Life Beyond The Leaving Cert Melanie Mullan There’s a certain freedom to finishing school. No more uniforms. No more getting your parents to write you notes as to why you didn’t do your homework. No more forging your parents signature as to why you were absent that day last week! At the same time it can be quite overwhelming. Come mid August you’ve completed some of the so-called biggest exams of your life, you’ve got the results and it’s on to planning what’s next. For some of you, you’ve known from day one what you were going to do. You’ve already packed your bags and are half way out the door to your new house and exciting college journey. For others, the ‘what you want to be when you grow up’ job doesn’t have quite the same appeal now that you are the grown up. My dream job of being a banker just wasn’t quite that appealing by the time I turned 15 or 16 - especially when I realised I couldn’t wear the tutu that I had worn when practicing all those years earlier. This can make times like this a little more daunting and somewhat stressful. All of a sudden your 13 or 14 years of education is coming to an end and you are supposed to decide what you want to do with the rest of your life? You can’t even decide what to have for breakfast! The Leaving Cert can leave you feeling lost, frustrated, confused and overwhelmed. I did mine 8 years ago. The only thing I 100% knew about when I finished school, was that I was going to take a year out to travel the world. I had that decided from age 10. After that I had no clue where I wanted to go or what I wanted to study. I was always changing my mind over the years. At times I wanted to study physiotherapy. I’m sure teaching crossed my mind at some stage - who doesn’t want 3 months holidays? But none of them really stuck - as much as I did want them to. I remember coming home from school one day really angry after listening to our Principal talk to us about how we had a reputation to hold up with our exams. He listed off previous students who got these points, got into those colleges, and how we should be aiming for the same thing. I couldn’t even figure out what I wanted for myself, and I then had the added pressure of keeping up appearances for a man that more than likely didn’t even know my name. Trips to guidance councillors didn’t help me either. According to the aptitude tests we all take at some point or another, I was good at sciences. In my mocks I got 6% in my Physics exam and 36% in my Biology. I had no interest in physics, but took it on because I was supposed to be good at it. I wasn’t bad at school, my grades were generally pretty good and I worked hard, but it’s difficult to study when you don’t know what you’re studying for. I applied for the CAO with the plan to defer my course for a year. The day the offers came out I knew I didn’t want to be studying the course I got offered. I applied again before I went travelling. It was an agreement I made with my Dad. I still didn’t know what I wanted to do, but figured I would try something else. Go to college, get my degree and THEN I could do whatever I wanted because I’d have my degree. I lasted one year in college. I failed two of my repeats that I had studied so hard to try pass. My heart just wasn’t in it. I spent more time editing photos from travelling then I did on assignments. I remember telling my parents that if I didn’t pass I wasn’t going to repeat because it wasn’t what I wanted to do anyway. I was back to square one again. I applied for the CAO one last time the following year. This time to do photography. One college rejected my portfolio and the other passed it. Combined with my leaving cert I had just about enough to get in - until the required amount went up 25 points that year. The saying “Third time lucky” clearly didn’t apply to me! At 20 years old, I figured out that I wanted to be doing something to do with photography. I wasn’t sure what area and I wasn’t sure how. I’m still on that journey. It has taken me from Dublin to London to Cork and now to Dingle. In that time I have covered fashion photography to food photography to portraits to music. I’ve also taken on other areas. I’ve done courses in web design, and right now I am studying journalism in an online course, and hope to be able to combine this with my photography someday. I work in jobs I don’t always love, while I keep 16 West Kerry Live
pushing to get into the area I do love. I do sometimes wonder if going back to college would make the journey that bit quicker, but I’m still not sure if I’m ready for it. I have friends who have gone to college and are finally getting to do what they have always wanted. I have friends that have gone to college and started out in doing what they always wanted only to realise that it actually wasn’t for them. Others have gotten their degrees and gone on to do something completely different. Some have 2 degrees in different areas and still don’t know what they want to do. It is not easy. If you are one of the lucky ones that knows what it is you want, then I couldn’t be happier for you. College life is fun and an adventure enjoy it! If you, like me, have no clue what you want to do - that’s ok. College does not suit everyone. It may not suit you right now, but in 7 years time, or even next year, it may be the perfect thing for you. It may never suit you and that’s ok too. Some people don’t suit studying, lectures and assignments - going straight out to work and learning that way may suit them 10 times better. Don’t get caught up in doing something to make others happy or because it’s what you think you should be doing. In the last 10 years, my mother has gone back to college twice. She has gotten a degree and a diploma. She is 61 years old. If you decide in 40 years time that you are ready for college, that is ok too. I might even see you there then!
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