The following blog is from our Marketing Co-ordinator, Beth Younger. It’s her personal story of not getting into her first-choice university, navigating A Level Results Day, changing degree courses, and discovering that an unexpected path can still lead to a fulfilling career. If you’d like to connect with Beth, you can visit her LinkedIn here.
When My Dream University Didn’t Work Out
When I was in secondary school, I thought I had my life planned out.
I was going to move to South Korea to study at Yonsei University. I’d spent years working towards that goal, hoping to study International Relations before eventually building a career in political journalism.
Then COVID happened.
Like thousands of other students whose A Level results were affected by the pandemic, I never got the chance to sit my exams. Instead, I received predicted grades, and they weren’t high enough to get into my first-choice university. At 18, it felt devastating.
At the time, it felt as though one set of grades had changed the course of my life.
So, I took a gap year.
I worked full-time in retail, tried to figure out what I wanted to do, and eventually made a decision that wasn’t particularly well thought out. I enrolled at the University of Brighton to study Animation.
Realising I Was on the Wrong Course
Animation wasn’t a lifelong ambition. It was simply a creative subject that interested me, and at the time I hoped it would help me discover a new direction.
However, after a year, I realised it wasn’t the right course for me and decided to leave.
At the time, changing university courses felt like admitting I’d failed. Looking back, it was one of the healthiest decisions I could have made.
During that first year at university, I met my now partner of five years, who was studying at UWE Bristol. After months of making four-hour journeys to visit him and knowing I wasn’t happy with my course in Brighton, I started looking at universities in Bristol instead.
Rather than giving up on university altogether, I decided to explore a different direction.
Finding the Right Degree
That’s when I chose English Literature.
It had always been my favourite subject and the one I achieved my best grades in. What began as a practical decision quickly became one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.
I chose a degree I genuinely cared about, and it turned out I was good at it too.
I loved the course and the people I met. More importantly, I rediscovered something I’d almost forgotten about myself: how much I loved writing.
Over the next few years, that passion continued to grow. I even became Head Opinion Editor for the university magazine. It changed how I thought about my future. It wasn’t the future I’d imagined when I was 18, but it was one that still reflected the person I wanted to become.
Where That Decision Led Me
A few weeks after graduating, I found my role as Marketing Coordinator at Inclusive Futures through networking.
I’ve now been here for a year, combining my love of writing, communication and creativity while building skills that bring me closer to the career I still hope to have one day.
Looking back, every twist in my journey—from not getting into my dream university to changing degree courses—helped me build the skills that led me here.
I wouldn’t change the path I took.
If You’re Opening Your A Level Results This Summer…
Whether you’re celebrating, feeling disappointed, or wondering what happens if you don’t get into your first-choice university, I hope you remember this:
Your results matter.
But they don’t determine the rest of your life.
There are so many different routes into a meaningful career. Whether you go through your first-choice university, Clearing, a gap year, an apprenticeship, change degree courses like I did, or decide university isn’t the right path at all, your future isn’t defined by one set of exam results.
Very few people follow the exact plan they imagined when they were 16 or 18.
If you’re worried because you didn’t get into your dream university, you’re not alone. It might not feel like it today, but one decision, one grade or one rejection doesn’t define your future.
Sometimes the path that feels like Plan B becomes the life you wouldn’t trade for anything.