As I’ve mentioned on here before, I’m definitely one for getting ahead of myself!  Yesterday I attended a student conference about Russel group and Oxbridge universities, run specifically for 14-16 year olds. The course is all about encouraging teenagers to think ahead about choices in education.
When introducing his (very interesting) speech, Peter Rawling described how the 17 and 18 year olds he’d been working with had wished they’d been given more information and guidance on education paths years earlier. Â And so the chain of conferences aimed at us younger students began! Â We were given loads of valuable information about university in general, how best to get there, and how to enrich our education to really reach our potential. Â I left the conference feeling very enthusiastic about the prospect of working my socks off to maybe head to uni in a few years time. Â To study what, I’m not quite sure, but a few courses caught my attention!
Anyway, hindsight is a valuable thing and it’d be great to benefit from yours. Any “things I wish I did” advice?
University? Gap years? Travel?
Is there anything that you’re just finding out now, that would’ve been useful to know at 16? I’m pretty sure that I’ll be taking a gap year, so I’m not considering the university application process or anything just yet. I’d love to do some work experience sometime in the near future and really make the most of my first 9 week summer. I’m sure many of you have come across other opportunities that I’ve never heard of; it’d be great to hear stories of experiences you’ve had that you feel enriched your learning/ personal development in any way!
On a final note, I’ve mentioned on here before that I plan to take A-level Maths, Physics, History, and Textiles. sounds like a pretty random bunch ey? Keeping all bases covered, then I can decide from there which subject I enjoy the most. Have you any advice on these subjects, or any similar? Did you even have any idea at 16 of what you’d end up doing with your days?
lily kate x
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27 Comments
Naomi
30th January 2014 at 9:46 pmYou seem to have your head screwed on and I wish I was half as clued up as you are at your age! My advice would be to DEFINITELY take a gap year. I went to uni because it was the done thing – there were no other options I could see, and even if there were they were never really explored. I left school at 18, went straight to uni and now i’m 21 in a full time graduate job. Not that I’m complaining! I’m very thankful and I love what I do, but I do wish I had spent more time considering my options when I was younger. Go and visit as many Universities as you can afford to. I only visited a few and because I was silly and young and ‘in love’ I limited my choice to a 1-hour-journey-radius from home to ensure me and my then boyfriend could still see each other regularly. Don’t ever do what I did! I wish wish wish I hadn’t been so stupid, (this isn’t to say my university experience wasn’t good because it was!) so when choosing a uni choose it for you and only you 🙂
Don’t be put off by fees! I’m not even paying mine back yet and when I do it’ll only be a fiver a month.
I also think it’s great that the subjects you’re studying are so varied – you will have a lot more choice when it comes to courses then. I studied mainly arts and humanities so I was totally limited, but then I wasn’t very good at Maths or Science 😉
If you have any kind of idea about the career path you want to follow, my main piece of advice would be to get some work experience in that field NOW. If you get it on your CV while you’re young, you can build up contacts and get more experience and when you’re my age you’ll have waaaaay more to show than anyone else! Also unis will love that 🙂
Aim high, be selfish and work hard and you will achieve amazing things 🙂
N xo
lily
31st January 2014 at 5:21 pmI shall DEFINITELY take a gap year then! I thought that might be the case – that once I get to college it’ll be pretty much expected to just go to uni straight after. If you’re happy in your job then that route maybe just worked out right for you. They said at the conference the other day not to be put off by fees too. I can’t wait to do any work experience in any field really haha! The more the better, you say? ;D
Thanks so much for taking the time to comment!
