Feeling proud

Day Nine: Something that you’re proud of

So yesterday I wrote about my ‘What if?’, so I thought that I would lighten the mood a bit and talk about something that I’m proud of, and that something is the fact that despite all of the disappointment on A Level results day, despite all the self-doubt, I have managed to obtain a degree.

As I said in my last post, I found my A-Level results disappointing. When I saw the results on paper in front of me, I thought that was it, no University for Fiona. Luckily though, I was offered a place on a Foundation year course at my chosen University. When I say luckily, I really do mean that I was very lucky. Talking to people on the course, I think that I had some of the worst results by a mile; it must have been my personal statement that grabbed their attention because I’m certain that it wasn’t my exam results.

I worked hard for the next four years, during the Carmel College year; I had a run in with my old nemesis, Chemistry, as well as Maths, something I thought that I had escaped after my GCSE’s. A word of advice, if you decide to study Biology because it’s the Science that has no Maths in it, think again. Maths continued to haunt me every year since, whether it was forgetting how to work out percentages in my first Quantitative Biology workshop or compiling statistics for my final honours project. But I struggled on. I defeated Chemistry, I mastered differentiation. Alright, I maybe didn’t fulfil my potential, I was painfully close to getting a 2.2, if only I had picked different modules in the first semester of my final year I could have clinched it. But that doesn’t matter so much to me, because the fact is that I know that I tried my best and I think I’ve done alright, considering the 2 E’s and a D at A-level.

The day that I graduated has been one of the best days of my life so far. The sun was shining, not a cloud in the sky. I had to pinch myself as I sat in the Philharmonic Hall, surrounded by my fellow graduates. I was so nervous, the thought of this day kept me going for years and years and now it had finally arrived. Walking across that stage as my name was called, shaking hands with the Dean, collecting my certificates and transcript; I can’t even describe how amazing that felt. Against the odds, I had achieved my lifelong dream; I had a degree from the University of Liverpool.

Every now and then, when I’m feeling low during this job hunt, I get down my certificate, I hold it, and I remember how proud I felt on graduation day.

Fiona McDougall BSc (Hons) Zoology