I attended a comprehensive school in a working-class area, and applying to Ox- ford in the future never crossed my mind; I had never heard about anyone from our local area getting in. It was only after a compulsory careers service meeting that I was lucky enough to be encouraged by an enthusiastic advisor. On the ride home that day, I expressed my new ambitions to my mother. She said she thought “Oxford is beyond our reach”, but it had set the seed in our minds. We started to explore the possibility of Oxbridge together.
I attended a different sixth-form college. It was considered one of the best post-16 further education institutions in our area, but only one to three students gained an offer from Oxbridge each year — and each year group contained 900 students. As a result, there was not nearly as much encouragement to apply. During a parents’ event, one teacher attempted to dissuade me. They expressed a belief that Oxford was not part of the ‘real world’, and that a student from a comprehensive school would not fit. Other teachers were encouraging, but did not believe that I could receive an offer. I was told “not to be too upset” if I didn’t get one.
There was a small service designed to help their students with applications, but I did not find it useful. Most of the information we received could be found by searching on the university website. At a later stage, my history teacher did help me with my application by checking drafts of my personal statement, but I soon got an email stating that this placed too much of a burden on the staff, and that we should only discuss these issues with our personal tutor. My personal tutor was new, had very little experience, and taught Music Technology.
There was an issue with the essay that needed to be submitted with my application. Of the few essays that we had previously been set, none met the university requirements. I reminded my tutor constantly about this problem and by the time my work got submitted I was very close to the deadline, along with another three History applicants. Mostly I had to rely on my parents, but they did not know anyone who attended Oxford and didn’t know where to start.
At one point another teacher gave me a rushed practice interview. This was done in front of the classroom during lesson time. I spent five minutes answering questions which were nothing like those in my actual interview. My reference was also weak, put together from quotes taken from my college report which had been compiled six months previously.
However, with such a large student body, why would I have expected extra help, just because of my ambition? I guess I was lucky to recieve the little help I did.
