Hannah hails from a state school in south-west Wales and before arriving at Queens’ was concerned that people might be snobbish towards her working-class background. She’s now going into her second year reading Economics and is the Welfare Officer on the JCR.
How did you come to apply to Cambridge? What first put it into your mind?
For a long time I felt that people like me don’t really go on to Cambridge. Where I’m from, many people don’t go on to higher education at all so I doubted whether I would be “clever enough” to get in to Oxbridge.
I had a presentation at school from Jonathan Padley, who is now the Admissions Tutor at Churchill College. He explained the collegiate system, the supervisions and the academic excellence of Cambridge and it all sounded so exciting – I was hooked and decided to just go for it!
How did you prepare for your interview?
There was someone going around Pembrokeshire giving mock interviews and I had one. It wasn’t subject-specific, so it wasn’t very representative of the actual interview, but the main thing I did gain from that was getting into the habit of talking about my subject to someone I didn't know.
Reading books was also good preparation: I discovered the topics I was interested in and then read more about them.
I suppose I would just recommend following your own interests and getting comfortable talking about your subject. I really wasn’t used to talking about Economics at all, so I practiced by explaining some concepts I had learnt to my family and teachers!
What were your expectations of Cambridge before coming here and how did they compare to your experience once you arrived?
I was a bit concerned, because I’m from a poor background and a state school, that everyone else would be privately educated, well off and a bit snobbish about where I’m from. But none of that was actually the case.
I also worried that the small-group teaching might be really intimidating and I would always be asking stupid questions.
Once I got here I realised my preconceptions were completely wrong!
In supervisions I just ask absolutely everything that’s on my mind. It depends on the supervisor but some of them are more light-hearted than I expected, there’s a lot of laughing and if we can’t get it the supervisor tries to think of different ways to explain. It’s a learning resource, not a test – I think that’s a very common misconception.
What would be your main advice for applicants?
Definitely just give it a go! I don’t think you lose anything from applying even if you don’t get in.
Also, think about whether the College system would suit you. I know it really suits me; I really like being in a smaller community and getting to know the people here.
Some of the courses here are different compared to other universities, like Natural Sciences. Looking at the first-year papers for each course can be a helpful indicator of whether you might like the Cambridge course compared to the courses on offer at other universities. That’s what helped me to decide: Economics everywhere includes microeconomics, macroeconomics and maths, but Cambridge also has a politics paper and a history paper, which was very exciting to me and drew me to Cambridge.
To people from traditionally under-represented backgrounds, I would say your background will probably be better represented than you expect; that’s what I felt anyway. As a working-class person I don’t feel hugely under-represented and there is a lot of support available here if you are feeling isolated. CUSU run a lot of events, for LGBT people, BME, International students – I do think there’s a lot of effort put in to try and make sure that everyone feels included.
In case things take a turn for the worse there’s also a lot of support through the University Counselling Service, the College Nurses and College Counsellors, which is a system that’s been very helpful to me.
Finally, what three words would you use to sum up Queens’?
Friendly. Bridge. Brunch!