Career happiness, bad treatment by universities, and a little gem from Hugh Laurie.
😊 Welcome
This week we look at parental pressure and what this has to do with your career happiness.
We also look at what to do if a university treats you badly during the admissions process.
And we hear a gem of an idea from actor Hugh Laurie.
✍️ Parental pressure and career happiness!
Back in October, I wrote an article about How not to become a university ‘drop-out’, and within it, discussed pressure. In particular, how much pressure is too much pressure?
I see it in every school and every university; students who just feel overwhelmed by the pressure they feel to perform well, and to choose a career that will bring them success. And while some of that pressure will come from teachers, and some from within yourselves, there is no doubt that much of the pressure you think you are under, comes from parents.
And so I thought it might be worth having a quick think about what this pressure really is, where it comes from and whether it's real.
💡 Did You Know?
Every year there are a number of universities who treat their applicants badly.
They take months to make decisions, even for those applicants who apply early.
They fail to answer email enquiries, on important matters.
And while it might not affect you directly, some have even been known to send rejection letters out right in the middle of exams (or worse still, don't even bother and let the students find out on UCAS).
This sort of thing is not OK, and you should not put up with it.
If you find yourself being treated badly by a university, just strike them off your list.
If they aren't well enough organised to have a good admissions process and don't care enough about their applicants to make sure your experience is a good one, then you should see it as a red flag.
There's a pretty good chance they'll treat you the same way when you are a student.
📢 Quote of the week
“It's a terrible thing, I think, in life to wait until you're ready. I have this feeling now that actually no one is ever ready to do anything. There is almost no such thing as ready. There is only now. And you may as well do it now. Generally speaking, now is as good a time as any.”
Hugh Laurie
Actor
OK, so I'm not really sure exactly what this has to do with applying to university.
It's just one of those great sentiments; something we all need to hear once in a while.
Very often, when we think about doing something, doubts creep in; we think are not ready, we are not prepared, or we are not good enough.
But perhaps no-one is ever really ready; so why not do it now?
Thanks for reading!
Jonathan
🎯 In case you missed it
📅 Next week
Coming up next week: Five to two - making your final UCAS decisions
