A few weeks ago I was walking through a nearby village when
I passed the local primary school. This
got me thinking about how my days of education feel like a life time ago and
how unprepared I was for the final few years.
So what should you expect when leaving school? For some, you will have the excitement of a
university place waiting for you in September.
You will be sorting accommodation, buying new stationery and looking
into the best clubs for your fresher’s nights out. Others will have gap year plans. You’ll be getting ready to travel the world,
explore new places and experience things most people couldn’t dream of. But what about the rest of us? When I was 18 I had nothing planned, no job,
no further education, nothing. So what
happened to me?
To give you a bit of background, I went to a selective
Grammar school from the ages of 11 to 18.
The friends that I met in first year were the same friends I had right
through to ‘upper sixth’. My school was
highly focussed on the academic subjects, if you wanted to be a doctor or a
lawyer you thrived. B grades were never
good enough, you were constantly pushed for more and told that university was
essential for success, no matter what you wanted to do. Through my GCSE years I managed to achieve
high grades with very little effort.
Don’t ask me how I did it (I don’t think I could pass a GCSE exam now!)
but it (wrongly!) taught me that I was able to do well without much revision or
exam preparation. When choosing my A
Levels my options were fairly limited due to the academic nature of my
school. I could have moved schools for
sixth form, and nearly did, but I ended up choosing subjects that I thought I
would do well in rather than subjects that would set me up for a particular
career – I wasn’t sure what industry I wanted to go into so decided to study a
fairly diverse range of subjects. I
ended up doing English Lit, Biology, Psychology and IT. Within
a few months of year 12 I realised that my no-revision attitude was not going
to be good enough for my a-levels and I ended up finishing my first year with
very low grades. I dropped English Lit
and stepped into my second year, which is when UCAS started.
If you want to go to Uni in the UK you usually have to apply
through an organisation called UCAS. The
application process isn’t easy, first of all it’s a lot of pressure being told
that the course you choose will shape the rest of your life, throw in
personal statements and grade points and you have a demanding few months! My friends seemed to glide through the weeks
fairly drama free. I decided to apply
for a psychology degree (simply because it was my favourite and strongest
subject) but everytime I had to do something university related, or even just
talk about it, I got a pang of anxiety through my chest into my stomach. I didn’t dare tell anyone but deep down I
didn’t feel like university was the right choice for me, I just didn’t know
what else to do.
Skip forward a few months and I freaked out – it all got too
much for me and I rejected all of the offers I had. Now, I would never recommend doing that, and
looking back I think it was a foolish move, but like I said I freaked out and
at the time it felt like I had a huge weight lifted off my shoulders. Come results day I got average – poor grades. I could have gone to Uni with the offers I
had, or even through clearing if I wanted to, but I stuck to my guns and
instead I got a job in a call centre.
Fast forward 5 years and I am working in a role I love along
side some of the biggest companies in the country. It's not been easy, here’s some of the things I’ve
learnt along the way that I wish I’d known when I was 18:
- Not every job requires a degree – for some careers you obviously have to go to uni however for so many others you don’t. If you don’t want to go there are other options such as apprenticeships or simply working your way up through the ranks. Only you know what’s right for you.
- Experience counts for a lot – I have so many friends who finished higher education with a strong degree only to find that there are thousands of other graduates with the same thing, who want the same job. Work experience really helps you to stand out from the crowd.
- You have the rest of your life to get a degree – saying no to university at 18 isn’t the same as saying no for the rest of your life. Loads of adults get degrees at all different stages in their careers, and don’t forget about the Open University – you can always get the qualifications you needs while working!
- It’s okay to not care about the ‘university experience’ – I have lost count of the number of people who have asked me if I feel sad I missed out on the ‘student life’. The short answer is no, I have been on nights out in major cities & I have lived away from home, I don’t think I’ve missed out on anything!
Are you going to Uni this September? Are you unsure about what’s right for you? Please feel free to get in touch on Twitter or in the comments with your experience!
For more information on options other than university, take a look at Not Going To Uni. It's a great place to learn what else is out there!
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