Oxford University. He was the first in our family to attend university. Neither of our parents were educated beyond CSE level and my extended family’s expectation was that we should enter the world of work as soon as possible. The wider family were not impressed that I was 21 before I had my first full time job!
I attended the summer school in 2012. It was great to meet existing students and see that successful people come from all walks of life. It made me to want to apply to Oxford but I knew that if I didn’t get in, I could still achieve what I wanted – I needed to ‘keep my eye on the ball’. If there were knock backs, I had to keep on working on a way to achieve my aims.
The summer school gave me the confidence to apply for a BA in Jurisprudence at Oxford I would not have applied otherwise. It made me realise that my own self-limiting beliefs were holding me back, and that ‘people like me’ do become successful professionals.