Many of us can remember those sessions in sixth form. "Have you planned out your personal statement yet?", even "Have you even considered university?" It all got very real very quickly.
My strengths at A-Level mostly centred around media and journalism. For my coursework I designed my own travel magazine entitled Frontier. I ended up with an A grade and was overjoyed with the work I put in. This is something I would have done at degree level, if I wasn't pushed away from it.
Some things said by family and friends made me feel like media or journalism wasn't a 'strong' enough subject. My only other strength was English Literature, and I was swiftly prompted to apply for that. I applied to York, Edgehill, Edinburgh, Edinburgh Napier and Newcastle.
I wish I was stronger and pushed to do a degree I knew I'd enjoy
In a way, I wish I was stronger and pushed to do a degree I knew I'd enjoy, rather than be ridiculously bad at English and not enjoy it because I couldn't thrive.
Eventually, I decided to come to Newcastle. In doing this, I quickly realised any joy I had from English was going to be sucked away. I just wasn't interested. I got more joy out of extra curricular activities than I ever could from my degree.
Then of course, the pandemic took over and any joy I received from university at all was gone too. By my third year, I resorted to just getting through my degree. As much as I wish I chose differently, doing Student Media makes it all worth it.
University may not be all I expected to be in terms of my degree, but University allowed me to become the person I am outside of English, and actually focus on what I know I want to do for the rest of my life.