Results day of 2017 was the most confusing and emotional 24 hours of my life. Watching those around me thrive, receiving confirmation of their university places, was heartbreaking. I was seemingly the only person on the planet who had hit such a low on what was supposed to be a day of celebration...
Jet lagged and panicked, I opened my results alone. Partly because I wanted to be alone, but partly because my family weren't around. Hoping desperately for 3 grade B's at A Level, the website loaded and a B, a C and a D grade stared back at me. Somewhere in my mind, I had expected to fail to achieve the entry requirements for my dream university. But the reality of the situation caused my world to crumble. I hadn't thought to prepare myself a plan in case of failure, as I couldn't bare to think that far ahead at the time. I sat looking at my results for at least 10 minutes through blurry eyes, before I decided a call to the Clearing line might be worth my while.
However this proved to be unsuccessful, as I was told my chosen degree doesn't go into clearing, and hasn't for several years now. As upset as this news made me, I couldn't cry anymore. And so I slept, I slept so I didn't have to think about the circumstances any longer. Unfortunately, you can only sleep for so long, and lo and behold I awoke to the same nightmare. Deciding that sulking was helping nobody, I began the search for the dreaded plan B. Hours later, I discovered what I like to call my saving grace. A college which was offering a course lasting 9 months, and a final chance to become a Speech Therapist at university. It appeared to be too good to be true, but as time went on I enrolled and began my scenic route to my desired career.
At present, I have been attending the course for nearing 4 months and I love it. It feels achievable, and I have more faith than ever, that by September of 2018 I will be a proud attendee of a university. What is more important though, is that there is most always another way. An alternate path is always there, if only we are astute enough to seek it. I feel so lucky that I have been given this opportunity, after the devastation I felt only a few months ago. The moral of my story is to never give up. As many times as I was told that, I never believed I was capable of soldiering on until I threw myself into this endeavour.
Push on and try not to look back, but always give 100%. After all, you don't want to look back knowing that you could've done better.
L.
