Sophie is a student on the BSc (hons) Economics and Politics course at Bath.
Coming from a disadvantaged background, university isn’t just ‘what everyone does’. You don’t come because your parents did and you might enjoy it. For me, it was my best chance to improve my standing in life and fulfill my potential. I wanted to go to the best university, and Bath is in the UK top ten for my subjects. Since attending, I know this reflects the great standard of teaching and the academic rigor of my course.
Being a good university wasn’t enough – whether it would actually get me a job was also incredibly important. The employability rates for the Bath are amazing, and I was impressed by the standard of placements on offer. This made Bath stand out as the place to go. I was also familiar with the University through sports events and was impressed by the sports facilities on offer.
The process of applying to university was stressful! But it worked out well for me in the end. I applied early so I heard back relatively soon and was lucky enough to receive Bath as my firm choice. The Open Days at Bath were insightful and made me excited to join. Everything went smoothly in the admissions process for me.
The Gold Scholarship has been invaluable to me and the financial support has been helpful. When I was applying to university I didn’t give much thought to money as I was going no matter what. It was was only when I got to the University I realized how lucky I was to have the extra income from the Scholarship. Without the Scholarship I would have had to get a job, leaving less time for work, hobbies, socializing, and looking after myself, which are already hard enough to balance!
I was lucky enough to do paid work experience over the summer, but the Gold Scholarship meant I could have done an unpaid internship if that was an option. Some people don’t realise the impact finances can have on the university experience. The Scholarship has been incredible for me in that sense.
The community built around the Gold Scholarship is really nice. It gave me an opportunity to meet people from similar backgrounds to me, which I appreciated. Gold Scholars can also go to skills development sessions which are insightful.
Through the Scholarship, I have been to various networking workshops and have had lots of opportunities to practice networking skills. While uncomfortable at first, this has been crucial to building my confidence and really helped me while I was on placement. Through networking, I was also able to meet my wonderful mentor. They supported me and gave me advice while I was on placement. Now they’re supporting me while I apply for graduate schemes.