Irish / English | Mexican
In the context of the University of Oxford, we hope our names; faces and stories will emphasise that there is a place for everyone at Oxford. According to last year’s admissions data, 700 Oxford undergraduates identify as mixed. In 2016, BAME students accounted for 15.9% of the undergraduate intake. Oxford is diversifying, albeit slowly. We hope to empower mixed heritage students at Oxford and foster a community where they can safely share their own opinions, experiences and stories.
My Mum grew up in London, but her birth mother is Irish, and her adoptive parents were English. My Dad is Mexican. Put plainly, I knew before applying to Oxford that it would be a mostly White and quite an affluent demographic. However, I didn’t consider this something that would hurt my chances of a successful application. I think that the severe lack of representation of minority ethnic groups in elite universities is a problem that begins long before our university years. I was lucky enough to go to a good state school, have a Mother that moved to the UK for my brother and I to continue our studies and, to a certain extent, to be in the right place at the right time. I definitely wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t a British national (for obvious economic reasons) so I think that’s the only way in which my heritage may have influenced my decision to attend, although I can’t deny that I am also proud to be able to represent the Latino community. I haven’t experienced any blatant or casual racism so far in my first two terms here and, particularly at my college, everyone is very friendly and open. I now have several friends from many different backgrounds (which I love) despite minorities being relatively scarce. I think Latinos are greatly under-represented at Oxford. Even when we speak about minorities, we speak of BAME, which includes Latinos but has an obvious focus on Black and Asian groups. I must admit this makes me feel a bit excluded even among other minority groups, although I understand that this is strictly because they are the larger minority groups with a longer history in the country. Meeting other Mexicans at Oxford through the Oxford Mexican Society definitely made me feel like I had found a piece of home in Oxford, although I was disappointed to not meet any undergraduates. However, the Mixed Heritage Society and the International Society are full of them, what we do share are our differences, which gives me a powerful sense of community.
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