The time has come to reflect on my three years at university. As of publishing this post, I finished my degree five weeks ago. I've had some time to think about my university experience, which is something I've spoken about quite openly on this blog. In this post, I am going to be as honest as I can be about how I feel about my time at uni. A quick disclaimer- I won't be going into specifics to protect the people that are involved in these stories. I will be talking vaguely about certain areas, such as my social life as it's unfair to those people and some things I will be keeping for just me. In this post, I will be talking my academic experience, living experience and what it was like to complete my degree in a pandemic.
Context
For anyone who is stumbling across this post, I thought I'd provide a little bit of context at the start. I studied Creative and Professional Writing from 2018-2021. I lived in Bristol for almost half of that time in three different houses. I came straight from finishing at school. I was supposed to graduate this year, but due to the pandemic, my ceremony has been delayed.
The Academic Experience
Let's start this post by talking about my academic experience. Overall, I had an okay experience during my time at university. Studying a creative subject is quite difficult as unlike more "academic" subjects like science etc, there is no right or wrong answer. It's a very subjective course. At times this was difficult as you could put a lot of effort into a piece of work and get a lower grade than expected for various reasons. With writing, I would pour my heart and soul into my pieces. Not to toot my horn too much, but I pride myself on being a very hard worker, so I worked a lot on my pieces. I would write multiple drafts of every piece, always taking feedback and trying to make them better. Sometimes it would feel like my hard work hadn't been rewarded. I experienced a few confidence knocks when something didn't go how I thought it would. While that did happen, I learnt so much from this course. Before starting, I had never heard of copywriting or how to write a screenplay. I look at my work from first year compared to my final year and I can see a lot of growth. I am glad that I have been able to improve my work and gain experience working with industry professionals. During my time at university, I worked on the student magazine for almost two years. I had my work published in local publications. I gained some valuable experience alongside the academic work.
The Social Experience
While at university, I have made some friends that will be with me for the rest of my life. They have made this an incredible experience. I made some great memories that I won't forget anytime soon. I can't put into words how happy I am that I met these people. Before coming to university, I had never lived with people my own age as I am an only child. It required a bit of an adjustment period. Without going into too much detail, my first term living arrangements weren't ideal. Sadly, they kinda set the tone for the rest of my experience. I had some good memories while living in my student houses, but I also had some bad ones. Having moved home, I can safely say that I think living at home is better for me and my lifestyle. Out of my three houses, my final one was my favourite. It was also the one I spent the least amount of time living in due to the pandemic. I wish I had been able to make the most of being a student living in Bristol, but various things got in the way of that. Like most things in life, there were good times and there were bad times. I think they just about balance out.
The COVID-19 Experience
We have to talk about what it was like to be a student during the pandemic. The short answer is that it was shit. I don't think any university handled the pandemic well. The sudden move to online learning was a huge disruption. Between March 2020 to the end of my degree, I was on campus twice. I much preferred learning on campus. I do feel lucky compared to the students that started in 2019 because at least I got a whole year as a normal student. Learning online was absolutely not worth the money. I spent most of my time from March 2020 to the end of my degree at home. I do feel that COVID has tainted my university experience. If I had known when I was starting my degree, I would have chosen to do something else. I found online learning exhausting. Compared to March 2020, I struggled a lot with my work. My grade average dropped because of it. My heart goes out to the students returning in September with the uncertainty still there.
Overall, while I am glad I have my degree, various factors made it a less than enjoyable experience. I was interested in doing a Masters, but have since changed my mind. I do think the pandemic had a strong impact on how I feel. It has certainly been an interesting experience.
What was your university experience like?
