Graduating University

I thought for my next post I would talk about the fact that I graduated University in July!! I am officially a graduate in Fashion and Textiles Buying Management...and guess what?! I still dont know what I want to do in life. I genuinely thought that by the time I had graduated I would be full on, in the zone of progressing with my career and I couldn't be far from it. In all honesty I'm quite disappointed. Not in myself, I'm extremely proud of getting through the course and coming out with a 2:1 after a very jumbled and mixed up 3 years. I'm just confused as to why I dont feel confident in applying for jobs in the sector of work I should be and why I dont like the sound of doing something which I studied for so long. It almost feels like a waste, which is what I've been thinking over the last few months. But this is why I'm writing this post. To remind myself how much of a positive, exciting, amazing journey I have been on and how University has shaped my life and my future.

College

Don't get me wrong, I do believe University is only for certain people. I think at college it is drilled into you to go to University and to apply for everything and anything when in all honesty, no one knows what they want to do with their life in college. I suppose I shouldn't say 'everyone' because 2 out of 5 of my friends whom went to Uni went to study something they enjoyed and had a clear image in their head of where they would go after graduating and where the degree would take them. And that situation makes perfect sense to me. If you know you WANT to be a Doctor or a Journalist or a Nurse and you know what courses and paths to follow in education are to do so, it makes perfect sense to go ahead with University. However, the pressure for young people to make their mind up at the age of 18 I believe is too unfair. There should be more of a focus on finding out what they want to do and the options which are on offer other than university which are open to the student rather than lessons being focused on University and giving the student an alternative lecture to attend after class about apprenticeships. It's un-fairly planned out in college so students don't get to see the full picture and get easily persuaded to just apply to university because 'they need to'.

In my last year of college I was unsure of what I even liked. I knew I enjoyed Textiles. And I knew I was good at it in some respects. But I also loved Health and Social and learning about life and our bodies. I enjoyed my placements at schools and I was just so confused. I was very lucky to have a lovely tutor whom did show me some other options and she informed me about apprenticeship websites to sign up on. But again, it was things to do in my own time whereas we were having lessons based on how to apply to universities. Another reason I believe it's hard is if you dont have people at home who understand University or apprenticeships. Coming from a family of no one going to university no one really understood the positives and the negatives and I didn't have a secure opinion because no one really knew what the right thing to do was in my case. Which makes me even more annoyed that I didn't have EVERYTHING on offer explained to me properly in depth. I did sign up to an apprenticeship recruitment agency and I went on a few taster sessions and actually got offered an apprenticeship in Leeds to be a hairdresser. But it just wasn't for me. And at the very last minute, because I was so unsure and scared, I applied to University. That is the reason I applied, because I was scared I wouldn't have anything to do and it felt like the safe option.

The University of Huddersfield - Fashion and Textiles Buying Management

I submitted my application on UCAS and applied to a few different fashion courses. Again, not knowing what I wanted to do I applied for business related courses as I knew I didn't want to do anything design wise. However, I do wish I had done some more research on the courses on offer as I feel like I just chose one because it sounded good. As for location, I knew I'd want to live there as I kept being told to in order to get the full experience I needed but I didn't want to be too far away from home. I applied for Leeds and Huddersfield as I'd spent a lot of time in both places, knew it was accessible for my family and for me to get home and I left it at that. I didn't want to make a big deal of it which looking back was so stupid of me but again, I was so confused and time was just flying by. I almost wish I'd have had at least one year out of education to just have a think about it all. But everything happens for a reason!

I chose to go to the University of Huddersfield and over the three years I have had a really mixed review on my course. Parts of it I loved and parts of it I thought was horrendous. My University on a whole was really nice as it was small but still a lot bigger than college. It had a very mature feel and was very central to the town. The tutors were great and first / second year were the best. It was tailored more towards the buying side to fashion however we also did parts about merchandising and I really enjoyed learning how a business worked but particularly in fashion and textiles. However, when it came to deciding whether I wanted to do a placement year I was again, so shocked and confused at how fast time was going and I just didn't want to make a decision, which led me to believing I should just get final year over with. I decided I didn't want a career in buying or merchandising but felt it was too late to quit. Other factors influenced my decision but one of them was my living situation. In my first year I had shared a flat with 3 other girls at a really nice student accommodation a 2 min walk from the University. In my second year I got myself a little flat with my friend just around the corner. I loved the independence of living alone but my accommodation had become worrying and I ended up leaving my flat earlier than expected due to me feeling unsafe.

My first flat at university above.

Snippets of my second flat at university above.

Alongside the first two years I got a job which I think is a really important thing to do if you're living away from home. It made me feel a lot more connected to Huddersfield as I was meeting and working with people who lived there instead of just people I knew from university. It made it feel a lot more like home and also gave me so much experience in so many ways. It enabled me to mature very quickly as I had to do everything myself and put myself in a position where I knew no one and I ended up loving my job and the people I had met. After a quick turn around of regrettably leaving the company I worked for and moving back home, final year had come around and I had left it till last minute to apply for placements which meant there wasn't many left.

I had a few interviews for some realty good placements but for some reason or another none were right for me and it left me to head on and progress with my final year of university.

Upon entering final year I was determined to do well and to do my best, I wasn't going to pressure myself too much. But not doing a placement year was a bad decision. It was a lot harder to complete the course and I think I would've had a better understanding on what I wanted to do in life if I would have got that experience. I would have gained connections by networking and would have had better knowledge on the industry for my course work. But I continued to put everything I had into all my projects and even though there were a few times I was upset and disappointed in my mark, I knew I couldn't have done any better.

And in the end..

I am very proud of achieving what I did. I put in a lot of work and stressed myself out a little too much. But looking back I just wish I would've had more guidance earlier on to have picked the right course for me. Whether that be a university one or an apprenticeship. I would like to make a clear point to anyone reading this who has to make that decision soon or in the near future. DONT FEEL PRESSSURED. Make sure you discuss all the options and dont feel forced to do something. If you have to, do your own research when it gets closer to the time and make plenty of pro's and con's lists. You dont have to go to University to end up in a fabulous career which you both love and gets you the income you want. I know a lot of my friends are much better off than me now because they didn't go to University and have got to a much better position in their career than me.

And I also want to make another clear point to anyone who has done the same as me and still feels lost. WE DID IT. We got through it, we survived all that coursework and those horrible exams. We got the grade we was meant to get AND everything happens for a reason. We was meant to go to University and those 3/4 years were meant to happen. We have learnt so many valuable life skills over the last few years and have also gained our self an amazing degree which people will be forever proud of. Even though we may still not know what the hell we are doing with ourselves… we will figure it out. Whether that takes another 3 days, 3 months or 3 years... everything will fall into place and what is waiting for us in the future is going to happen because of the last few years.

Everyone is different. No two people will have the exact same experiences in life and we dont need to compare ourselves to anyone else. Understanding that we might not have made the best decision but we most certainly have made the right decision is so important because we wouldn't be where we are now. Life has its odd ways of working and soon enough we will understand why we decided not to do that placement year or why we picked that course instead of the other.

I have Graduated a very happy person with an experience some others may not get to live. I am positive I will succeed in life, no matter what that is in.

Thank you for reading that extremely long post which may have been so irrelevant to your life...writing all that out has cleared my head and thoughts and that's what this whole thing is about.

Until next time,

Chloe. x

#university #graduate #life #love