Reflections of my Undergrad

I'm currently doing my postgraduate degree in Marketing, so coming from an Arts Undergraduate degree I knew there would immediately be a lot of challenges for me. I graduated from my Bachelor of Arts degree in 2019, and I started my Masters course straight away the same year. A lot of people, including my friends and family questioned whether or not this was the right next step - all of my friends decided to take this year out of the school system to take a break and work. This really made me question whether or not I was doing the right thing. Was I wrong? Was I going to burn out? Would a break from college be better for me?

This made me really look back and reflect on my three years as an undergrad. I thought about it a lot, as I really wanted to make sure I was doing the right thing for myself. Even though my three years in college were the best years of my life, I look back and I can remember feeling so anxious and scared all of the time. My first year of college I really didn't make as much of an effort as I would have liked. Moving away from home so young was so much harder than I expected, and making friends was difficult and terrifying. I remember a conversation I had with my friend before our exams started and we both agreed on dropping out of college and not returning for our second year, for absolutely no reason. Settling in a new place took so much time.

I loved studying Sociology, but I always had an underlying feeling in that degree that it wasn't something I wanted to make a career out of, and even if I did want to I had no idea how. Prior to entering the course I was in love with Photography, Video Editing, Graphic Design and other interests that were really creative. In some ways I felt that studying something like Sociology was interesting, but it wasn't the right fit for me.

After a lot of breakdowns with my guidance councillor in college and a lot of research into Masters degrees, I came towards the idea of Marketing. I didn't have any business background before this course which was something that worried me, but the more I learned about it the more excited I got about it. I applied, went forward to an interview to discuss the course and I was later accepted. I am currently in the second semester of the course and I can honestly say it's crazy how sometimes everything that is right for you can just fall into place.

I don't regret my Undergraduate degree as I learned so much from it and I did really enjoy it, but it's so nice doing something that just feels right for me and makes me feel excited to be a creative person again. If anyone out there is reading this and they feel stuck in something, talk to somebody and research what out there could be right for you. Don't settle for anything that doesn't make you happy.