Despite many years of successful widening participation initiatives, equity gaps in education and employment outcomes persist. Societal systems of oppression and marginalisation mean that individuals are treated differently based on their social characteristics, but it is not clear whether inequalities in graduate outcomes are also influenced by the environment of the university attended. Drawing on life course theory, we investigated this further. Using national university statistics data, we clustered universities with similar social and cultural environments into profiles. We then linked these environmental profiles with a longitudinal cohort data set to determine whether different university environments might predict differences in education and employment outcomes. The results indicated that associations between young people’s social characteristics and their outcomes are not uniform across all universities; they appear to be dependent on their university environment. This research emphasises a need for new policies that address education and employment inequalities within certain universities.