My first year in college

About a month ago I finished my first year in college and lets just say it's been a world wind and I didn't expect anything like it.

For people who don't know I left high school in 2013 and the school I went to wasn't your normal big comprehensive school.  I attended a tiny little Victorian like school with only 10 girls in each YEAR not class, year.  I absolutely adored my school and I wouldn't of changed it for anything however going to a school like that you only get to know the same 10 girls and unless you get yourself out there you're not going to know anybody else.  I was lucky though, I had other friends and of course I have Dan which made it easier for me.  

When I was in my last year of high school I applied to many colleges.  I applied to do BTEC health and social care and also art & design & photography but I was really unsure whether I wanted to a a BTEC course or A-levels.  If you don't know the difference BTEC courses are made up of coursework and NO exams and A-levels are exams and a tiny bit of course work.  If you are shit at exams (like me) then maybe doing a BTEC would be better for you. There is speculation that if you do a BTEC course in college you are thick and stupid however this is very un true.  If I wanted to I could of done a-levels, I got enough GCSE's at the right grades to be able to do them however I just thought that a BTEC would be better for me seeing as it's laidback however its NOT!  People miss-judge BTEC's I think.  Usually people think it's a sit off and you don't need to try however you do.  If you do a BTEC course you will know that you are constantly on the go trying to meet deadlines however I think if you do a - levels I think you can afford to slack a bit and work hard towards the exam.  Just my opinion though.

I did actually apply to a levels.  I was going to take health and social care dual award, art and psychology.  When it came to GCSE results day though I thought I wouldn't be very good at a - levels so I opted for the other thing.

So lets just make this clear.  I decided to take Health & Social care Level 3 Extended Diploma.  However because I didn't pass my maths I had to take a Level 3 Subsidiary Diploma.  I can't really explain the difference apart from the fact it offers less UCAS points than the Extended.  You can still go to university with BOTH diplomas though.  

From September 2013 - February 2014 I hated college.  Well that's a lie, I hated the college I attended but I liked the concept of college.  I liked the freedom that school didn't give you and I loved the fact that you could call the teachers by their first names and also that you were allowed to wear your own clothes.  The reason I hated my college was the fact that I felt like I couldn't be myself with the students, they just weren't like me and I felt like I didn't fit in with anyone.  I made 2 friends but they just weren't like me however around February time I made a very good friend and I soon became friends with most people in my class.  I will probably do a separate blog post on what the health and social care course entails because this post will be far too long.

How to fit in:

I can't really answer this tbh because it all depends on the person and the surrounding you're in.  For me I suffer really bad from social anxiety and I find it impossible to speak around new people and I worry that everyone is judging me so for me it was hard to go from a really small school to such a big college knowing no one.  One day I was so fed up of being down about the college and feeling shit about myself so I forced myself to just pluck up the college to speak to people because what was the worst that could happen?  The more I spoke to my fellow class mates the more friends I made which was surprising for me.   

During my first year in college there were many times were I thought that I couldn't attend no more and I wanted to drop out but I knew if I did that then I would of failed myself and I knew that I would regret it so much so I decided to stick it out.  I'm not going to lie I did find college a struggle.  Not necessarily the work but the social aspect of it.  When I finished a month ago I felt so proud of myself. Not only did I feel proud of myself because I finished my first year with a Distinction* but because I faced up to my fears of being in social surroundings.  This time next year I will hopefully be finishing with enough UCAS points to get me off to uni..lets hope aye!!

~ Leigh.x