By Eloise Howard, BA Business Management with Employment Experience
I want to start by saying that I have absolutely loved the past three years of my university experience and would not change any of it! However, it’s important to talk about what happens when not everything is perfect right from the beginning of your time at university. You have made a lot of big decisions in order to get here – what course to study, what university to study at, where you want to live – and sometimes you may want to make a change.
It’s essential that you feel happy with your course at university so that you can really put your all into it and enjoy your time as much as possible. This was something I found challenging when I first started, as I was studying a dual degree in French and Business Management. After my first month or so, I soon realised that French was not for me! It hadn’t been quite what I expected following on from A Level French, but I was really enjoying the Business Management side of things as well as living in such a fun, vibrant city.
I decided to speak to my personal tutor, which was so helpful as I was able to have an honest chat with someone that really wanted to support me and enable me to thrive at uni. I then made the decision to drop French in second year and carry on my course as a single honours Business Management degree. The actual process was simple and easy to do, and my personal tutors in French as well as at the Management School were there to guide me through it.
By changing my course, I feel that I am now fully engaged and excited by all aspects of my university life! I definitely feel a lot happier doing solely Business Management and I’m grateful I had the amazing opportunity to do a placement year at GSK last year!
My best advice would be to not be scared to admit that sometimes things aren’t going as well as you planned – there is so much help available to you during your time at university and lots of people who genuinely want you to do as well as possible.
So, if you feel like you want to make changes, which could be as small as changing a module to changing course, don’t be afraid to speak up and get support to see what options you have.
For more information, visit: https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/ssid