Laura Spence, the comprehensive schoolgirl whose UCAS application was famously rejected by Magdalen College despite her being predicted five A grades at A-Level, has graduated from Cambridge University.
Spence was awarded a degree in medicine with distinction from Wolfson College and now plans to work as a doctor.
She became the focus of an elitism row eight years ago when Gordon Brown, then Chancellor of the Exchequer, attacked Oxford’s decision to reject her application as a “scandal” and an “absolute disgrace.”
Brown argued that elitism was entrenched in the Oxford admissions system, adding that it was “more reminiscent of the old boy network and the old school tie than genuine justice in our society”.
He blamed Magdalen College for refusing Laura on the basis of her comprehensive school background. However, an inquiry by the Commons Education Select Committee found no evidence of bias or unfair conduct in the Oxford admissions process.
Following her rejection, Spence won a £65,000 scholarship to study biochemistry at Harvard University, before moving to study at Cambridge as a postgraduate.
A pupil from a state school in Monkseaton, Tyneside, Spence became a popular symbol of alleged Oxford snobbery in the press, and is frequently mentioned in attacks on the University’s admissions procedure.
She said in 2001 however that she never doubted Oxford’s decision. “I was a bit upset when I came out of the interview because I hadn’t done as well as I thought I could have.”
Speaking of Gordon Brown’s comments, Spence told the BBC in 2001, “I don’t think I was a perfect example of what I was trying to point out because I don’t feel that being from the North or a comprehensive mattered in my case.”
After collecting her degree this week, Spence refused to speak in detail to the press, saying “I’m starting work as a doctor now but I don’t want to say anything more than that.”
