I thought it might be apt timing to touch on the subject of grades/going to uni/college given that the results days have recently passed and there will be loads of eager beavers newly off to university in a few weeks.
First of all, I’m going to make clear that I’m not a career advisor. My views are all based entirely on my own personal experience and may well be entirely the opposite of somebody else’s but nonetheless I think it is an experience worth sharing!
I went to a “good school”. It was a public single-sex grammar school and I’m not ashamed to admit that I’m no Albert Einstein. I was probably at the bottom-middle of the class, partly through laziness and partly because there were some super clever girls in my class who I just could not compete with!
Anyway I did pretty well in my GCSE’s. 11 A-C grades. They weren’t straight A’s but I didn’t expect them to be and I was happy. A levels though – they’re a whole other story.
I’d say I started sixth form feeling pretty confident. I did well in my GCSE’s – I only had a few subjects to focus on now. It will be a breeze, I thought.
To cut a long story short, I didn’t do so fantastic with my AS levels and to add to that, I had some extenuating circumstances which also meant I was out of school for most of my A level year. This resulted in me finishing with only two A levels and one AS level.
I recall seeing a career advisor after I received my AS results and telling her that I was interested in law only to be told that I had no chance and should think again! At that time, she succeeded in putting me off and I chose not to study law. Being a reputable grammar school, I also had to do my own research into the ex-polytechnic universities as god forbid one of their students didn’t go to a top 20 red brick university!
I went to an ex-poly and managed to get a 2.1 in an arts subject but by third year I still quite fancied myself as the next Elle Woods. I therefore did the conversion course and LPC despite my poorer grades. I spent a year doing the LPC, working two jobs to fund it, doing all the pro-bono work I could and applying for numerous training contracts per week. I actually went through the yellow pages ticking off where I had applied!
As you’ve probably guessed, given that I’m a qualified lawyer now, I did manage to bag a training contract and the rest is history, as they say. Without divulging (…or bragging) too much as I’m sure people will wonder, I have been employed by a rather large top law firm and I trained at a medium sized firm. I make that point because I find it incredibly frustrating how there are various forums that suggest that you could only get a job at a high street law firm in this situation. That mantra simply excludes the whole range of firms sitting between the high street and the top 50.
The moral of the story is that if you didn’t do as well as you had hoped, it is most certainly not the end of the world. There are always options available so I have a few “top tips” for those people that have big ambitions but don’t like to make it easy for themselves – like me!
•Do your own research – Search engines have soooo much information. (I am not suggesting you should trust everything on the internet but there is undoubtedly some helpful stuff literally at your finger tips!)
• Think outside the box! Okay so Plan A didn’t work. What’s Plan B? Is there another way to get where you want to be?
• Be realistic. You’ve had loads of PFO’s (please f*** off’s) via one method of applying. How about lowering your expectations and applying somewhere with slightly less competition and then working your way up? That was definitely my route.
• Socialise. I don’t mean going out and getting gazebooed all the time (which I’ll admit to doing my fair share of.) Network, meet people, get your name out there. It’s a small world after all.
• Work experience. Every kind. I don’t just mean career specific. Work a part time job. All experience is useful whether it’s doing something you later want to do or not. Volunteer! Help someone help you.
• How about an apprenticeship? This seems to have become a bigger thing recently and I think it’s worth a mention. I personally haven’t done one and I’ve got the debt to show it. Learning and earning simultaneously doesn’t sound like a bad idea to me.
I’m no expert but I seem to have done okay despite my poorer grades so I hope my experience can help someone else feel more positive about their own situation, and point them in the right direction, if necessary.
For now, I’ll be seeing ya!
By seeking and blundering we learn.
upthewoodenstairs 