‘I didn’t think I’d get an interview’: students start first Oxford-wide foundation year

Astrophoria programme aims to help students from disadvantaged backgrounds fulfil their potential

When Jessica Neate told her friends in Leicester that she was going to study at Oxford University, they didn't believe her. People thought I was not being serious about it, because I think people have a sort of expectation of a typical Oxford applicant or Oxford student, and they were just like, no you're not. And I said: I am!"

Neate hadn't told her school friends that she was applying - I didn't even think I'd get an interview, so I didn't want to say anything" - but this month she and 21 others are making history as students on Oxford's first university-wide foundation year.