Rachel Chalmers (LLM 2024) had long-held ambitions to study at Cambridge, but swapping sunshine and daily swims in Bondi icebergs, a world famous sea water swimming pool in Sydney, for the east of England took a strong nudge from her grandfather.

“Back when I was 16 in school, I've got this note that I wrote to myself where I said I really wanted to go overseas and do a master's at Oxford or Cambridge,” Rachel says on a wet spring day.

“I was working in Sydney and living with my grandparents. I was talking to my grandfather about the prospect of applying for a Masters of Law. Everyone had been diplomatic, saying ‘it’s up to you’. He just said ‘you’d be silly not to’.

“Sometimes you just need to hear someone say to you what you probably already know, and that weekend I started doing my application. 

“I owe him a great deal of gratitude for just telling me to go after it. As soon as I got my offer, I was completely crystal clear that it was the right thing to do. You’re just scared at the prospect of rejection. Sometimes if you have an inkling of what you want, it's better to just try and fail, than to never know.”

Rachel’s grandfather is one of six Australian relatives who will attend her graduation this summer, which will mark the culmination of a journey which began apace aged 16. When Rachel arrived at Gonville & Caius College in September 2024, she was tearful.

“It's overwhelming with emotion when you have such a clear vision and it becomes reality,” she adds.

“I had no specific expectations. I knew so many people before me had said that doing something like this would change everything. It just changes your world view, they said it would completely change the trajectory of my life.

“It was the greatest achievement of my life. It's all the little steps – school exams, my undergraduate degree, working hard for five years – just coming into fruition into this one gift of a year in this amazing educational institution.”

Rachel had peers who had trodden the path before her, including Christian Andreotti (LLM 2023). Both are from Adelaide and completed their undergraduate degrees there before beginning their careers in Sydney. 

Rachel worked for a Federal Court judge in Sydney for a year, then spent two years on a graduate programme as a solicitor with King & Wood Mallesons. The LLM came at the right time, and is beneficial as Rachel aspires to practice law as a solicitor in the UK and ultimately become a barrister.

“Caius has a really long lineage of law people – I think that’s really helpful,” says Rachel, who read about Christian’s experience on the Caius website, before applying to the College.

The six-degrees-of-separation theory was furthered when Rachel’s best friend, who, upon learning about her accommodation, contacted another friend from Adelaide, who was then unknown to Rachel. They discovered that this friend lived in the same shared house Rachel would soon be joining in in Caius’ postgraduate hub. Now, Rachel is friends with him too. 

Making new friends was straightforward at Caius, says Rachel, who is now a Caius MCR International Officer, and a previous Dining Officer.

She adds: “Within the first week or two there were about 14 different events. I signed up for every single one, which is tough for your social battery, but by the end I felt like I’d known people for years.

“And living on Harvey Road… that sense of community is unlike anything. Being able to pop over for a cup of tea, or walk over to formal with 10 of your best friends, and wander home in 10 minutes… I’ll really miss it.”

Rachel’s LLM is focused on private law, international dispute resolution, the law of armed conflict, human rights, and some “passion projects”, she says. This includes being a Project Manager of Reparation Framework – Bangladesh, a project on the establishment of a reparation framework for enforced disappearance in Bangladesh, as part of the Cambridge Pro Bono Project. 

Rachel has had to be selective about her time in Cambridge; rowing is an opportunity she had to pass up.

“I'm conscious we don't have long here. Nine months is not enough time to do everything you want to do,” Rachel adds.

“It’s incredible luck that I preferenced Caius and got in. I’ve made all these incredible friends and memories.”

Rachel is self-funded, but has had no second thoughts.

“I had to work out whether this was beneficial enough – and I’ve concluded it is,” she says.

“I’ve worked since I was 15 – supermarket, pub, retail – this was a pretty good place for my life savings to go.”