In July 2016 I graduated from the University of Liverpool with a First Class Law Degree. This was such a big achievement for me and I'm really proud that I've managed to achieve this. I think everyone who has attended University with recognise the initial ambition of graduating with nothing less than a first, until the work gradually wears you out and you'll just be praying to make it through the year. This happened every year. Each year I would set out to stay on top of the work load, do all of the reading and make sure that I put maximum effort into all of my assignments. This lasted all of two minutes.
During my first year of University I attended almost all of my lectures and made sure that I was super prepared for all of my seminars and tutorials. In my second year, I started with good intentions but this quickly went down hill. I barely attended any lectures in my second semester but this was mainly due to falling behind on work and not ever being able to catch up in time. Luckily I managed to get everything together by the time it came to the formative assessments. This happened again during my third year. During my final year I managed to secure a job in a law firm. I was lucky enough to be able to work part time while still studying, but this meant that I lived at home rather than in Liverpool. As I lived at home I had to get the train to travel to and from University and for the majority of the year I preferred to do all of my work at home. I really wish I had made the most of my last year at University now, but it's too late to change it.
In my first semester of my final year, as I was still adjusting to working and studying at the same time I let my average drop slightly. This knocked my confidence and I was putting a lot of pressure on myself to make sure that I performed well in my final exams to boost my average. Luckily, I work well under pressure and this happened. I managed to raise my average and ended up graduating with a first overall and first class marks in over half of my modules throughout all 3 years.
I remember being on holiday at the time when I received my final mark and I was so nervous that I was shaking too much to hold my phone. I actually had to get my boyfriend to check my grade for me. I didn't feel that I had performed well enough in the exams to even finish with a 2:1 so achieving a first overall was amazing. This is my biggest achievement in life so far and I'm really proud of myself for managing to do this. I had doubts when I first started University that I wasn't good enough and that I didn't fit in with others around me as I believed they were all so much smarter. So it was great to be able to prove to myself that I could do it and I am good enough.
I was also surprised to find out that I actually secured joint highest mark in Financial Services Law, which was a module that I struggled a lot with initially. I managed to score 84 in the final examination (I'm still not sure how) and was awarded the Weightmans Prize for Financial Services Law. This extra surprise added so much more stress to the actual graduation day itself. I had to attend a smaller award ceremony before the main graduation ceremony that was in Abercomby Square, a small gardens in the centre of campus. It was due to this ceremony that I actually forgot to collect my tickets for graduation and ended up running around Campus at the last minute trying to find them.
The day itself was a very emotional one. It was so nice to see everyone that I hadn't seen since the final exams, but it was also the last time I was potentially going to see some of them. Luckily I got to spend quite a bit of time with friends before the ceremony taking photographs in our gowns and appreciating the nice weather for once. It was great being able to celebrate the day with the friends that have helped me make it through the past 3 years. I really don't think I could have done it if it wasn't for the support from these guys above. Sarah and David are the best things to come out of my University experience, I really have made friends for life with these two.
It was an overwhelming day of emotions as it was crazy to think that we had all only met 3 years ago at the start of our degree, and here we were 3 years later all graduating with first class degrees and preparing to move onto the next steps in our careers.
It was also very stressful trying to manage my parents and younger sister, making sure they didn't get lost. My parents were pretty emotional for the whole day. They didn't attend University themselves and I'm their oldest daughter so I'm the first in my immediate family to do so.
Overall, it was a fantastic experience and I'm so pleased that it's over, but also extremely heartbroken that the experience has come to an end. I've made amazing friends that I'll hopefully stay in touch with for years to come and I've achieved something I often doubted I could.
Heres to the class of 2016 (cheers!)
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