Somehow I managed to only meet public school people on my first day of interviews, terrifying me with the thought that maybe I was the only state school person there. Now I look back and laugh at that because actually, we state schoolers swarm colleges and somehow I had managed to avoid every one of them on my first day in Oxford, the odds of that must have been very low!
There is a place at Oxford for everyone, no matter what school you are from there are a range of people at every college. Just getting into Oxford is an equaliser; nobody asked what school I went to, nobody cared about that, they were just as excited to meet new people as I was and only interested in your personality.
When you start university, everyone is having the same doubts, fears, and anxieties that you’re having, no matter if you went to the best school in the world or the worst. I can honestly say that my state school background has become a thing of great pride for me since I joined Oxford, and it should be for everyone.
There are tons of initiatives at Oxford specifically for making state school students feel at home there, the university is eager to ensure that nobody feels like they don’t belong there, and in my experience, I think they do a great job at it! If you’re lucky enough to get in, just be excited about the new and amazing people you’re going to meet, and honestly, now some of my best friends were private schoolers!