Images of excellence: constructions of institutional prestige and reflections in the university choice process

Here, the narratives of a group of non‐traditional students who entered traditional UK universities are examined. A number of participants felt there was a kind of romance or exotic quality to the sights, sounds and smells of traditional institutions, which constituted part of the attraction. The process of becoming a student at an elite or traditional institution involved an oscillation between anxiety and ambition. Occasionally, students would become disillusioned with particular traditional universities, usually due to an act of rudeness—for example, a ‘snotty letter’ that deflected them. Yet their choices remained within the traditional sector. The participants subscribe to what Bourdieu called the ‘doxa’ or the largely unwritten rules of the overall game. The results confirm the recent interest in intra‐class differences and affirm the need to make sense of how individuals’ habituses can be transformed to accommodate the changes accompanying the move to university.