Surrey student with mental health struggles secures dream uni place
Kate Battams, an 18 year-old student from Stanwell, Surrey, has achieved A*A*A in her A-levels this results day (A* in Biology, A* in Psychology and A in Geography), surpassing her required grades of AAA. She’s secured a place to study Psychology at the University of Bath this September, which was her first choice.
From a low-opportunity background, Kate will be the first person in her immediate family to attend university. Kate overcame many challenges to achieve her university offers, including mental health struggles. She recalled: “Throughout my academic career so far, especially during my GCSE’s and A-levels, I’ve struggled immensely with my mental health. This includes anxiety, panic attacks and symptoms of OCD. Like many of my peers, my anxiety started to get worse during the Covid lockdown, and was amplified when I went back to school. It then got even worse during exam times.”
“My anxiety made it so hard for me to cope that it got to a point at the end of the Easter holidays this April, where I was no longer able to attend college. I had panic attacks and I was in the hospital for a while so I couldn’t go into lessons,” Kate explained. “My college allowed me to finish a month early to have additional time on study leave so I would still be able to sit my exams.”
“I also struggled with symptoms of OCD, especially when it came to structure and time. For example, I had to plan everything by the minute, and got anxious if things didn’t happen on time,” Kate described. “I’ve spoken to psychiatrists about this but haven’t had an official OCD diagnosis yet.”
She continued: “My anxiety led me to isolate myself and neglect self care, and my hair started falling out from the stress. Since asking for help, I have now started medication to manage my anxiety, which has definitely helped. I’ve also been referred to start therapy.”
Despite her parents not attending university, it was something that Kate had wanted to pursue, but she changed her mind on which subject to take due to her personal experiences: “When I first started college, I thought I’d do a degree in Geography, but after struggling with my mental health, I decided I was more interested in pursuing psychology.”
Last year when she was in Year 12, to help her with the university application process, Kate signed up to free social mobility technology platform Zero Gravity, that powers thousands of low-opportunity students into top universities through mentoring, masterclasses, and connecting with a community of like-minded students from similar backgrounds. It aims to level the playing field for UK students and give socially mobile students the tools to widen their access to top institutions.
Speaking about the support she received, Kate said: “I was matched with a mentor through Zero Gravity which has been so helpful in the application process. My mentor helped me mostly with my personal statement, making sure that it was tailored to my course. I also used the community function on Zero Gravity’s platform, where I was able to ask questions to a network of people who are doing my course or are at the University of Bath. As they’ve been there before, they were able to give me advice on my application that I couldn’t get elsewhere.”
When she received her offer at Bath, Kate said: “It felt really good to get my offer. I chose Bath because I did a ‘Discover Bath’ programme where I talked to the students and lecturers at the uni and it just felt right. I also love the city of Bath itself.”
Ahead of results day, Kate expressed: “If I achieve my place it’ll be incredible. There was a point in my life where I thought I wouldn’t be able to cope with going to uni as my anxiety was too high. But I’m proud that I’ve overcome that.”
On results day itself, after securing her place, Kate said: “I am so happy that all my hard work has paid off and I’m honestly just so grateful for everyone that has helped me. Not just my teachers and support staff at college but also my family and friends that got me through my times of struggling with my mental health and anxiety as I couldn't have done it without them.”
Kate’s ambitions for the future after university is to raise awareness about mental health, particularly in the academic sector: “I feel there’s a lack of awareness that students who are successful and achieving good grades can also still be struggling. You may never know the struggles someone else is going through. By studying psychology I hope to work in mental health services, such as becoming a therapist or clinical psychologist. I want to help people experiencing mental health difficulties similar to mine and improve the support provided by mental health care systems in the UK. I also want to reduce the stigma associated with taking medication for your mental health. When I first started taking anxiety medication, I felt ashamed, scared, and didn’t know what would happen. But I want to raise awareness of this so that people are more informed about it, and show that it’s OK to take medication that will help you.”
At university, Kate is also keen to become a mentor on Zero Gravity’s platform herself, so she can help other people who find themselves in a similar position to her, to overcome their challenges to achieve success.