The 93% Club

Discussion in 'Taylor's Tittle-Tattle - General Banter' started by reg_varney, Mar 9, 2021.

  1. Since63

    Since63 Squad Player

    Oh God...reminds me of some of the students at the all-women's colleges who called the pigeon-holes your mail was delivered to as "piggies". Horrendous.
     
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  2. Since63

    Since63 Squad Player

    From what I think you've said before, your college was in the forefront of extending accessibility; my experience was that 50% public school students would be quite low for many colleges, even in the mid-70s. The yearly undergraduate intake at mine was only 70 students, and I was apparently quite exotic as actually coming from a council house...definitely the only one in my year. As long as you used your posh-snob radar properly I found it quite easy to allow the really obnoxious ones little chance to have any impact. The CICCU were often the worst; Cambridge Inter-Collegiate Christian Union, about as christian in their attitudes as the Inquisition. I have to admit I took a perverse pleasure in demonstrating how an "oik" like me (and I was called that to my face and within earshot on numerous occasions) could even be there, let alone be quite good at things. Being in the 1st XIs for footy, hockey & cricket also kept the more "aggressive" public school types onside also. I found it a seriously eye-opening but eminently enjoyable 3 years.
    I found that when in the job market, attending an Oxbridge college only really carried weight with that type of person if you had also been to an acceptable (public) school. I know I got rejected for at least one job at the final stage because WBGS just did not "cut it".
     
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  3. Otter

    Otter Gambling industry insider

    Reading this thread makes me feel lucky that I didn't really encounter many toffs, I went to Loughborough which is just below the Russell group. The few toffs I did know were usually seen with a spliff and incredibly laid back that they didn't give a toss about anything let alone other people's social class. It's probably why they weren't in a more prestigious uni.
     
  4. Happy bunny

    Happy bunny Cheered up a bit

    In my experience, and that of everyone I've ever talked to about it, people ask what University you went to but nobody ever asks what class of degree you got.
     
  5. Keighley

    Keighley First Team

    Tell that to my students.

    Major City law firms won't take students with lower than a 2:1.
     
  6. reg_varney

    reg_varney Squad Player

    Ah, the Royal Society of Chemistry. That back-slapping, self-aggrandising old boy/girl network. Let's not rock the boat too much and jeopardise our future Knighthoods/Damehoods. You would have got more support from the RSC Stratford-on-Avon at the time.
     
  7. BigRossLittleRoss

    BigRossLittleRoss First Team

    Unfortunately this reversal of the egalitarian strides acheived throught the 50s, 60s, and 70s is across many aspects of society.

    I work in film and most directors/producers and actors are private school educated now.

    Those huge strides made in the arts are being eroded too.
     
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  8. reg_varney

    reg_varney Squad Player

    My older brother was quite the trailblazer (I suppose in a way he still is). Went to the same comprehensive as me, sat 4th term Oxford entrance to do medicine, passed it and was given an unconditional offer, which really took the final pressure off his A-levels. He was a very good rugby player so got contacted by his college during the summer and got invited up to train with the college team a couple of weeks before term started which meant he settled in really quickly. He told me that other students he met during his time there had not met someone from a comprehensive school before and asked him what it was like. He told them he was beaten up every day, which coming from a big strapping 6 footer, gave him endless amusement.
     
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  9. Since63

    Since63 Squad Player

    But they did ask what school you went to, definitely before what class of degree you got.
     
  10. reg_varney

    reg_varney Squad Player

    I assume Eton having its own Theatre and resident Theatre director helps a tad.
     
    Since63 likes this.
  11. BigRossLittleRoss

    BigRossLittleRoss First Team

    We now have reverted back to the situation where private school actors are donning their best working class accents to get roles.
     
  12. reg_varney

    reg_varney Squad Player

    Mockney II -The Resurrection, To Chav and Chav Not
     
  13. Bwood_Horn

    Bwood_Horn Squad Player

    TBF they've got better with a pretty good focus on 'de yoot' teaching schools about what a chemist / the chemistry industry actually does and their various support schemes for graduates.

    Hertswood did and still does this.
     
