I’m happy I went to private school and ended up at a poly

I went to private school my whole life, starting from when I was four and leaving at 18.

It was a forgone conclusion that I would end up at this school, not only did my Dad go there, but so did my Grandpa. And now so does my sister, just about to finish her final year. 

Before you ask, no, Daddy does not buy me everything I want. I’ve had a job since I was 15 and since then I haven’t had to flutter my lashes at him to get what I want.

My first day and my last day

I couldn’t bear the thought of having to spend my days around the same people I had grown up at school with, going to Uni meant starting new, not joining all my old peers again.

Many of you would think that going to a private school would mean you would automatically end up at any redbrick university. For me that was not the decision – Trent was my one and only option.

I’ve heard it all: “Your parents spent all that money on your education and you came here?” “What a waste of money that education was for you.”

I actually decided to go to Trent because I preferred it to any other university I had looked at. I had declined the offer from Leeds, a uni famed for being in the Russell Group, in favour of the former poly.

Just look at the chino rainbow

My choice in university was not about how league tables or looking good along with my peers (although the course I am on is the best in the country). I chose Trent because I thought I would have the best time.

I declined all other offers from the rest of the universities I applied for because Trent was the only uni I wanted to go to. Thank goodness I got in.

I wasn’t one of the most clever people at my school. My predicted grades were definitely above what I actually achieved, meaning it was probably a good idea that I didn’t accept Leeds.

We went to the ‘summer ball’ with our parents, not to the ‘prom’

And no, I’m not just friends with all the other privately educated students. They do exist even at a uni like Trent. The majority of my friends went to state school as I do not discriminate, unlike some.

Just because we went to private school doesn’t mean we have to meet this mythical expectation of attending a Russell Group uni.

I like to think that if I’d not gone to private school I probably wouldn’t have ended up in further education.  And no, just because I’m at a poly doesn’t mean that my education was a waste of my parents money – my parents are proud of me.

It didn’t matter to them which Uni I wanted to go to as neither of them went, so even getting a place at any uni seemed like a miracle to them.