The day a lecturer stopped the first year Lily Cox (MSc Marketing, 2020, BA English Literature, 2019, Lonsdale) after a lecture to tell her how much they had enjoyed reading her essay, she instantly formed a whole new mind map about the way she wanted to be treated - and to interact with others.

Going about her work as a young professional Account Manager in Inizio Evoke - a fast paced global company running health care projects all over the world - Lily is daily aware of being shaped by this early experience of being treated with respect and as an equal.

“I have never forgotten that - it felt so personal and special. They really spoke to you like peers. At school we were pushed to get to university,” explains Lily. “But at Lancaster we were encouraged to form our own trajectory and they really nurtured you. Lancaster really did shape the way I look at the world.”

This has enabled the English Literature graduate to find a path from the degree course she relished (and for which she was awarded a First ), to win a sought-after Master’s place in Marketing, also at Lancaster, leading to the fast-moving job she now enjoys - and still working with words.

Her professional life finds her supporting health care and pharmaceutical clients on drugs launches and health campaigns, liaising with clients, ensuring that projects are delivered on time and to specification, and even copywriting. Her most-visited disease area is diabetes.

The teenage Lily who arrived as a fresher from Aylesbury, Bucks, wanted to study a subject she loved, and a friend’s mother had been to Lancaster and loved it. Her mind was made up after the open day: “Something really clicked with me. “ she explains. “I remember visiting the English Department and the lecturers coming up to me and my family and they made me feel they wanted me there.”

Her decision to apply was sealed by the University’s advertised financial support for students through grants and bursaries. Lily was self-funded and had worked a weekend job through her sixth form to help pay for university. She received a Lancaster bursary as well as Departmental and Fulgoni Scholarships amounting to the full cost of the Master's programme she took after her undergraduate degree.

She remembers her first week as very emotional. She is very close to her family and her move to university coincided with her sister starting school: “It was a real transition for me,” she admits.

In between making friends with people in her flat, she did the round of Fresher societies and stalls, but as a keen dancer already, she knew that this was going to be her ‘thing’ throughout her undergraduate years. She signed up to the Dance Society and the Musicals Society, which gave her the opportunity to dance in the musical 'Legally Blonde' in her first year. Dance provided a timetable of classes across a range of dance disciplines, as well as socials. There was also the chance to audition for the competition squad against other universities. She made the squad in her third year in intermediate contemporary dance. It provided friends, activities and skills she uses to this day.

Academically she loved the structure at Lancaster allowing her to study three subjects in the first year - in her case English major plus Gender and Women's studies and Psychology. “There are a number of modules that I think about often to this day,“ muses Lily, “Such as the contemporary literature in my final year and Frankenstein and the gothic novel.” Her hard work paid off and she was awarded the Dissertation Prize, which is given to the highest-achieving final year students in the department. In Lily’s case she gained full marks for her exploration of Northern Ireland and ‘the Troubles’.

Lily was aware that her degree would not give her a direct line into a career, but at University she met people studying marketing and realised the transferrable skills she had as a result of her own degree. In her final year, the University Careers Office directed her to an EU scheme enabling her to work with a local company '978 Bridging' to learn on the job. She also landed herself a day of work experience in the Marketing Team at Lancaster University.

Another financial boost was to land an Assistant Dean post in Grizedale College, which allowed her to live in a flat rent free with two others, to support the Dean to make sure rules were followed and to offer some pastoral support to students.

Half way through her Master's the pandemic struck - and she ended up finishing her course from home. “It was not the easiest time to get a job afterwards,” she recalls. It took her a while before she landed a job in sales at BT, which gave her experience in client management to land her current role at Inizio Evoke.

“I think that the culture at Lancaster was very special,“ muses Lily. “I can not speak highly enough about the lecturers and the careers service.”