So, hey guys! It's me, Courtney Daniella
and we are here today at
Cranford Community College
for our getting 
into Cambridge series
And today I'm talking to
some really cool BME students
So let's go and talk to them!
We have Sharon...
Shariq...
and Nabeeha.
When you think about Cambridge
what's the first thing 
you think about?
[Sharon] Posh
White
[Sharon and Shariq]
Very privileged
[Sharon] I went to a Masterclass
 in the beginning of Year 12
The lecture was 
really good
But when I walked in like, the
first thing I noticed was that
everyone was, like, white,
like, no one looked like me
They had MacBooks and
I had a pen and paper
I thought, like, these people
are already so privileged
I'm nowhere near capable enough 
to do a course at Cambridge
like, there's no way, I probably 
shouldn't even think about it
[Shariq] It's probably like 
a hard place to get into
How can I get into
 something so prestigious?
[Courtney] Actually it's just
 a very good uni
It's not this place that's, like
oh, only the elites of the 
elites go there
You have to be a Mastermind
genius to be able to get in
I know a lot of people who 
went there that aren't geniuses
They're just very passionate 
about what they study
[Sharon] I've never really
felt smart myself
I remember my first A
 in psychology I was like,
Wait! What? Like, this is me,
did I write this test?
Because I don't think
I'm actually smart
[Courtney] There are so many
 people who think like that
It comes down to giving
yourself the best opportunity
Don't deprive yourself of
anything simply because
Oh, they might not want me or 
they might not accept me
[Nabeeha] Sharon, you said
when you went to the Masterclass
you said the majority 
of them were white
Did you feel any different?
Like, I feel confident in my scarf
and I feel, like, 
it reflects my identity
But there are some hijaabis
out there that would say,
even ethnic minorities would say, 
that I don't want to go to somewhere
like Oxbridge Universities
because of the stereotypes
Would you say that
it's diverse?
[Courtney] There are so
many people like us there
We're not the majority
but there are way more
than you would actually think
and I think that's what shocked me
when I got there
I wasn't gonna be the
 only one from a state school
I'd never turn around and say,
oh, we've got it sorted out guys now
Like, we've hit we've hit
a quota and we're diverse
Woo-hoo, there's black people like I could
point to - one, two, three.
We've hit the nail on the head -- never!
That's not me because I just think
we do have a diversity problem
My course was probably one of
the most diverse academic bodies
but all the black students
could still fit in one row
Do you get what I mean?
And we were the most
diverse course
Like HSPS -- that's where
all the black people are
But it's, like,
one line of students
That's the reality of
what-what it was
and that's why we need more
people to apply
I'm going to show
you guys something
It is this amazing picture
And these are the
black women of Cambridge
Not all of them
But this is probably the majority of them
So what are your thoughts
when you kind of first see it
[Sharon] That's a lot --
but at the same time
if you think about all the 
people all doing different degrees
then that's nothing 
when you divide that up
But at the same time 
it's, like, encouraging
Like, seeing them all in one place
Like, oh! They made it
Like they're here, they're
doing that and they're black
and I've never seen that before in my life
[Shariq] There's people there
who you can relate to
There's people you can
form friendships with
It's like, you have people 
you can actually talk to
It's like, it's not just
one or two people
It's actually more than you expect
I think that's something
really nice to have
[Courtney] I just hope that this
is the beginning of something
I don't I don't want people
to look at this picture and think
Oh, this is-this is it, right?
Because there should be way more
That's why we need more people
applying or thinking
there are some people there
that are actually like me
who can I can relate to
 maybe find community with
And it's not that we're not capable
we're all more than capable
It's... Do we actually give ourselves the chance
because we think it's so far away
But here are these women
actually standing there
in front of Senate House
which is where I graduated
I've got a picture in 
front of this door as well
I was the only black girl in my college
There was one, two years ahead of me
and I'm walking around 
college and I just see this black girl
and I'm like---
[Nabeeha] Let's be friends!
[Courtney] Not even 'Let's be friends'!
I was, like, where-where did you come from?
[laugh] What's going on here?
So, literally, and then we
became friends because it was like
Victoria -- it's you and me, like,
that's-all, that's all we've got here
You realize you're actually not as alone as you think
but that's why we need more
people like yourselves to apply
and just be like -- yeah, I can smash it
because you can
Tell us how how were you feeling
before we kind of had this conversation
before we had our talk and
how are you thinking now
[Sharon] Before I just
felt like it was a bit impossible like
I was never gonna go there
I was never going to think
of applying like,
me, I could never do it, like,
it's so like, elite
and like, privileged and 
like, even if I got the grades like,
would that be enough to
get me in there
and like, there's no role models
 in my family to like, look up to
Oh, they went to like a really 
high ranking university I can do it too
It was never there
Now, it seems less impossible
like maybe I could be
the first one
I'd be the role model for my family or
be the role model for someone else
that I could be privileged not to
maybe go in there as well
so it's really like, empowering
Maybe I didn't have any role models
but I can be someone else's
[Nabeeha] Me -- as a hijaabi -- 
I feel confident in my own hijaab
and I feel confident in my scarf
This is basically my identity
But some hijaabis out there and
some like, ethnic minorities, might
believe that, because
they're going somewhere
 like Cambridge University
and because they are the minority
they might feel degraded
but it's not like that
Like, you should feel proud
So.
I will apply.
[Courtney] Good!
