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Reflecting on #alevels2020 when I arrived in the UK I wanted to study classics at uni. I had the highest grades awarded in the national system where I went to school. Unfortuntely the UK decided that my qualifications were not recognised, and I wasn't eligible for student finance
Bureaucracy is cruel. This isn't a story about 'beating the system'. I never studied classics. In the decade since however I've worked in Brunei, and Rwanda, visited Timbuktu, and stood on a ledge above 15.5 million pilgrims at the Imam Hussein shrine in Karbala. I did a PhD.
None of that was 'part of the plan'. Life is full of set backs. But it is also often full of opportunities. If I could have given advice to my 17 year old self it would have been to make the most of the opportunities available; don't define success too narrowly; stay nimble.
Most of all don't let your self-worth be determined by some letters on an official document. Bureaucracies are never fair. University is really valuable. But some of the smartest, bravest, kindest people I've met had mediocre grades, or none at all. Experience is invaluable.
Plans are useful, but its the process of making them (plural) that's most important, becuase it forces you to look at the future for what is possible. The execution will never turn out as you expected. Keep moving forward. That's enough pomposity from me for an evening. Good luck