Naomi
31st January 2014 at 11:31 pmAbsolutely! Do as much as you can and build up your CV so employers will be fighting for you 🙂
Not at all a problem, I know how important it is and I feel quite strongly about young people making the right choices at this stage in their lives 🙂
N xo
lily
2nd February 2014 at 8:27 pmI’m hoping to have my CV full of all sorts of random experiences! I guess these decisions could have massive impact on our lives so best get them right! x
Kerry's Habitat
30th January 2014 at 9:51 pmLove this post! Education is by far the best! I’ve just graduated from Uni. First of all the best decision I’ve ever made was to go to Uni (Winchester). I miss it a lot! Advice I’d have for you is.. 100% go to Uni if it’s for you! Do as much work experience as you possibly can! This will be more valuable than your degree! Just be brave and dive in! I wouldn’t necessarily say that a gap-year is necessary to travel, you can still travel once you’re employed and have funds etc. Good Luck with everything! If you need any help let me know! xx
lily
31st January 2014 at 5:25 pmThanks for the advice! It’s really encouraging to know that you had a good time at Uni and the hard work paid off. I’m not sure exactly how much travelling I’d do in a gap year; maybe the travels would be best saved for a later date. Thanks for the offer of help; I’ll be sure to let you know if I have any more questions!
Lisa
30th January 2014 at 9:59 pmI decided on my career path at the age of 12 (I’m now 27) and I have finally qualified into my dream job.
I wish I’d picked better A levels as they were mostly non-traditional and I have fought against them since in interviews.
I wish I’d known who I was competing against for jobs once I graduated. I was competing against rich privately schooled students who had connections which had got them prestigious work experience and paid for fancy gap years. My summer spent packing tights in a warehouse to earn some money (whilst admirable) did not look as impressive. I got there eventually though. But my advice won’t apply to most professions.
Get yourself as much stuff on your CV as possible – sports, work experience, volunteering etc.
lily
31st January 2014 at 5:32 pmWow you must have known your dream job early! Shows that you must be really passionate about it 🙂 That’s why I’ve decided on pretty traditional A-levels – I was dubious about picking textiles at first, but it’s what I really love to do so I thought one creative subject can’t do much harm. I guess there’s no guarantee that even a fancy gap year would get your dream job anyway haha!
Thank you so much for commenting by the way!
Bee
30th January 2014 at 11:39 pmHello! Well let me just start by saying how refreshing it is to read a post like this – good work 🙂 I think your A Level choices are really sensible and ever so interesting as well. Good thinking keeping your options open – that’s what I did too. I did two sciences, History and Spanish, and really loved the variety. My advice would just be stick with what you’re good at and what you enjoy, what gets your brain ticking and rouses a fire in your belly. Stick with those and you can’t go far wrong. Oh and believe in yourself, because you can do whatever you want if you want it enough. Very best of luck. Love Bee xxx
lily
31st January 2014 at 5:37 pmThank you Bee! I thought it was time to do a ‘talky’ post rather than another OOTD 🙂 Variety seems like the best option – your choices sound really interesting too! I enjoy all my current subjects at school so picking wasn’t easy, but I feel that with some, Religious Studies and German for example, I’ll have maybe reached the limit of my interest by GCSE. Which History course did you take? I am struggling to decide on that one!
Thanks again for the encouragement!
Lena
31st January 2014 at 6:18 amI’m 17 and finishing my final year of school at the end of this year. I’m hoping to get into uni and defer for 1 year. I have absolutely no idea what I want to study but know that I definitely want a gap year! hopefully I can work for 6mths, travel europe for 6mths, and uni will just fall into place!
x
frockled.blogspot.com
lily
31st January 2014 at 5:39 pmOo not long left for you then! You sound very similar to me, we’ve been in school since we were 4 so it’s time for a break now! Where are you thinking of travelling in Europe?
Thanks for stopping by!
Jen
31st January 2014 at 3:24 pmWell, I think you’ll do fine with whatever you do. I had not the opportunities at your age, and thus, my ‘gap year’ after graduating highschool turned into several… then as I picked away at ‘junior college’ I clearly lost steam and was easily distracted into whatever job came my way. That Life Experience path is a valuable one all the same. I just want to point out that, from a standpoint that you value highest education possible, I advice to not drop a beat, continue on and get it done. However, if life experience is important and something you’ve been thirsty for, you must realize that comes with a bit of a risk too. You’ll do fab wherever and whatever, there’s no doubt … and that’s my two cents. 🙂
lily
31st January 2014 at 5:43 pmThat’s nice and postitive to hear haha, thanks Jen! I guess you’ll have experienced many different types of jobs that way, which must be valuable in itself 🙂 I do really value education but I think I’d equally enjoy/ it’d be equally important to experience more different things in life so maybe that might have to come first, who knows. Thanks so much for being so nice haha, it’s so lovely of you!
