Prior to September 2013, the year I went to university, I wanted nothing more than to move away for uni to England or Scotland. I had always visualised myself living an amazing student life in a big city. However, things weren't meant to be. I ended up going to Northumbria uni in Newcastle, doing media and journalism, thinking it was for sure the city for me. That didn't last - after 2 months I ended up transferring back to Coleraine which is conveniently home to a Ulster University campus, to study english.
Looking back - I think I made the right decision for myself at that time. I was 19 and quite naive and innocent. I had spent five years of high school in a tiny country school and two years at college, studying a BTEC in media. College opened my eyes up but not enough for university. Why on earth I chose to go to Newcastle is well beyond me - its famed crazy student lifestyle of binge drinking and partying wasn't really in tune with who I was then. Yes, I loved going out and having a laugh but I honestly couldn't cope with going out every night and I did feel a little pressured to fit in.
Three years on and with a degree in english, do I regret coming back home? I think if I was able to rewind time, I probably would've stuck it out in Newcastle. It would've made me grow up and I probably would have had a better student experience. I also know for a fact I would have had better career opportunities if I had stayed in Newcastle. Northern Ireland has very poor employment rates and in terms of journalism, you are incredibly lucky if a newspaper or organisation like the BBC takes you on.
However, I seriously worried about the costs of studying in Newcastle. Newcastle is a really cheap and student friendly city. But what really worried me was the course fees. At 9k a year, I couldn't really justify paying that for my journalism and media degree. It wasn't NCTJ or BJTC accredited so I couldn't really justify paying so much for it, knowing that I could transfer home and pay 3k a year in Northern Ireland. And also not to forget to mention the fact I was completely emptying my bank account going shopping. I spent a crazy amount of money on clothes and makeup and looking back, I cannot believe how stupid I was! I probably would've been super skint all the time, back then I was TERRIBLE at managing money.
Don't get me wrong, I made great friends at uni and had a good time at Ulster. I loved aspects of my english degree and it definitely expanded my mind and made me a better writer. However, I definitely didn't get a proper student experience in terms of socialising. I was living at home, travelling 15 minutes to uni and went home after lectures. Yes, I had lots of friends but struggled in the beginning as my class was very introverted. Luckily, the friends I made were from the same town so we did go out to clubs and bars the odd time.
Now to be a bit controversial, I think studying english was a bit of a waste of time for me. It was a great degree with really interesting modules, especially those on gender theory and women's writing. But upon graduating, to really succeed, you need to follow it up with a masters or postgraduate type course, which I'm doing now. Whether its teaching, journalism, PR or marketing, I found employers weren't really interested or cared much for my degree when I applied for graduate jobs. Basically, it didn't really make me qualified or employable, which led me on to do an NCTJ diploma in the hopes of getting employed as a journalist sometime (soon, plz) in the future. Looking back, I think I should have chosen an NCTJ/BJTC accredited undergraduate course that would've got me fully qualified in three years, as opposed to four.
I'm nearly three months into my NCTJ course in Derry and I am loving it so far. The course content is great, my lecturers are super supportive and I'm in a brilliant class full of like-minded people. It is very much focused on getting you employed by the end of it which is exactly what I want. Having an NCTJ qualification is crucial if you want to work in newspapers in the UK, so it definitely was the right postgraduate course for me. Also the fact the course is free is AMAZING!!! I saved around £5,000, which is the cost of an NCTJ accredited journalism masters course at Ulster. I would've had to fund that myself, with no help from student finance. (RIP student loan, am lost without u) Things are looking pretty good journalistically, I'm an NUS student journalist, writing 2 articles a month (paid!!!!!) and work one day a week on placement at Local Women Magazine, which is Northern Ireland's leading women's magazine.
So overall, I think with any degree, its important to work your hardest and have a clear career plan. This is harsh but I honestly don't think you should go to uni and study any old subject without having an idea of what you actually want to do with it. I know so many people who went to uni and regret their degree subject because they couldn't get a good graduate job with it. Studying english was enjoyable - but I've had to top up my degree to make me employable. Overall, I'm feeling really positive with my career and I'm working so hard to make a career in journalism a reality!
