LUKE MARSDEN: Take your time with career decisions

If you’re reading this and didn’t get the A-level results you wanted, it’s OK.

I found high school and college harder than most people would imagine I would’ve. I didn’t get the GCSE grades I wanted (and was predicted!) and was worried about not getting into a college where my all friends went.

In the end I was lucky enough to be allowed into St John Rigby College in Orrell, I had to pick up another year to re-do my maths GCSE. That additional year cost me more than just time and extra GCSEs. It was the final year before the £3,000 tuition fee limit was raised to the now £9,000 cap. That extra year cost me thousands of pounds in student debt but I don’t regret it.

Sometimes you need that extra time, I never imagined when finishing at St John Rigby and then starting my university degree at Salford that I’d ever write a column for my local paper, go on a reality show, or run for elected office. That 20-year-old who finished college could hardly catch the right bus home.

I wasn’t sure uni was the right path for me post-college and some days I still wonder if my politics degree was worthwhile? If you need to re-sit a year and reset what you want to do, that’s OK. Too many life-long decisions are rushed into these days without any real thought as to what you want to do long term.

Talk to your mum and dad, friends and even yourself. Take a moment, get your head out of your phone and contemplate what could be next. This is advice I would’ve given a 20-year-old me. Oh and keep away from Pot Noodles!

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