6 years ago I got BEE in my a levels, now married, homeowner and cat owner AMA

^^

Impressive stuff, I don't know many that own a house at your age so you're doing better than most. What's your job?

You're amazing claire

It's less about what you have and more about who you became. Just sayin' .

Which breed of cat?

I work in a call centre at the moment and I'm about to start an open uni degree (i got into uni with my a levels, did a course for a couple of years so i could get into nursing which is what i originally wanted to do and turns out nursing wasnt for me after all so i just worked full time for 3 years after that and recently decided to start with a degree again)
With two people and living up north, we saved hard for 18 months whilst paying our wedding (i had a very small amount of inheritance that helped a little but it was mostly savings) and were very fortunate to get a 5% deposit deal on our mortgage for a 3 bed semi in a very nice area.
It was a fixer upper but we've nearly finished doing it up to how we want it now.

good point, doing so badly in a levels and still deciding to try uni took a lot and it turned out quite well in the end, a level's definitely aren't the end of the world i thought they would be.

Definitely not. I think it's really easy for young people to get very caught up in all of the pressure (or perceived pressure) surrounding A-levels and to place a huge amount of importance on them when in reality they don't dictate the future even though that's what it feels like for 18 year old's. Uni isn't the only route to success and even if it's the only way into a particular profession, it isn't necessary to go into it straight from college/school. There are so many more opportunities now than even around 10 years ago when I finished college. If I was 18 I definitely wouldn't be heading off to uni - I'd earn some money, see the world a little bit and figure out what I wanted to do - and if it required a degree then I'd go for it, otherwise, I wouldn't. Most 18 years old don't particularly know what they want to do - uni is way too expensive these days to use is as a 3 year opportunity to figure that out - especially when holding a degree makes it more difficult to retrain in later years. Take your time, enjoy being young and develop personally - not just academically. My 2 cents .

thank you cavy, hope you're having a good time in brighton, i've got to head out to work in a few minutes but will pop on site when i can later.

Yes I agree with this and this is good advice to anyone who missed out on university today. Unfortunately though this is not the message being sent to sixth formers on results day and university is being seen as the only route to success. Are you a graduate as well?

It's the same every year and it's daft. I am

this is equivalent to:

Salt or sweet popcorn?