  14. The undeniable truth

    The undeniable truth First Team Captain

    Was due to go to medical school but blew my A level grades as my girlfriend dumped me about 3 weeks before the exams (damn you, Claire Randall :)).
    Ended up taking a year out before going to Norf East London Poly (now Uni of East London?) to study business studies (before chartered accountancy). That was excellent "life training". Watching students trying to chip frozen ambrosia creamed rice off their car windscreen before driving to a lecture will stay with me forever.
    As will pouring 5 tubs of double cream down a crack in the back of a kitchen unit after we were unfairly kicked out of our accomodation (not related).
    I have good mates who went to Oxford and Cambs who stayed good guys despite the snobbery. One sold his business for £40m last year.
     
  15. Bwood_Horn

    Bwood_Horn Squad Player

    The head of Cambridge's Vet School 'access' gave an very interesting talk to parents at an open day I attended (incidently the vet school's graduates have a 'poor' reputation amongst their peers - I don't know why). She said they wanted to do things differently and were unique amongst UK vet schools in not requiring its entrants have a lengthy list of 'experience' requirements. She also mentioned that they were unhappy at using the BMAT exam as they strongly felt it didn't highlight what they were looking for in their potential students - they were looking at utilising their own. She also was fighting for funds to vastly expand her school's outreach activities because the school wanted far more applicants from 'non-traditional' backgrounds. That was, what I thought, the standard "...we're not really that Cambridge..." guff.

    That was in the morning and the afternoon was spent on a whistle-stop tour of the city centre colleges as it was university open day (my son had preference for a central one as he had previously attended a maths event at Corpus Christi and had loved the college's location but really disliked the atmosphere of the place even when I reminded him that "...you could live in their pub - how brilliant is that?"). We got to each college gates I asked if the 'did' vets and if the answer was yes we would go in and my son would go on the student-led tour - I accompanied him on a couple as I'm very nosey.

    At one of the smaller colleges I asked my usual question and the member of staff pointed out that the college's vet tutor (I name I recognised from my work in biosensors) was doing meet 'n' greets. My son went into the tour and I introduced to myself them (as I was using it as an 'in' to 'flog' what I was working on). Bit of smalltalk and I was asked what we thought of the day - I said we were speed-dating the colleges and he hadn't found 'the one yet' and that I found the parents talk at the school interesting. I was then told that there was a feeling in the school that they were failing too many prospective students and as it was Cambridge they were desperately trying to do something different - they had wanted to make radical changes to how they recruited but were hamstrung by the collegiate structure particularly as each college would accept a maximum of two students per year. Also the school wanted to vastly expand their outreach because they had revamped their admissions process process but that had only changed their intake cohort make-up from 97% of 'the usual suspects' to 96%.
     
  16. Happy bunny

    Happy bunny Cheered up a bit

    Nope, nobody ever asked me what school I went to. Incurious lot!
     
  17. Since63

    Since63 Squad Player

    Not every interview included that question, but the ones run by a panel of 'chaps' usually did.
     
  18. Happy bunny

    Happy bunny Cheered up a bit

    Well, I graduated half a century ago and didn't read law. History teaches you how to analyse and write, but unlike law you don't need to take a body of knowledge with you when you go to work (unless you're a teacher).
     
  19. Happy bunny

    Happy bunny Cheered up a bit

    I never realised that dairy products could be weaponised so effectively.
     
  20. Keighley

    Keighley First Team

    Quite so. But certainly your experience that no one asks about what class of degree you got isn't a generalisable one.
     
  21. Happy bunny

    Happy bunny Cheered up a bit

    I'm talking about in real life, not in job applications. If you've written it down in your job application there's no need to talk about it.

    But something I remember from history (and from subsequent life) is that it's dangerous to generalise from personal experience!
     
  22. Keighley

    Keighley First Team

    Ah, OK, it's just that the post to which you initially replied was referring to the job market.

    No, I don't think people generally ask what class of degree you got although they do show interest in where you studied.
     
  23. Since63

    Since63 Squad Player

    Yes, my post was specific to interviews for jobs. In certain of them, some of the interviewers clearly laid great store by the response received to a direct question relating to which school I had gone to. More so than which college and what degree I had earned. Maybe things have changed, but reading some posts in this thread, maybe not.
     
  24. Diamond

    Diamond First Team

    In todays job market without a first or masters the yout' are struggling to find decent jobs.
     
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  25. El distraído

    El distraído Johnny Foreigner

    Sorry for bringing this tread off topic, but since we're talking about jobs, does anyone out there work in the UX/UI/Product/Visual design field?
     
  26. ForzaWatford

    ForzaWatford Squad Player

    I read an article about this and how acting, art and music are being dominated by the upper classes because increasingly they're the only people who can afford 3/4/5 years of not making any money before they make it. Most poorer kids have to give up because they can't afford it anymore.
     
