Perhaps ‘drummed’ is too harsh a word. Let’s just say that my future was always discussed with university in mind, and I was more than happy to go along with it. After all, it’s impossible to have a career without a degree, right? Plus I was a nerd at school - a big one. I really enjoyed studying and kicked ass in my A-Levels. I was itching to get the hell out of the small town I grew up in. No doubt about it, university was going to be the place for me.
But you know feeling when something you’ve looked forward to for a sizeable portion of your life is a huge letdown? That is exactly how I felt. I found myself miserable at university. I hated my course, didn’t make any friends and thoroughly disliked the new city I was living in. So I withdrew halfway through my first year. It’s probably the best career decision I ever made.
At this point I’d love to say that I had ‘B’ plan. I had no such thing. But what I did have was determination, ambition and a paralysing fear of failure. I knew that I wanted to write, so I emailed every online magazine I could find requesting to contribute. One of these websites had a paid internship going and I nabbed it, despite having zero work experience and no qualifications higher than A-Levels. It was the most significant thing to have happened to me career-wise and not just because it was my first proper job. It helped me to make contacts and meet people who worked in the industry I had set my sights on (the shiny world of social media, if you’re interested). In fact, if it wasn’t for that job I wouldn’t have even considered a career in digital. A scary thought now that I can’t imagine doing anything else.
But I still needed to make sure that traditional journalism wasn’t for me. On the advice of a journalist colleague, I arranged three internships at magazines over the summer. My verdict? I didn’t want to have a career in this industry. I found that I much preferred the immediacy and reader interaction that comes with blogging. While I believe that magazines still have their place, I don’t want to work for one. That said my internships were far from a waste of time. In between making tea and handing out the post, I managed to get a few articles published in my favourite magazine ever -Time Out. I still get excited thinking about that.
I continued to make contacts in the digital media industry, one way was chatting away on Twitter. You know how I said that leaving university was (inadvertently) the best thing I did for my career? Joining Twitter closely follows. Through the social networking tool I made friends with people who would eventually hire me. These are people who, having left university a few years ago, I would have never have crossed paths with otherwise.
But let’s remove the rose-coloured glasses for a minute. I’m perfectly aware that I’ve missed out on a lot by not studying at university. I’ve not experienced a lifestyle that many believe to be an essential part of growing up. I’m not able to set aside hours and hours each week for the purpose of reading and researching one of my passions. I envy the summer holidays that seem to last for months and the Tuesday nights spent clubbing in fancy dress, oh and there is the lie-ins! Perhaps I would have made amazing friends or met the love of my life at university. And crucially, I don’t have a degree.
But the fact is that my lack of degree hasn’t hindered my career so far. By delving straight into the world of work, I’ve gained a huge amount of work experience - experience that can’t be taught in lectures or learned from textbooks.
There’s also the little issue of money. I don’t mind being in debt because of university. On the contrary - if there’s one thing I’ll willingly owe money for, it’s my education. But I could certainly do without debt to the tune of £23,000 at the age of 21.
I’m not saying that giving university a miss is the best choice for everyone but it’s an option that I feel isn’t considered enough. I don’t understand the rush to complete education when there are a plethora of opportunities just waiting to be explored. If there’s one thing you take away after reading, I’d like it to be this: University isn’t the only way. If an opportunity presents itself then take it! University isn’t going anywhere, but certain opportunities may
never roll around again.
Alexandra Sheppard is a 21-year old blogger based in London and the Newsletter Editor for Domestic Sluttery, the home and lifestyle blog for women who have better things to do. She can be found over-sharing on Twitter and her personal blog.
