By Samantha Bogie
Applying to Oxford is an incredibly daunting thought no matter who you are and where you come from, however, this prospect can be even more daunting if you’re applying to Oxford from a region as underrepresented as the North East. For context, from 2017 to 2019 students from the North East made up 2.1% of total UK students admitted to Oxford. I genuinely didn’t even think of this when I was applying, but when I arrived in Oxford last October, it didn’t take me long to realise that I was very much in the minority.
That being said, the community which results from this has honestly been one of the highlights of my time at Oxford. Oxford University Northerner’s Society provides an opportunity to meet people from home outside of your own college, organising bar crawls and even trips to Greggs on its opening day! Getting involved in outreach targeted at the North East has also been an amazing way of meeting other students from my region, as well as encouraging prospective students to apply and answering any questions they have – it’s been an incredibly rewarding experience and I hope work like this will lead to an increase in representation at Oxford.
Yes, my southern friends may laugh at the way I say ‘cookbook’, I can never ask for a latte without having it repeated back to me as ‘lah-tte’, and getting between Oxford and home costs an arm and a leg, but overall it’s definitely been worth it. We may be a small community in Oxford, but we’re also arguably one of the best, in my completely unbiased opinion.