My Clearing Story

Hi, I'm Kate. I'm 23, and I started studying at the University of Hull in 2017.

I studied Zoology with a Foundation Year. Before university, I had aspirations of doing veterinary medicine and that's what I'd had my mind set on since I was about five. I'd done about three months work experience across my time in sixth form, so I was completely set on it as a career.

I didn't get the grades and basically had absolutely no idea what I wanted to do after that.

So I looked into it and I decided to study Zoology because it was a way to get into vet med. You do the three years, and then you go on to do a fast-track course. That was like, "Right, I'll do this and I'll get it done." I went to see Hull, really enjoyed it on the open days and was like, "Yep, perfect. We'll go do that."

In my first year we started studying the marine environment within Zoology modules. I've always liked the scenery being by the beach, and I'd done a lot of water sports growing up. It's something I've always enjoyed, but I'd never considered it as a subject to study because it wasn't covered very much in school. It was an Aquatic Zoology module idea and I really liked it. Another one of the modules on the Zoology course was to do diving qualification. I've never dived before, so I did that and I absolutely loved it. That's when I decided that I wanted a career in Marine Biology rather than going into veterinary medicine afterwards.

That was the turning point for me when I got my dive qualification and was like, 'this is actually so cool that you can combine diving with a career and studying at university and stuff.'

What else did I do? I did a lot of boating in Hull, as by the Humber Bridge there's a boating school. I got some qualifications on power boats, which all accumulates towards being able to do specialist marine biology jobs. Other things that I did include playing for the hockey club, and I absolutely loved playing ladies' hockey. I had several committee roles and that helped me grow as a person and build my confidence, like having to deal with external sponsors, be responsible for running the committee... Yeah, they were my friends, but I had to make sure that the club was run at the same time.

That was a valuable experience, and I learned a lot doing that. That definitely helped me grow as a person. I received my degree last summer in Zoology. Then I decided to move to Newcastle and study a Masters of Science in International Marine Environmental Consultancy, which is a bit of a mouthful. It's basically marine consultancy, which combines marine biology with industry and developments in the marine environment basically. It's very applicable to offshore wind farms and oil and gas along with conservation and similar things as well.

It was very hands on Masters - lots of work in the field, diving, boats, and a lot of research. I've absolutely loved it. It's been extremely hard work. Since I've finished university, I've been diving a lot in the northeast, which isn't as nice as dive trips to Mauritius, but certainly an experience and is a fun thing to do on the weekends. I have been working part-time as crew on a boat that runs day trips down the River Thames, which is cool. I'm due to finish my masters in about three weeks time, fingers crossed. In September, I'm planning on moving to the south of France and beginning a career in the yachting industry and hopefully working as crew on deck. I love sailing and boats so much. You can work your skill set up with that and combine it with the marine biology knowledge.

That's exciting. That's the plan. What else have I got to say? Before clearing, I was completely set on vet med. No one could show me anything to change my mind. That was the career for me. Didn't care about anything else. Didn't look for insurance choices or anything of other courses. I was like, "Nope, vet med." I was absolutely distraught when I didn't get the grades that I genuinely was like, "I'm not going to go to university, there's no point. I don't want to do anything else." Eventually I came around and was like, "Right, I'll go look at other courses." Honestly the best decision I ever made. University completely transformed me as a person, completely changed how independent I am, my confidence, doing things on my own, trying different things.

Who would've thought I'd learn to dive and drive a boat in four years? It's mad.

Clearing is commonly misunderstood as a negative process, something you should be ashamed of. I think in a lot of cases and absolutely in my case, it's given me the opportunity to discover a completely different career that I never would've even considered in school. I'd heard of being a marine biologist, but it didn't even cross my mind. Now I'm going to spend my whole life doing it, and honestly couldn't be happier about it. It's such a cool career. I'd definitely say, "Be positive. Be open minded." It's cringey, but it's so true that everything happens for a reason. I wouldn't be where I am today without doing Zoology and discovering a whole different career path.

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