Max
31st January 2014 at 8:49 pmThese are exciting times for you Lily!
I feel a bit out of place making a comment here as I am hardly an example of someone who took the right path. I’m still working away at a Ph. D. in Italian literature. And I am old, by your standards! I have a bunch of university degrees – B.A. in English Lit and Philosophy, B.F.A. in Fine Art Printmaking and Photography, M.A. in Italian. I’ve had a bunch of mismatched jobs from gas station attendant, piano tuner, to university professor. Half of the jobs don’t make it to my cv. In fact, I am everything your parents should tell you not to do. If something is “interesting” I usually try to take it up. It is all about having a good life though. My older daughter is just 7 yrs old and showing a great interest in ballet and I am swept up in it too, thinking, what could be better than a life spent in the pursuit of beauty of living in your body. Besides, she can show off my knitted legwarmers and little warm up cardis to her colleagues too! Seriously, I am a grown-up, but my parents are still waiting for me to discover the harsh realities of the “real world”.
lily
2nd February 2014 at 8:26 pmIndeed they are! Wow I don’t think I’ve ever known somebody with so many degrees haha! Life must be more interesting if you take up all the opportunities, ey? Ballet is such a lovely hobby, way to go to your daughter! I’ve taken ballet, tap and modern since I was 3 and it’ll be so sad to leave when I’m 18. The ‘interesting’ world sounds a lot more fun than the ‘real world’!
Max
31st January 2014 at 8:57 pmNow that I read your post again, I should mention that what I really wish I had when I was 16 is my parents’ support. I am happy being what I am, the sum of my experiences, but I was a “good girl” growing up. I did everything right, went to university, but whatever I chose for myself was not quite good enough, practical enough, safe enough etc. I understand that they were fearful of the future on my behalf. I think it is a really tough thing for parents, really, to realize that growing up is not a bad and scary thing at all.
Jess
1st February 2014 at 10:34 pmHey Lily, your post really made me remember all the things I wish I knew when I was your age. I live in Australia so the education system is a bit different so I can’t equate exact educational periods however some of this stuff is really universal so I’ll give you my general advice.
First and biggest thing is that a lot of the stuff I wish I knew at your age I couldn’t have known because I didn’t have enough experience and didn’t know myself well enough. I had such a clear plan in my head at 16 of what I wanted to do based on what I thought adult me would enjoy and turns out that changes a lot over the next 10 years. So my biggest piece of advice is to give yourself permission to explore multiple options and paths and really get to know what you excel at but more importantly enjoy.
To that end, if you are considering a gap year, take one but make the most of it. Travel, work, try something new. I didn’t take a gap year but I think if you are considering it and don’t then you will regret it.
Remember to seek out what intrigues and not just what is comfortable because ultimately you will enjoy doing that stuff for longer.
Never forget to nourish your creative side, it’s so easy to dismiss the importance of doing something creative because it’s not the path for a ‘good student’ and doesn’t fit with the course you are doing at uni. In the end you just end up pining for a creative outlet in your work and disengage. My first degree was entirely devoid of creativity and I ultimately ended up doing nothing with it and doing a second degree which led me down a more creative path.
Finally only you can work out what’s best for you, everyone is different which is why it’s great to get advice from tonnes of different people even if you ignore it entirely.
lily
2nd February 2014 at 8:31 pmThanks so much for your advice Jess! I guess my ‘plan’ so to speak could completely change over the next few years; I might decide I hate some subjects and never want anything to do with them again! I’m never usually the person to go for the easy option so probably won’t end up doing something comfortable 🙂 What were your degrees, if you don’t mind me asking? I can’t imagine not being creative in any way, even if only in my spare time and without deadlines etx!