Niamh x
If you're in the middle of applying for university, check out Northumbria University's website for a full run down of undergraduate and postgraduate courses on offer: https://www.northumbria.ac.uk/study-at-northumbria/
Looking back - I think I made the right decision for myself at that time. I was 19 and quite naive and innocent. I had spent five years of high school in a tiny country school and two years at college, studying a BTEC in media. College opened my eyes up but not enough for university. Why on earth I chose to go to Newcastle is well beyond me - its famed crazy student lifestyle of binge drinking and partying wasn't really in tune with who I was then. Yes, I loved going out and having a laugh but I honestly couldn't cope with going out every night and I did feel a little pressured to fit in.
Three years on and with a degree in english, do I regret coming back home? I think if I was able to rewind time, I probably would've stuck it out in Newcastle. It would've made me grow up and I probably would have had a better student experience. I also know for a fact I would have had better career opportunities if I had stayed in Newcastle. Northern Ireland has very poor employment rates and in terms of journalism, you are incredibly lucky if a newspaper or organisation like the BBC takes you on.
However, I seriously worried about the costs of studying in Newcastle. Newcastle is a really cheap and student friendly city. But what really worried me was the course fees. At 9k a year, I couldn't really justify paying that for my journalism and media degree. It wasn't NCTJ or BJTC accredited so I couldn't really justify paying so much for it, knowing that I could transfer home and pay 3k a year in Northern Ireland. And also not to forget to mention the fact I was completely emptying my bank account going shopping. I spent a crazy amount of money on clothes and makeup and looking back, I cannot believe how stupid I was! I probably would've been super skint all the time, back then I was TERRIBLE at managing money.
Don't get me wrong, I made great friends at uni and had a good time at Ulster. I loved aspects of my english degree and it definitely expanded my mind and made me a better writer. However, I definitely didn't get a proper student experience in terms of socialising. I was living at home, travelling 15 minutes to uni and went home after lectures. Yes, I had lots of friends but struggled in the beginning as my class was very introverted. Luckily, the friends I made were from the same town so we did go out to clubs and bars the odd time.
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| Coleraine campus of UU |
Now to be a bit controversial, I think studying english was a bit of a waste of time for me. It was a great degree with really interesting modules, especially those on gender theory and women's writing. But upon graduating, to really succeed, you need to follow it up with a masters or postgraduate type course, which I'm doing now. Whether its teaching, journalism, PR or marketing, I found employers weren't really interested or cared much for my degree when I applied for graduate jobs. Basically, it didn't really make me qualified or employable, which led me on to do an NCTJ diploma in the hopes of getting employed as a journalist sometime (soon, plz) in the future. Looking back, I think I should have chosen an NCTJ/BJTC accredited undergraduate course that would've got me fully qualified in three years, as opposed to four.
I'm nearly three months into my NCTJ course in Derry and I am loving it so far. The course content is great, my lecturers are super supportive and I'm in a brilliant class full of like-minded people. It is very much focused on getting you employed by the end of it which is exactly what I want. Having an NCTJ qualification is crucial if you want to work in newspapers in the UK, so it definitely was the right postgraduate course for me. Also the fact the course is free is AMAZING!!! I saved around £5,000, which is the cost of an NCTJ accredited journalism masters course at Ulster. I would've had to fund that myself, with no help from student finance. (RIP student loan, am lost without u) Things are looking pretty good journalistically, I'm an NUS student journalist, writing 2 articles a month (paid!!!!!) and work one day a week on placement at Local Women Magazine, which is Northern Ireland's leading women's magazine.
So overall, I think with any degree, its important to work your hardest and have a clear career plan. This is harsh but I honestly don't think you should go to uni and study any old subject without having an idea of what you actually want to do with it. I know so many people who went to uni and regret their degree subject because they couldn't get a good graduate job with it. Studying english was enjoyable - but I've had to top up my degree to make me employable. Overall, I'm feeling really positive with my career and I'm working so hard to make a career in journalism a reality!
Niamh x
If you're in the middle of applying for university, check out Northumbria University's website for a full run down of undergraduate and postgraduate courses on offer: https://www.northumbria.ac.uk/study-at-northumbria/
