My Hulme Story: Q&A with Connor McCormack (class 2020)

I grew up in Chadderton, Oldham. Just a short walk away from Hulme, where I had to climb up Chamber Road most mornings to School.

I lived on a pretty normal street in Oldham, in the same house my Dad grew up in. He is a photographer and my mum has worked in the same supermarket closer to the City centre for the past 20 years. They met in West London, shortly after my Mum immigrated from Guyana.

I first came across Hulme through my Mum, who was hectically researching secondary school options for me a couple of years before I left primary school. Unfortunately, my Mum had very limited access to education as a child. As such, it was very important to her that my younger brother and I had a chance at many of the things she did not. As a result, she forked out for a few months to get me some tuition on the entrance exam, which was a privilege in itself, along with some assistance from my very kind teachers at Corpus Christi primary school, I was ready to sit the exam in the hopes of winning a bursary.

Thankfully, I first walked through the school gates alongside one of my closest childhood friends, who lived across the road from me and was also a lucky Bursary recipient. So that definitely helped!

I started in 2013, so quite a while ago now. I don’t recall the exact details but I do remember feeling quite anxious and out of place. As an 11 year old, I couldn’t give myself an exact diagnosis on those emotions. Over time, they faded away as I came to the realisation most of my presumptions about Private School proved to be false; despite the typical “growing pains” any young lad would face in an unfamiliar environment.

As soon as I got to Hulme, I was always looking 10 or 20 years ahead. Trying to imagine what I would pursue as a career. Throughout my 7 years, this typically varied between becoming some kind of Engineer, Surgeon, Pilot,  Investment Banker or “Entrepreneur”, at one point my head was so far in the clouds, I thought I’d even have a shot at becoming a Basketball player….

By the time I’d reached Sixth Form, I had filtered my options down to one of  two pathways; Medicine or Economics.

After a couple of weeks shadowing a surgeon in the Scottish Borders, combined with a very unsuccessful Chemistry AS level year, I followed my gut instinct and firmly decided on completing A-Levels in Maths, Physics and Economics at the start of year 13, with the end goal of reading Economics at University.

I think that choice had already been set many years prior, without me even realising; many of my lunch breaks at Hulme were spent discussing all things Global Affairs with Mr.Langdon, to the point these lunch hours turned into various teach-ins ranging from Investment, Cryptocurrency and Programming club to name the most successful ones….

Alongside this, whilst studying Business at GCSE, Miss Longley had given me her subscriptions to the Economist, reading a few issues of these publications had me enticed with the subject, and Miss Longley had successfully poached me into the upcoming A-Level Economics cohort.

I faced several challenges throughout my time at Hulme. Beyond the initial unease of settling into a foreign environment in the early years, to struggling with attention, punctuality and unfortunately some behavioural issues. The final challenge I faced at Hulme, and arguably one of the most pivotal in my entire educational journey was A-Level results, which unfortunately coincided with the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Having not sat any real exams and relying on predicted grades, I missed my Durham offer. Fortunately I did manage to get into St.Andrews to read an MA in Economics. However, after sitting on the decision for some time, and being rather disappointed in myself with my grade in Maths, I took the risky decision to rescind my fantastic offer at The University of St. Andrews. Instead, undertaking the challenge of bettering my Maths grade and pursuing University the following year.

Despite no longer being a fee paying student at Hulme, I still received fantastic support from the Mathematics department, namely Mrs. Cross and also the examinations support team, namely Mrs. Whitworth. Thanks to their support, I managed to better my grade, re-ignite a passion for Mathematics and subsequently went on to read a joint honours in Mathematics and Economics at the University of Nottingham; which turned out to be one of the best decisions of my life.

There are too many memories and moments to make note of a favourite, but one that comes to mind and always sticks out would be Year 7 Music classes with Mr. Hulme.

Whereby the end of the year myself and the other boys in my form had become quite fond of singing Waltzing Matilda, due to countless hours and disciplined rehearsal. As well as the entire class becoming fans of Muddy Waters and other blues musicians of the same period.

Following on from my earlier story, I started at the University of Nottingham a year after leaving Hulme.

Like my first days at Hulme, this was the second major transition in my life.

Thankfully, my formative years at Hulme prepared me well for University life.

From the first month of University, I made a conscious effort to stay on top of all things career related alongside my studies. Attending careers insights, extra-curricular and undertaking my own research, things that were second nature after the opportunities afforded to me at Hulme.

Thankfully, I haven’t faced any major setbacks so far. Nonetheless, I am currently facing a pretty tough challenge. As part of my profession, I need to complete professional examinations to eventually become a Chartered Financial Analyst. They’re a very challenging set of examinations that can take a few years to complete, alongside settling into a new role and working full time in the City it can become challenging at times. So, I find studying little and often amongst strict time management can mitigate many of the issues.

Moral of this story is that learning (and often exams…) definitely doesn’t stop after school, it’s a lifelong commitment and should be welcomed.

Whilst at University, I become set on pursuing a career in Investment Management very early on. Investment Management can take many forms and throughout my undergraduate degree I spent my Summers working in the City of London, exploring parts of the industry. Firstly at a Global Macro Hedge Fund, followed by a summer working as a Fixed Income Investment Analyst at Fidelity International. After graduating, I decided to take up an offer on a Wealth and Asset Management graduate scheme at Rathbones. As I approached the end of this graduate scheme, I decided to pursue something else within the industry and recently joined Schroders in their Charity, Foundations and Endowments team where I work as an Assistant Portfolio Manager.

My current role involves looking after capital within Multi-Asset portfolios for some of the most prominent charities, educational institutions and foundations in the country; so they are able to continue helping their beneficiaries and funding important projects.

I would boil it down to a mixture of a few things.

A highly supportive and patient environment, where I was fortunate enough to have teachers know me well enough to encourage my potential and work around my shortfalls.

As a result of this environment, I was able to pursue many sports and extra-curricular activities, engage in a breadth of subjects and had the time to talk to teachers about topics that would make me think differently and continue asking questions.

I think the environment that has supported inquisitiveness in my formative years, has served me well in my adult years.

Attending Hulme from Year 7 to Year 13  has been an invaluable platform for me to build foundations during some of the most critical years of life. It has been a medium for my parents to provide the opportunities they weren’t afforded and it has been an immensely powerful accelerator of social mobility for myself.

Without the combined ethics instilled by parents and the nurturing environment I had the privilege of growing up in at Hulme, I wouldn’t have had the runway to achieve what I have today.

Remember that you’re there to learn and enrich yourself, and hopefully make some lifelong friends along the way.

Try to pursue a wide range of subjects and extra-curricular activities. In my opinion, the primary function of education shouldn’t be about getting a great career at the end of it; that should be secondary to enriching yourself in all facets. Learn about Mathematics and the Sciences, but equally be just as curious about Art, History and Languages. If you’re on the football team, maybe consider balancing things with a debate club; all whilst leaning into your true strengths and interests. Being well versed should be the best defence to life’s challenges and hurdles.

Teachers will appreciate genuine curiosity and that will be a continuous feedback loop that will compound throughout your time at school. So don’t be afraid to ask questions every single day!

Finally, if you ever feel a sense of “Imposter Syndrome” creeping in, remember that you and your family have rightly earned a place at one of the best schools in Greater Manchester. This will most likely be the first of many pivotal turning points and unknowns that you will come across in life, they don’t stop coming.

So make the most out of it and look ahead to the next big thing!