Jess
2nd February 2014 at 9:36 pmYeah you have to have a ‘plan’ otherwise you flounder around not doing anything but what I found was I had to be open to that plan changing. My 16 year old self was hell bent on becoming a diplomat so my first degree was a Bachelor of International Studies, which I changed half way through to a Bachelor of Arts, Majoring in Politics and International Relations, Minoring in Computer Science when I realised the realities of International Law. I started my second degree as soon as I finished my first degree. After 3 years of relegating creative pursuits to my spare time I was looking for something that was creative but also technical so I did a Bachelor Interior Design which I loved but I never functioned as a true Interior Designer. After about a year of looking for a job in my field (the economy has not been great) a lecturer from my Interior Design Degree recommended me for a job in a related but totally different field, Customer Experience and Service Design. Which in a nutshell is about helping companies understand their customers and design better products, services and interactions that reflect what customers actually need. And so now I am just about to turn 26 and have finally found something which fits me perfectly, at least for the moment.
Flora
2nd February 2014 at 3:20 pmYou seriously have your head screwed on – good for you! At your age I just wanted to please everyone – my parents, my teachers, you name it. Although the choices I made worked out for the best, I didn’t make those decisions because I felt it was what I wanted..I just knew it would be good for me!
So my advice to you is: decide what you want and do it for no-one but yourself. Also, regarding getting a job after you go to university (if that’s what you decide) – get as much work experience as you can on your CV and for the love of god, if you end up wanting to go in to a competitive profession, check what kind of Universities the companies/regulatory bodies think are worth the money you’ll pay. It’s sad but true that Universities will take your money for a degree, masters and all kinds of post-grad training, but only a handful of them are ‘respected’ enough to be worth your debt as you try and pursue a career.
I hope this helps, I don’t mean to be doom and gloom. No-one told me and I just got very lucky that I found these things out and was already on the right track by accident!
Flora
http://www.floraemay.blogspot.com
lily
2nd February 2014 at 8:35 pmYour advice is really helpful Flora, thank you so much! I guess if you’re happy with your job then it doesn’t matter how you’ve gotten there 😀 I’m not thinking of going into a competitive profession (hoping to just make it up as I go along, dip my finger in many pies!) so hopefully that won’t be toomuch of an issue, but I’ll definitely be careful about University choices anyway.
Thanks again!
Karen
3rd February 2014 at 3:19 amHey.
I think you are doing a pretty good job of assessing all your options. Everyone else’s comments pretty much sum up everything.
I had plenty of friends that went straight to University from High School and then dropped out or changed degree half way through because they didn’t really know what they wanted to do to start with. Therefore I am huge advocate for ‘Gap’ Years as long as you do something with it.
I am not sure what I would have done differently if I could go back. Probably not take as many units every year so I could have had more time to enjoy the ones I took. I was spread quite thin and I loved all my subjects.
I would say keep up with Maths in High School. No matter what discipline you end up in, it will help you.
What ever you choose to do, I am sure you will love it, approach it with enthusiasm and have the loving support of your family.
lily
5th February 2014 at 6:12 pmI’ve been lucky to get such helpful feedback! I can imagine that going straight from High School to University does often cause problems, without the 2 year college in between stage that we have here. Thanks for your advice! I’ll try not to pile my workload too high so that I can devote enough time to each, although spreading yourself thinly is good in a way!
Thanks again 😀
Janice Clarke
7th February 2014 at 5:18 pmHi Lily, you probably know me better as Mrs Clarke from school. Really loving your blog. I happened upon it through Bex Slack’s blog. You are truly a talented young lady!!
Just a little bit of advice from me for your future TRAVEL. TRAVEL. TRAVEL as much as you can. See the world and experience different cultures. Im sure this will inspire you. Yes also to continued studying but do take time out to fit in a bit of backpacking.
Good Luck Lily xx
lily
12th February 2014 at 9:14 pmThank you so much! Glad to know that people who know me in real life like it too 🙂 Travelling sounds like so much fun, the possibilities are endless!
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