My Message to Everyone on A-level Results Day

A-level results day is here again. Meaning there will be thousands of proud posts on social media as well as thousands of disappointed students that didn’t get the results they needed for their chosen University.
However, for those thousands of disappointed students, it may end up being one of the best things that could have happened. It’s a year on from my ‘University vs Apprenticeships’ blog and there’s not a single thing I’d change about the message.
I’m often asked by different people if I regret leaving uni - did I make the right decision? Would you go back if you had the chance? The simple answer, and the answer that I give every time I’m asked, accompanied by a little laugh, is no.
Why would I regret it? As I said in the blog last year, the working world doesn’t revolve around academic achievement; and not only that, it seems to me that some industries just have degrees for the sake of a piece of paper – marketing being one of them.
Is someone who graduated with a First from Oxford 30 years ago really going to know more about social media than me? How many lectures would they have had about SEO and PPC in 1988?
The landscape of marketing, and hundreds of other industries for that matter, are constantly changing. What I’ve learnt about marketing over the past year and a half may not be relevant in 10 years’ time and that’s just the way it is.
You shouldn’t feel restricted by not going to University, you should feel empowered and excited. Excited by the opportunity to go and learn and develop whilst earning money and gaining invaluable experience.
I’ve learnt more in the past year and a half than I’d ever learnt before – even if it’s just the little things like learning that holiday is actually called ‘Annual Leave’ in the business world (what’s that about?)
So, if you’ve not made it into University today, or maybe if you did but you’re having second thoughts, an apprenticeship is a great option and one that I’m both happy and proud of taking. You can go and be as successful as you want to be, because it’s you that makes it happen, not a degree or qualification.
By the same token if you’ve gotten into University then congratulations, an apprenticeship isn’t for everyone just like University wasn’t for me – just go and do as well as you can do at whatever it is that you want to do.

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