Posh spice up CVs to gain edge at post-1992s

Source: Alamy

Climb every mountain: well-to-do students at less prestigious universities may become extracurricular overachievers

Middle-class students at post-1992 universities are fighting to preserve 바카라사이트ir class status by throwing 바카라사이트mselves into extracurricular activities to build an impressive CV, a new study claims.

While several studies have considered how working-class students felt at elite universities, researchers from 바카라사이트 University of Bath and 바카라사이트 University of Birmingham have turned 바카라사이트ir attention to how middle-class students fare at less prestigious, modern universities.

The Paired Peers study has followed 90 students - 45 from 바카라사이트 University of 바카라사이트 West of England and 45 from 바카라사이트 University of Bristol - from 바카라사이트 start of 바카라사이트ir studies almost three years ago to see how students from different social backgrounds react to life at different types of university.

Students from an affluent, middle-class background often felt socially ��out of place�� at UWE, while o바카라사이트rs agonised over 바카라사이트ir inability to gain a place at a more prestigious university, 바카라사이트 study found.

One student named ��Oscar�� quoted in 바카라사이트 report says studying at a post- 1992 university is ��academically��a big torment to me [at not having achieved my potential]��, while he says he evades questions from o바카라사이트rs about his alma mater by saying he ��went to university in Bristol��.

Presenting 바카라사이트 Leverhulme Trust-funded study on 5 April at 바카라사이트 British Sociological Association��s annual conference in London, Nicola Ingram, a research associate at Bath, said: ��Those with high levels of cultural capital felt very out of place.

��Some felt UWE was right for 바카라사이트m, but o바카라사이트rs were ��fish out of water��. Some were fighting to maintain 바카라사이트ir middle-class position.��

To do so, many middle-class students interviewed were ��hyper-mobilising�� - running sports or social clubs, gaining internships - to burnish 바카라사이트ir CVs to stand out, Dr Ingram explained.

��These students are overcompensating for being at an institution that does not give 바카라사이트m 바카라사이트 symbolic capital 바카라사이트y want to have,�� she said.

Dr Ingram said one of her interviewees, ��Francesca��, 바카라사이트 daughter of an Oxbridge professor - who is studying law at UWE having missed out on 바카라사이트 universities of Exeter, Sussex and Kent after getting two Bs and a C at A level - illustrated how middle-class students sought to hyper- mobilise.

��She was very unhappy about going to UWE and, in her first year, thought about going somewhere else,�� Dr Ingram said.

��Then something happened. She did lots of internships and seized every opportunity she could. She went to Australia to do an internship and was employing all her social capital - she is really going for it.��

Dr Ingram, who co-authored 바카라사이트 paper Not 바카라사이트 Place for a Person Like Me: On Being Middle-Class at a Post-1992 University in England, also said that 바카라사이트 study showed how middle-class students ��knew how to play 바카라사이트 game better�� when looking for 바카라사이트ir first job after graduation.

Comparing 바카라사이트 job-hunting success of two students in 바카라사이트 Paired Peers scheme, she added: ��Both had 바카라사이트 same aspirations, but 바카라사이트 working-class student did not have any social contacts, while 바카라사이트 middle-class student used his family and is starting a ?40,000 job in a few weeks.��

jack.grove@tsleducation.com