{"id":1823,"date":"2015-08-13T00:48:20","date_gmt":"2015-08-13T00:48:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.happiness-speaker.co.uk\/?p=1823"},"modified":"2015-08-13T00:48:20","modified_gmt":"2015-08-13T00:48:20","slug":"disappointing-a-level-results","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/building.happiness-speaker.com\/?p=1823","title":{"rendered":"Disappointing A level results? Don\u2019t panic!"},"content":{"rendered":"

13th<\/sup> August 2015 is the day many 18-year-olds will have been both eagerly awaiting and dreading since finishing their exams in June.<\/h3>\n

A level results are out and, whilst there will be many jubilant teenagers celebrating their achievements, there will also be those that face disappointment as they\u2019ve missed the grades they needed for their conditional University offers.<\/p>\n

If you are one of the disappointed ones, please don\u2019t panic.\u00a0 Don\u2019t fret too much.\u00a0 It\u2019s not the end of the world (easy for me to say, I know)!<\/p>\n

Of course, whether you\u2019ve missed the grades you needed by a long mile or by just one or two marks, you will be understandably upset.\u00a0 The first thing you need to do is to acknowledge and accept that you\u2019re upset and let yourself feel that emotion.\u00a0 As I explained in this previous article<\/a>, it is important to let yourself feel pain as part of your full range of emotions. \u00a0Disappointment, pain, upset, they are all valid and necessary emotions and, moreover, they enable us to appreciate the good in our lives even more.<\/p>\n

Once you have allowed yourself to wallow a bit (not for too long \u2013 feeling negative emotions is healthy and necessary, allowing them to take over is not), you need to start thinking about your next step.\u00a0 As my good friend Elizabeth Wright<\/a> would say, achieving your goals is a journey. \u00a0\u00a0That journey is not a straight line and you will find that you have lots of mini-milestones and you also do a lot of zig-zagging along the way.\u00a0 Sometimes you even end up travelling backwards for a while, but as long as you keep your eye on where you\u2019re going, you can always find your way again.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t assume that because you haven\u2019t met your offer grades, you won\u2019t get a place.\u00a0 Call your first choice University admissions department \u2013 TODAY \u2013 and find out.\u00a0 Sometimes you may still be able to get in.\u00a0 It\u2019s worth a shot!<\/p>\n

Then, ask yourself:\u00a0 What goal are you trying to achieve with your chosen University course? <\/strong><\/p>\n

You may have chosen a course based on what you enjoy studying, rather than for a specific vocational career.\u00a0 If that is the case, what other subjects do you enjoy?\u00a0 Are there similar subjects that can give you the same satisfaction from learning during your time at University? If so, all is definitely not lost. \u00a0The UCAS Clearing<\/a> system may have the solution for you.<\/p>\n

If you were aiming for a specific vocational route where you need a specific degree, for example Medicine, Engineering or Law, there are still other ways to achieve your goal.\u00a0 Again, try Clearing as there may be other Universities you hadn\u2019t considered that can still offer you a place on your chosen course.\u00a0 This may be harder with Medicine, which is notoriously difficult to get into, but even then, there are other routes.\u00a0 If you are open to considering other healthcare professions (nursing, radiology, physiotherapy, for example), consider applying to these through Clearing.\u00a0 If you are determined to get into Medicine, there may also be the opportunity of applying as a mature student later, so consider qualifying in another medical\/healthcare field in the meantime to gain invaluable skills and experience.<\/p>\n

For certain professions, there is also the option of doing a Modern Apprenticeship<\/a>. \u00a0For example, did you know that you can get into a successful career in the Law by doing a legal apprenticeship (or even an admin apprenticeship)?\u00a0 This case study shows you how<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And of course you can also do resits and\/or \u00a0take a year out \u2013 not to sit on the sofa feeling sorry for yourself and watching re-runs of \u2018Friends\u2019 and \u2018How I met your Mother\u2019, but by travelling the world, doing great charity work<\/a>, working abroad\u2026the options are almost endless.\u00a0 You could even start your own business<\/a>!<\/p>\n

The key message is: You DO have options.\u00a0 All hope is not lost and you can and will still go on to have a fulfilled life. \u00a0\u00a0As with everything, it all comes down to choice.\u00a0 It\u2019s up to YOU to decide to make the best of your situation. \u00a0Resilience is the ability to pick yourself back up, to bounce back, when you face difficult challenges and circumstances. \u00a0In later life, you will look back on today and realise that, not only it wasn’t the disaster you first thought it was, but that it did you a favour in helping you become more resilient.<\/p>\n

When I graduated with a 2(ii), I thought my world would fall apart.\u00a0 Everybody wanted graduates with at least a 2(i).\u00a0 I took some time out, learnt Spanish (my sixth language, but that\u2019s another story!) and applied to do a PGCE<\/a> to become a teacher.\u00a0 I then couldn\u2019t get a teaching job anywhere near my fianc\u00e9\u2019s new job, so I ended up doing lots of temp work so we could stay together (we were planning on getting married fairly soon thereafter).\u00a0 I then worked in customer services for a while, until I had my first daughter.\u00a0 Since then, I\u2019ve been a freelance Italian teacher, I\u2019ve taught French and German to GCSE level, I\u2019ve co-owned a recruitment business, set up and run a micro food business, trained business owners in social media marketing (I still do) and worked as a Professional Speaker and Laughter Yoga Leader (my main job now).\u00a0 Oh yes, and I wrote a book.\u00a0 I\u2019m still married to the fianc\u00e9 I wouldn\u2019t leave behind in search of a teaching job all those years ago and we have two amazing daughters (who have brought us a\u00a0rollercoaster of emotions<\/a>\u00a0over the years, but that\u2019s another story). \u00a0My life is very different to what I\u2019d originally envisaged, but it is infinitely better for it.<\/p>\n

My eldest daughter gets her A\/S level results today. \u00a0At the time of writing, I don\u2019t know how she\u2019s done, but in any case, I\u2019m not allowed to tell you.\u00a0 She\u2019s given me strict orders!<\/p>\n

Disclosure<\/strong>: The Modern Apprenticeship case study referred to above is with Taylor Bracewell, a client firm of mine, where I work on a self-employed basis as their Marketing Consultant.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

13th August 2015 is the day many 18-year-olds will have been both eagerly awaiting and dreading since finishing their exams in June. A level results are out and, whilst there will be many jubilant teenagers celebrating their achievements, there will also be those that face disappointment as they\u2019ve missed the grades they needed for their […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1824,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,4],"tags":[352,353,354,355,285,356],"class_list":["post-1823","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-happiness","tag-a-level","tag-a-level-results","tag-a-levels","tag-exam-results","tag-resilience","tag-ucas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/building.happiness-speaker.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1823","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/building.happiness-speaker.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/building.happiness-speaker.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/building.happiness-speaker.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/building.happiness-speaker.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1823"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/building.happiness-speaker.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1823\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/building.happiness-speaker.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1823"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/building.happiness-speaker.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1823"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/building.happiness-speaker.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1823"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}