Drawing on ESRC-funded research (RES-000-22-0832), this article examines the accounts of men participating in London access and foundation programs in relation to their shifting masculine identifications. The author considers how the men's early memories of schooling shape their student masculinities. Their accounts are contextualized in relation to hegemonic discourses of widening participation and neo-liberalism. Drawing on feminist critique, she pays attention to the men's self-regulating practices in their struggle to be recognized as deserving of higher education access and participation. The interconnections and contradictions within men's identifications across a range of differences are considered in relation to their experiences and imaginaries of accessing higher education.