Bear with me because this will be long and I’m definitely about to overshare, but today I found out I’ll be graduating from @Cambridge_Uni with a distinction in my MPhil

I’m not exaggerating when I say I could never have imagined this day. When I was at sixth form, two of my teachers told me that I wasn’t clever enough to do an English Literature degree and that I was aiming too high applying to Russell Group unis

There were countless comments like those - the teacher who in front of the whole class ‘joked’ that you could tell where I was from because I wore ballet flats or trainers instead of proper leather school shoes, and later said I’d be happier if I ‘stopped pushing myself’

Because I’m the world’s most stubborn person, I did it anyway. And while there were lows as well as highs (shout out to the girl in my first year seminar who said my Cumbrian accent made me sound thick) I loved it, had amazing tutors and made the best friends

After graduation, I realised that while others in my year were travelling or starting in their dream careers, I was stuck. I had journalism placement offers and a place to do my masters but couldn’t afford to accept. I felt like my work had been for nothing

I got a job but was desperate to go back to uni, and it just seemed financially impossible. After a year and a half, someone sent me the link to the scholarships page at Cambridge and even though it seemed ridiculous I had nothing to lose

I had the most amazing support from my Glasgow Uni tutors (including @ajvictorianist who just ALWAYS goes above and beyond for her students, even when they’re not technically her students anymore) got accepted, & a few months later, found out I’d been awarded a scholarship

I was terrified before I moved to Cambridge. In lots of ways, I was right to be. In my first week someone asked if I was there to fill a quota because I ticked the box of ‘northern state school student’ and I spent a LOT of time panicking about which cutlery to use at formals...

All the weird traditions everyone else seemed to know about, and also what the fuck guinea fowl was. But, like at Glasgow, I also learnt so, so much from incredible tutors, had experiences I could only have dreamed of, and met people I know will be friends for life.

To be graduating with the top grade, knowing I’m going on to Lancaster for a PhD I’m so passionate about with a department and supervisor who have already been so welcoming, just makes me proud that I didn’t listen and that I made it.

Places like Cambridge have got so much work to do to ensure they’re a place that anyone can be welcome in. And our society has so much work to do to dispel the Tory myth that hard work is all it takes to succeed. It’s just not true and it’s dangerous to suggest that it is

I would have been completely priced out of postgrad study without my scholarship, but if you’ve got wealthy parents, you’re in. Let’s not pretend there’s any fairness in that. No amount of hard work could have got me there without the funding.

But never let anyone make you feel out of place when you’re doing what you love. Fight for what makes your heart feel like it could burst, and when it feels like the odds are stacked against you, keep pushing. Find the ones who will support you and accept their help.

I’m so, so thankful for my scholarship, for my PhD funding and for every person who helped me to get there. It’s important to share the lows as well as the highs, and today means more to me than I could ever express