Dear Fresh-Faced & Fearful,
Congrats, you’ve survived high school. You probably think that the worst is over for you now but just wait until you realise it’s going to take you 75 years to save up for a house deposit. High school might’ve been stressful but life as an adult is so, so much worse. On the upside though you do have a solid eight-to-nine years to figure out a rough life plan before people start getting suss, so don’t worry too much.
Anywho, I’m here to discuss your future. Nope, not as a concerned parent or a mate who loves rubbing in their own achievements because they’re awful humans, but as someone who can tell you that what happens now, be it an average ATAR score or not getting into your uni of choice, does not dictate your level of success later in life.
Before you start revolting against everyone who said your entire life is dependent on this particular time in your life, keep in mind that of course, getting into a uni course that tickles your fancy is always ideal but if you didn’t get in the first go around, there are an offensive number of other options to keep hustling towards your goals.
I personally took a solid eight-or-so years after high school to sort my life and career plan out (still a work in progress, I’m what you’d call a ‘consistent trainwreck’) and by the time I knew what I wanted to do at uni, I was technically a mature-age student so I could’ve gone into whichever course I wanted to.
Again, if you don’t know exactly what you’re after right now, you haven’t done exceedingly well in high school or you missed out on the course you wanted, don’t sweat it at all – when you’re old and crusty like yours truly, all of this will seem like a mere blip on the radar.
Now look, I can sense your frustration at being told not to worry when you’re very clearly stressing your butt off, so let me outline a few options you have right now to hopefully ease some of that post-graduation anxiety.
If you fall into the category of knowing that you want to study but you didn’t quite meet the standard uni requirements, you can enrol in a course through UTS Insearch which works with you and gives you the skills you need in order to get into your desired studies. Most often you’ll get straight into UTS after a year (or even fast-track into second year) if you put in the effort – trust me, a year’s absolutely nothing in the grand scheme of things.
If you don’t know what you want to study yet, or even if you want to study, travel. Pack your bags, hightail it outta here and go wherever you want. It’s amazing what you figure out about yourself when you’re living off zero dollars in a country that speaks zero of your language and you have zero responsibilities aside from staying alive. Uni’s not going anywhere, so you may as well.
If you’re one of the lucky few who knows what they want, got the right grades and you’re on track to be married with kids before you’re 30? Well good for you, what do you want a medal? Get outta here.
Always remember though that no matter how long it takes you to get where you want to be, no one will remember how long it took you or what you did in order to get there so why rush? Once you’re there, you’re there. Take your time, don’t compare yourself to other people and get up to bulk shenanigans in the meantime – sometimes a bad decision is the best decision.
Sincerely,
Fulfilled Trainwreck
P.S. If UTS Insearch seems like the way to go, they’ve got an information night on Feb 12th. Suss out the deets here.
