It’s not the end of the world – here’s some next steps you can take…
If today, you’re one of the millions of A-level students anxiously awaiting the exam results that may well dictate the course of the rest of your life, our sympathies go out to you! Everybody who’s ever been in your position will forever remember the sweaty palms as we queued in the exam hall or waited by the phone (or in more recent years, furiously refreshing our email inbox!) for the anticipated single letters that would seal our fates in years to come.
A-level results day is when you’ll finally see the fruits of your labour, and hopefully your hard work will be rewarded with great grades that will take you forward on the path you’d planned. Sometimes, however, things don’t quite go to plan. Maybe you had one of those mind-blank moments during a crucial exam, or you misunderstood a question only to realise your mistake, stomach-churningly, after you handed in your papers! Maybe, alternatively, you just couldn’t summon up the interest in a subject you thought you would love. It all happens to the best of us, and either way, maybe now you’re left with the realisation that the university you’d planned for may not accept you after all.
It’s a scary time riddled with uncertainty. If you haven’t achieved what you had hoped for, please try not to despair too much. Although right now your plans may need a re-shuffle, having to quickly re-think your options can often lead to great opportunities that you hadn’t foreseen. So what are the alternatives?
If you’re really intent on carrying on your education straight away and are convinced what course you’d like to do, get in contact with your first choice uni and see if they can still accommodate you. If not, you may need to accept a compromise on location or the establishment you attend. Give other prospective universities a ring – they have dedicated Clearing departments to help you get a place sorted. You may need to take some additional exams or submit extra material in order to gain a place, and be prepared for it to be a rather lengthy and stressful process – but it’s worth it if you’re really set on your path. No course wants empty places, after all!
The next option is the infamous gap year – why not make the most of a bad situation and focus your energy on exploring other options? A year away from education can be a great chance to ‘get to know’ yourself, working out what you really want to do, taking steps to develop yourself and deciding on the best way to go about achieving your aims. We look at whether or not you should take a gap year in much more detail in this blog, so maybe we can help you decide! There are loads of routes that a gap year can take you on – here’s a few ways you can make the best of your situation.
Nowadays, more and more students take on jobs during their A-level study, in order to earn a bit of extra cash for buying school supplies, splashing on nice clothes, going out or even contributing to household expenses etc. If this sounds like you, why not consider asking your employers for a few more hours, or making your position full time? Shop work, bar and restaurant work and even vocational positions can teach you great skills like responsibility, time management, people skills and cash handling and can lead on to further professional opportunities. Additionally, it will show future employers or universities that you’re not averse to a bit of hard work! Earning a bit more cash in a full-time position will give you time to work out your next move and, most importantly, time to save some money for it.
If you’re not currently employed or don’t fancy the prospect of full-time work just yet, voluntary work can be a great way to fill your time and enhance your CV whilst gaining satisfaction from helping out and learning new skills in the process. Charity shops and community organisations are always keen for a new pair of hands to help with their cause, so do ask around locally. Working hours will usually be very flexible and it’ll be a great chance to meet people from all walks of life, as well as demonstrating you’ve got no interest in just sitting around for a year.
Another invaluable way to spend a year out is to travel and see the world. Setting out on your own to a brand new country and culture can seem extremely daunting, but try to think of it like this: when you start University, you’d have to move out on your own anyway, so really what’s the difference?! The world we live in is huge, expansive and massively varied; exposing yourself to a completely different culture and way of life may well help you to get a better sense of perspective on what you really want to do with your own life. A great way to get out there and travel whilst really getting stuck in to local life is to teach English as a foreign language (TEFL). There are loads of fantastic placements in locations all over the globe that will allow you to gain hands-on teaching experience with students of all ages, whilst meeting interesting like-minded individuals.
Our TEFL placements offer full support throughout, both before you travel and in-country – we’ll help you get qualified and find a placement that’s ideal for you, so you’ll have the peace of mind of knowing there’s a team of TEFL experts on your side. We offer placements of between 15 days and six months in Cambodia, Thailand, China, South Africa and Colombia, allowing you to gain professional experience whilst getting to know an exotic new country. Where your fluffed marks may not show this, a TEFL qualification and experience will demonstrate to future employers and universities that you’re a confident, well-rounded and hard-working individual that they’d be lucky to have on their team! We’ve even seen interns travel overseas with us and love their new life so much that they’ve decided to stay, or travel onwards to gain a paid job in the country of their dreams. The possibilities are endless – and we guarantee that as you soak up the sun on a weekend off in Thailand, or hear the appreciation of your young charges in Cape Town, the stress and frustration of your A-level results day will feel like it happened to somebody else.
If you’ve found yourself disappointed when picking up your exam results, please don’t be disheartened. You’ve worked really hard over the past two years, and that counts for an awful lot – there are plenty of ways to make the most of the experience you’ve gained throughout A-levels, and we certainly hope to see you soon to help you organise the next step in your life – give us a call on 0113 829 3300 or request a call back from one of our TEFL experts if you’re keen to take the first step in a whole new direction.
The world is still your oyster!