The day of reckoning - results day. No one slept a wink last night. Students, parents and grandparents are all anxious to find out the letters/numbers on that piece of paper. There are tears of joy and tears of sorrow as the county’s teens have their futures revealed. Those that are able to follow their ‘plan A’ and go to their preferred university, or start their dream job, will not be trawling the internet for blogs and news snippets to inspire them for their next step. So I have instead written for all of those who have ‘failed’, who can follow any other plan from ‘B’ through to ‘Z’ (...although I have only written up to ‘Plan I’):
Marva Collins - we couldn't have put it better!
Plan B - Re-mark
Call up your teachers and tutors to see what they have to say! You might be really close to a grade boundary and might be moved up a grade after a re-mark.
Call the universities you were hoping to get into too and ask what they would have you do. They might change their stance if you’re willing to have a re-mark or re-take an exam. They might also allow you to go in on a foundation year to begin with.
Communicate before you panic!
Plan C - Clearing
There are over 150 universities in the UK... chances are that one of them will want you! You just have to head to UCAS, seek advice and call all of the universities that spark your interest. There are a lot of students who later believe that they are happier at their clearing university than they ever could have been at their first choice!
Plan D - Travelling
Most sites advise you to have a solid place at a university that you can defer, before thinking about taking a gap year. However, we think that this plan can work well alongside other plans too, whether you decide to re-take, do an internship or start up your own company, travelling can enhance your year in ways you probably can’t even imagine:
Learn a new language
Be exposed to new cultures
Improve your job prospects
Develop new life skills
Uncover a hidden passion
Plan E - Re-take
This may be an option. If you are determined to get the grades you want and get onto a particular course, then you may have to re-sit.
This can be a demoralising year, but if you do decide this is right for you, keep the following in mind:
Was there a reason that your results were not what you’d hoped? Will this reason no longer be the case in a year?
How can you be sure that you’ll do better next time?
Would you get bored and give up?
Is the course or university to which you plan to go happy with re-sits?
It might be that you go back to school to complete this year and receive all of the teaching again, or you might feel comfortable going it alone. In which case, you could also go travelling or complete an internship rather that it feeling like groundhog day!
INICIO can help you with re-takes. Whether you want to do weekly slots all year round or booster sessions to cover your least favourite topics, we are here to support you.
Plan F - Internships and Work experience
Maybe the silver lining to this day is that you now have a little breathing room to re-evaluate. Did you really know why you were planning to go to university to study the subject you had chosen? Or were you just following your nose and the advice of those around you?
Maybe the career you want doesn’t even require you to have a degree! The only way to find out whether this is the case is to get an internship. We have previously written a blog about how to go about this and our mentors are around to help you to make the first few steps if you’re feeling stuck.
Plan G - Get a job
This doesn’t necessary mean signing yourself up to be a barista for life! There are so many companies that welcome school leavers, some of which even graduates can’t dream of getting into, for example; Bentley, Goldman Sachs, Heineken, etc. Moreover, you will be earning yourself a salary while your peers are building debt!
If you can’t find a job, or have no luck in your applications, then create your own job! There are plenty of school leavers who have successfully started their own company. For example, Haus Bots and The Sure Bettor are two totally different examples of businesses set up by people who didn’t go to university!
Plan H - Try a different qualification
There are so many other qualifications that make you as employable as a graduate (and that are just as fun). Have a look at secretarial courses for instance.
New Skills Academy
Plan I - Apprenticeships
Apprenticeships have been growing, not only in popularity since the introduction of tuition fees, but also in the number available. Commonly, students start apprenticeships after their GCSEs, however, there also a large number available to 18+ school leavers. Go look into it!
You see, everything happens for a reason so go find your new future with renewed enthusiasm... it's clearly what was meant for you :)
Before you go though, be sure to have a read of our Results Day Fallout blog!