Katharine Lee

Pembroke College, 1996, BA English Literature; 1999 PGCE Secondary English and Drama Teaching

I am an English teacher and Head of Sixth Form at a British secondary school in Milan.

I chose my BA degree course because I developed a real love of English Literature at A Level and enjoyed studying texts in great depth. I was lucky to have an inspiring English teacher who was a young Oxford graduate and encouraged me to apply.

The course gives you an unusually wide experience of literature, chronologically and in terms of the authors, as you largely choose who you study. The course offers a far greater range of authors and periods than many courses at other universities because (at least when I did it) until the 3rd year you study an era (or sometimes two) per term and, within that, you select the topics and authors who interest you.

The course also develops many valuable transferable skills such as logical thinking, an analytical approach and the ability to write coherently as well as the ability to manage your time and meet deadlines.

I went to a state girls' grammar school and although I was fairly confident at school, I gained a great deal more self-confidence at Oxford as I was required to organise my time independently and to raise the standard of my work to meet the tutors' expectations. This was hard at first as the Oxford system is very different from classes at school, and the emphasis is on the student to manage the considerable demands on him or herself.

The tutorial system means there's no escape! Knowing that you will be either reading your essay to your tutor (who is an expert in that subject) and your tutorial partner, or handing it in for marking every week, means you need to write something which you can defend and explain. The system is intense, which means you learn a huge amount in an hour-long tutorial, but in the time between tutorials it is up to you to organise your time effectively.

Oxford colleges provide a friendly, familiar environment; a small community which you feel part of; and tutors who know you as an individual. They are beautiful places to live. I got married in my college chapel, which was a real privilege.

I mixed with people I would not otherwise have met and saw how crucial decent school teaching is to people's futures. I decided not to go to the city or become a management consultant and instead head back to school, first to teach in secondary schools in England for seven years, then the British School of Brussels, and now the British School in Milan.

I love my job and think that Oxford has been fundamental to me, both in terms of what I learnt about literature as well as the value of a good education. Finally, employers do take note when they see Oxford on a CV and I have often been asked about my experience at the University at job interviews.