With dreams of applying to the London School of Economics, TJ, who lives in Uganda, joined Sedbergh in Year 9, and is studying for economics, maths, further maths and physics A levels. While open to one day working in a financial firm, her ultimate ambition is to follow the path of her parents and have her own business.
What is it about entrepreneurship that that attracts you?
I feel like I’m quite an innovative person and I feel like I am quite creative and I don’t get to show that with a lot of my subjects, but I do think that I would enjoy going being an entrepreneur. It won’t be consulting, it’ll be an actual business.
Is economics something that you’ve always enjoyed?
Being completely honest, no! I only found out this year that I liked it, and that’s only because of A Levels. I kind of always knew I’d do something with maths integrated into it because I’ve always loved maths.
What is your dream university?
It’s London School of Economics. I would rate that quite highly and getting in there would honestly be a dream come true. The standing of the university is important as well as the fact it’s in London. I quite want to be in a big city type of thing. That’s what I’m thinking. I think it’d be good connections wise as well.
I’m thinking Exeter and Durham for my back-ups at the moment. I haven’t found any other two that I’m really passionate about, but I like those two.
Are you focusing on any particular extra-curricular activities to help you prepare?
Right now? I’m not going to lie. I’ve been very consumed by my subjects and when I’m not doing that, I’m kind of either taking a break or doing something completely different. My extracurriculars are not related at all to what I’m trying to do, but I’m definitely, when I go home, I’m going to be doing a lot of work experience and hopefully that’s with my mom on the accounts-side of her restaurant.
I’ve also got reading club on, I think that’s quite a nice break from everything I do. I am trying to get into reading more books about economics. I’m not a huge reader, that’s why I signed up. I want to get more into it. I just find it kind of hard to focus on just one thing, but I’m definitely trying to get into more reading about the subject at the moment. I’m still stuck on nonfiction. I quite like the biographies that are semi-fiction. They’re based on real stories. I quite like that. I’ve got into quite a few of them. I think one of my favorite books is Child of Dandelions and it’s about Uganda. So, I relate to it quite a lot. It’s about the expulsion of South Asians and Uganda. So I found that quite interesting. I’ve read it a couple of times actually.
I also do a bit of sport. I’m not a very sporty person at all, but because it’s rounders term, I do play rounders. It’s quite nice to get some fresh air without being super competitive or anything.
Mostly when I’m not in class, I like to take a break. I end up taking a break for a couple hours and then doing quite a lot of studying in the evening.
How as Sedbergh helped with the preparation for your university applications?
I think my teachers are the most helpful because at the start of the year, I was feeling very conscious about uni. I was quite scared and really close-minded to what I wanted to do, but they showed me that there’s so many more options. Part of that is that’s why I’ve kind of started thinking more finance based. They’re like with all the subjects you do, you’re perfectly capable of doing that sort of degree.
They have taken us on the UCAS Fair and recently I went to an open day. The School help me to explore.
Which of the school’s HARK values do you most identify with?
I want to say resilience because I feel like everyone has challenging times, but you know, have to keep going. And I feel like there’s a lot of times I’ve been like, this is too much for me. I feel like I’m aiming too high or something like that. But I know that if I keep going, eventually I’m going to get there. It doesn’t happen in one split second type of thing. And I feel like it’s quite important to remember and I feel like that’s the one that resonates with me the most.
How did you find settling in when you first arrived at Sedbergh?
For the first couple of weeks, it was really, really hard. My uncle lives really close by, so he would come see me quite often at the start. And I really struggled because I felt extremely homesick and I just thought, I don’t want to be here when I could be at home. And at the start, the reason I came to boarding school is because I was very reliant on my parents. I was quite a reliant person. I couldn’t do things by myself. So I found it really difficult at the start, but I think I kind of eased into it and kind of settled down as the school year kept going. And I think that’s become one of my biggest things. I can do things by myself and I don’t feel scared of doing it by myself and I don’t feel like I always need to be like, how do I do this to my parents? So it’s made me a lot more independent.
What do you think you’ll miss the most about Sedbergh?
I think it’s the fun in houses. It honestly feels like you’re a sleepover every single day. And I think that’s one of the best parts, coming back from lessons, being with their friends and being like, oh, this happened, this happened, this happened. It’s such a tight-knit family. I think I’ll really miss that.