Life after uni?

Whenever you ask someone who is at uni and question what uni is like they will always give the same reply of 'amazing' or 'hard work'. Both of these are true. However, as a second year student, you'd expect that with a long third year in prospect and still a substantial amount of coursework needed to be done, uni life is still uni life.You're focusing on getting rent paid, making money stretch and completing work. This is now quite clearly not the only thing to think about.

This week I have had 'careers' week whereby I have had numerous lectures on options for the end of uni. Graduate jobs have been thrown at me from all angles and I find myself drowning in possibilities.

I have always presumed that as an English student graduate jobs would be incredibly hard to come by. It seems to be the opposite. My degree, so I have been told, opens up career paths in journalism, marketing, HR, sales, teaching, radio, television, publishing etc. The hard part is now deciding where to go. Business seems to have the most sectors and most possibilities yet I find the world of business to be too dry for someone studying English AND Creative Writing. I am looking into the media side of things and looking into publishing, journalism, radio etc. This has now lead to me looking into summer placement opportunities to build upon my CV and general experience.

Yet as I look into placements it becomes apparent that there are so many out there for all manner of things. The difficulty now is finding the right one and applying to it in the right way. I am lucky enough that Coventry University is extremely good at helping students apply for graduate jobs, placements and work experience, this leading to the university having a 90% employment or further study after 6 months in all of its students.

I am not going to be a graduate working in some boring retail job when I could have started a career. I am absolutely determined to take on work now and get right in there. It is both exciting and terrifying but if you are in second or third year, just go for it. Dont be intimidated by it. And if you are in first year, enjoy first year. Drink as much as you can, party as much as you want as when second year comes about, it really is time to start thinking ahead.

I remember thinking in first year how amazing being a fresher was. I was studying a course I loved, making mates through halls of residence and rugby, playing a lot of rugby and just pissing about. Second year has been amazing also but I am finding enjoyment in getting good grades and thinking about earning £20,000+ in the first year after I graduate. If you are in second year and not thinking like this then question why you are at uni. Uni is there for the experience and enjoyment but think of what you are paying. If you wanted to get pissed and muck about you didn't need to pay £9000 a year to do it. Get a decent degree and start thinking about life after uni. Uni was never something I did to stop me from working for a few more years. It was for the experience, the degree and the opportunities. It is only now that the opportunities are taking priority over the experience and getting the right career being paramount. I am massively excited for the future and can't wait to get going in the big bad world.