Identical twin brothers Nicholas and Daniel Thompson joined Trinity on substantial bursaries in 2007 and left school to take degrees in Mathematics and Computer Science, and Finance, respectively.

Bursaries were essential to the Thompson family, enabling Nicholas and Daniel to focus on participating in sports and excelling in their academic studies. This culminated in them both playing football for the ISFA England team and gaining excellent A-Level results. “Without bursaries, we would not have been able to attend Trinity and had access to such excellent resources. Not having to worry about money allowed us to take full advantage of the opportunities available, both sporting and academic.

When at university, we both had to work part-time as gymnastics coaches, which had an impact on our university experiences. At Trinity, however, we could just focus on our sport and academic work.”

Nicholas studied Mathematics and Computer Science at UCL and is now a software engineer at JP Morgan Chase. “I’m extremely grateful for the excellent maths teaching I received. Being pushed to study further maths and encouraged to explore an additional module in decision mathematics alongside my studies was instrumental in my obtaining an offer to study at UCL.”

Daniel studied Finance at LSE and is now a supervisor at the Bank of England. “I’m hugely grateful to Trinity for developing and improving my oratorical skills. As a supervisor at a financial institution, I need to communicate our strategy both internally and to external stakeholders. Being able to speak clearly and coherently is an essential life skill and is a really important aspect of my job.”

The Covid crisis has had a massive impact on their working lives. Nicholas says: “We both began working last September, but restrictions mean we have now worked longer at home than in the office. At home, we are lucky to have a shared study, the same one where we studied for our A-Levels and GCSEs. Although we both miss the social aspects of the office, the flexibility of working from home has allowed us to work harder while making it easier to stay active.”

Daniel adds: “We have been very lucky to be able to continue working and developing our careers. Our parents were not so lucky, and we had to contribute much more financially to the household budget over the early Covid period. Luckily, there is now some greater semblance of normality, and both are back at work.”

Nicholas has been focusing on improving his technical skills to progress his career as a software engineer in the financial sector. Daniel hopes to continue working on building his financial knowledge and technical skills to become a financial risk specialist.