Admissions

Thinking about The US Admissions Scandal had me reflecting on my own pathway through Higher Education and Oxbridge back in the 80s and 90s.

Wow, it only cost me bulimia and an overdose to get into Cambridge. Cheap at half the price! 

Luckily, after my own head of department ended my career as a lecturer at Cambridge, because I'd had a baby, it became financially impossible for me ever to pay Cambridge to get that baby into Cambridge. Or change the broken system from within. Or indeed, save for a pension. 

Instead, these days, Cambridge comes to me as an alumni, asking for money. 

Oh, and so does Oxford. I went there too (Just look for the Ingrid Wassenaar Library). 

These days I earn a living supporting schools and students from different kinds of background through the Oxbridge process. My main goal is that they should mentally survive it. I'm a Tiger Mother who won't be pushing her kids through the Oxbridge mill. 

External markers of success aren't all they're cracked up to be – but teaching young people to work out who is trying to justify themselves at their expense, and stand up for themselves, is worth every penny. 

Now there's a scandalous Admission.