Ellie currently works as the Marketing and Ops Associate at Jumpstart, which is a grad scheme for start-ups. Ellie reflected back on her Summer School programme and what it meant to her. 

“I was really nervous about going to my summer school – going off on my own, getting the train on my own, moving into the accommodation etc. Everyone was in the same shoes – but I remember going into the common room and everyone chatting about where they’d come from and how far. Some people had come from one stop away on the train, and others from the other side of the country! So that was quite fun. I felt quite at ease quite quickly – quicker than I thought I would.  

Thanks to the Summer School, I realised that I loved maths but I didn’t want to do that every day. I made friends who did humanities and that always sounded interesting! The programme really clarified that maths can be taught in a more creative way – the lessons were really well thought out.

I ended up applying for Bristol and Cambridge at university – Oxbridge wasn’t ever something I thought I’d aim for… The Sutton Trust was the first time I’d ever done something academic, by myself, without any peers around me. It gave me that confidence to go to a university by myself and to try it.“

In Ellie’s current role, she helps run marketing initiatives for Jumpstart, which can range from social media posts to hosting events, and supports the operations of Jumpstart’s application funnel. She’s also leading Jumpstart’s Diversity and Inclusion initiatives at the moment, and talked to us about her career, and why she thinks start-ups offer such exciting opportunities for graduates. Ellie is passionate about making the start-up sector accessible to as many people as possible, and talked to us about why this is important.

“I was looking for a role with impact – I didn’t know what exactly I wanted to be doing. Charities are often looking for a specific role or niche skills that are really hard to get without volunteering. I came across Jumpstart on LinkedIn – they focus a lot on innovation and impact, and I thought that would be really cool. I want to be able to do as many things as possible so that I can work out what I want to do – and a start-up is a good way to do that. The roles are a lot more generalist and that really appeals to me.  

I’d love more people to know that start-ups are an option – at university you just think that it’s corporate graduate schemes or nothing, and I always just thought that would be ‘posh men in suits’! When I heard about Jumpstart – I thought it would be a really cool route to go down.”

Thanks to Ellie’s efforts, the Sutton Trust are now promoting the graduate scheme that she works for, and will hopefully help them hire from a wider and more diverse pool of candidates. If your organisation would like to promote jobs via the Sutton Trust’s alumni network – let us know by completing our form or get in touch with our team.