How did you get where you are today?

I want to set up a thread to demonstrate that there's no 1 way to do education / career / life.

Give us a break-down of where you are right now, how you got there and (if you've got a plan) what's next on your journey?

If you want to, can you finish with a message to anyone who may be receiving their results soon

This year The Student Room is encouraging everyone to #FindYourFuture

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Reply 1

Kallisto

Entertainment Forum Helper

My life was and still is a consequence of coincidences. Never had a plan for education, I have always changed my plans for professions and even my jobs. I do as much as required to get alobg with life.

Reply 2

04MR17

Volunteer Section Leader

I'll share mine:
- Always wanted to work with young people / possibly teach
- GCSEs 2015 - Some A*s, mostly As, some Bs
- Applied to 5 unis, received 5 offers, rejected 3 including Cambridge - the course wasn't the right one for me
- A Levels predicted were A*AA
- A Levels received were ABC
- On Results day my firm university didn't confirm my place, but didn't reject me either
- I came to :tsr:

for help, @claireestelle gave me advice on results day which allowed me to feel a lot calmer
- I was placed with my insurance university in the end
- I had a fantastic 3 years at Keele University, learnt a lot, got distracted a lot, kinda flopped second year. Got some 40% scores (the pass mark) and a couple of very weighty 48 marks on assignments.
- In March 2020 I was in my third year writing my dissertation when all university activities were shut down. It meant I had no distractions and could focus on completing my course - allowing me to scrape a 2:1 overall
- Moved to another uni to train to be a teacher, in 2020/21. In February 2021 I woke up in hospital with no memory of how I had arrived there. I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, I had been in a coma and was very very lucky to still be alive. The university had actually failed to act on reports about my wellbeing from family & loved ones, which meant my condition had been so critical when they eventually found me.
- I went back on placement, after a few weeks for the first time in education I felt like I couldn't cope.
- My teaching timetable was reduced, which allowed me to complete the course whilst still recovering.
- I moved to a completely new city, got sent to a pretty bonkers school as a supply teacher - where I stayed for 2.5 years and was very happy there.
- I've now recently moved again, teaching history and looking forward to the next academic year.

What's next on my journey?
Getting married next year.
Also I'm 25 and haven't had a single driving lesson, so getting that started might be useful.

Advice to the young people:
Things don't always go as you expect them to, even if the overall plan (like mine) has ended up where you wanted it to, it might take you longer than planned or there might be bumps along the road - and that's okay.

Oh, and pay attention to the student support services if you are looking at universities - it might save your life.