The last couple of months have been really busy for me. I've taken my finals, been on holiday, completed a two week placement in a school, been offered two jobs and started a new job, and yesterday I graduated from the University of Warwick!


You can really enjoy what you study
I went to university with some interest in what I would be studying, but I've come out of it wanting to know more! I studied education, so (nearly) everything I learned was relevant to the teaching profession which is what I really want to go into.

Working alongside your degree isn't easy
I was already working in retail before I started uni, but I carried on until my final year and took on several other jobs alongside it (not all at once!), so you can imagine how much (or should I say how little) time I had to do anything other than work! It is good to have a job at the same time, but when it starts to impact on your grades, you need to consider whether it's worth it or not.

People have mixed feelings about university

Some love it, and really enjoy it, but some hate it (it's a bit like marmite really!). I personally didn' enjoy it that much. I think this was partly because I was living at home which wasn't far, but yet also wasn't close to campus, and I was also working weekends which meant I struggled balancing university, work, and having a social life. It was only during my third year that I actually grew to enjoy university life and didn't really want it to end. This was around the same time that I quit my weekend job!

You don't always make lots of friends

For me, making friends at uni was quite difficult, mostly because I only really mixed with people on my course because I didn't live in halls or anything. Now I'm leaving, I'm not sure how many people I'll actually stay in touch with, because our friendships were based around being on the same course, so our idea of friendship was sharing notes and ideas, or doing group presentations together, rather than going out drinking and stuff.

It wasn't easy

Before starting uni, I was under the impression that uni would be a doddle; you'd go out every night and die in your 9am lecture the following morning. But this wasn't what it was like (for me anyway). I hadn't (but I had, kind of) taken A Levels, so for me the idea of writing a 2500 word report every few weeks was challenging. By second year, it became slightly easier, but the workload had increased, but I'd definitely underestimated how much work, effort and time I would have to put in to pull off a decent grade.

It's okay not to do well in everything

One thing that I've learned from both the people on my course (and my boyfriend), is that even if you fail, you can still succeed. Lots of people on my course failed first year and dropped out of university, and went on to have really good careers. It's not always the end of the world if university work or even the lifestyle just isn't for you. You'll always find a way.

Don't worry if you don't know what to do by the end of it all

Most people come out of university and have no idea what they want to do next. In fact, many people go onto do something totally different to what their degree was in.

There's so many options out there, but it's up to you to decide what you're good at, what you enjoy and want to do. You can always start a career in one sector, but change your mind in ten years time. It's not always forever.

How did you find your university experience, and what did you learn from it?