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  27. BigRossLittleRoss

    BigRossLittleRoss First Team

    Yeah, unfortunately that is whats happening.
     
  28. Smudger

    Smudger Messi's Mad Coach Staff Member

    How shallow and superficial are these people ? I have used the term chav before and I apply it liberally to all socio-economic classes because I have seen all sorts of people from differing so called stations in life behaving appallingly. You should judge people solely on their character, action and deeds.

    Entry to university should be purely on merit. The system is unfair in the regard children have in their start to life. All schools need to be raised to grammar school standard but of course that costs money. Also the attitude to education in many areas. Instead of being regarded as boring it should be seen as a positive. Children from disadvantaged areas can still succeed as with one child from east London. Educated at a school with very poor attainment and no history of Oxbridge entry. Parents both Indian took education very seriously. Child ends up passing the examinations with flying colours and off to study Medicine at Cambridge.

    As for snobbery. If anyone decides to be a snob to you they are not worth knowing. Personally I did not encounter any at university despite having a working class background but it might have helped in speaking English in the received manner. Nothing deliberate it was just the way I was taught by my parents.
     
  29. Since63

    Since63 Squad Player

    Not sure anyone ‘decides’ to be a snob, but I agree that deciding to continue with the bullsh1t that encompasses when you’re past 16 at most is reprehensible. I’m pleased to say I have never spoken English in the ‘received manner’ & that did cause lots of consternation amongst some at Uni.
     
  30. Halfwayline

    Halfwayline Reservist

    both my daughters were at cambs. Youngest one in final year now. Offer was A*AA for my eldest who studied Land Economy and loved every moment of her uni time. Youngests offer was A*A*A for economics. Covid has meant she’s hating it. No safety net on exams like every other uni, mathematical based subject turned into a more essay based and nowhere to go so everybody just studying 12+ hours a day
     
  31. Since63

    Since63 Squad Player

    Yes, I feel sorry for the students who've worked like stink to get in only to then miss out on all the fun of being there.
     
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  32. Happy bunny

    Happy bunny Cheered up a bit

    Also, I don't think state schools focus on the arts to the extent that grammar schools did in my day. It's all about teaching to get good grades in mainstream subjects.
     
  33. a19tgg

    a19tgg First Team

    When I was at first school I was offered a scholarship to Eton. I had a really high IQ for my age which was picked up on, I could read all the books meant for children several years above etc. I remember my Mum presented me with this and gave me the choice to take it up or not. Naturally being a very young child I said no thanks, but I often wonder how my life would’ve turned out if I’d said yes, I also often wonder if my Mum should’ve even given me the choice, because the reality is a very young child would always so no to something like that. I don’t blame her though as her and my dad are both from very simple working class backgrounds and the thought of it probably scared them too.

    As it turned out, by the time I got to secondary school my IQ had somewhat plateaued and I was simply on a par with most of the kids in the top sets but absolutely nothing out of the ordinary. I ended up getting a mixture of A/B/C at GCSE and BCC at a level, so relatively average.

    That makes me think it was a good thing I didn’t take it up, as I wasn’t destined to be a genius after all, I just developed particularly quickly around the age of 6/7/8, but at the same time I messed around massively at secondary school and never even tried or revised for anything, so at the same time I do wonder what path my life would’ve taken if I had gone down that route, where I would be now, the experiences I would’ve had somewhere like that being from a relatively poor background. I probably would’ve hated it.
     
  34. The undeniable truth

    The undeniable truth First Team Captain

    Eton isn't full of geniuses. However you'd have probably made connections/contacts which would have seen you sail through life financially and comfortably be a multi-millionaire. Maybe you achieved this anyway. You wouldn't be on this forum today....!
     
  35. a19tgg

    a19tgg First Team

    Yeah I know, it’s not so much the intelligence just the type of people I would’ve ultimately grown up with and the focus on education I would’ve had. My parents are lovely people, but they were not strict or worried about us getting the best possible education. They never pushed us into anything, I guess they just wanted us to be kids. The result being I just went through the motions at school and did ok based on having a level of intelligence, but nothing more. I certainly don’t regret it, I just sometimes wonder the outcome of being educated privately where you’re pushed in a certain direction rather than just floating along.

    I’m a bit of **** now, so I would imagine I’d just be a much bigger ****.
     

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