June 1st marks a whole year since I hadn’t in my very last assignment at university. I may have actually handed it in a couple of days earlier actually, but June 1st was definitely the deadline. It was also the day that my uni held a little farewell party for the third years and we all said our goodbyes.
Seeing as it’s been a year since I finished my degree, I thought it might be nice to talk about how I feel about “after uni” life.
PRESSURE
Even though everyone knew I already had a job whilst I was at uni, everybody asked me if I was going to get a “graduate job”. There was such an immense pressure to immediately start applying for grad jobs as soon as our dissertations were handed in and honestly I don’t know why. A lot of people I went to uni with were quite happy to continue doing the job they were already doing (which I did) or take a break after uni and worry about jobs later. It’s all about doing things at your own pace.
I will say this though, it does sometimes annoy me that I didn’t get a break between finishing uni and starting work because I was still working and moving house too. I really wish I took some time to go on holiday or something. I try and balance out these thoughts with the knowledge that a lot of people I know moved back home after uni and didn’t move out straight away (which is absolutely fine if that works for you) and I was too busy moving to think about holidaying.
Moving out of student halls
Yes, I was one of those students that stayed in student halls for my entire time at uni. It was easy and convenient. However, I do wish that I moved into a houseshare for my second and third year because I would’ve saved so much money.
When I lived in student halls, I’d have £30 left over out of my student loan once my rent had been paid each term, hence why I worked so much when I was in uni. If I’d have moved I wouldn’t have been paying nearly as much rent as I was for my little student accommodation room. I literally lived in the CHEAPEST halls I could find in London so I have no idea how other students survived without working their way through uni.
Nevertheless, because I did choose to live in halls for three years, moving out of halls and into an actually house (room in a house to be more specific) felt incredible. I now share a house with seven men and it’s so much quieter and (surprisingly) cleaner than my all-girls uni floor. On another note, I don’t know why but since I moved out of halls I feel so much more free and independent. This really doesn’t make sense because I do all of the same things now than when I lived in student accommodation. Maybe it’s the not being at uni side of things that made the difference.
Post-grad courses
If there is one thing that I’m absolutely certain about, it’s this. There is no way that I’m going back to uni to do a Masters degree. Every time I get one of those post-grad emails from UCAS a shudder travels down my spine. I know I sound like I’m exaggerating but I really can’t express how much I don’t want to go back into the education system.
However, if you’re brave enough to go back to do a Masters though – good for you.
Student loan repayments
This is something that I’ve been avoiding thinking about for ages, much like my tax return. However, this week I managed to set up a standing order in an attempt to make a dent in my outstanding student loan balance. It’s a small standing order but it’s definitely a start. For clarification, you don’t actually have to start worrying about paying off your loan until you earn a certain amount of money each year. From what I’ve been told, the payments come out of your wages every month just like tax. Although I’m not sure about how all the repayments work when you’re self-employed so I felt a little stuck about how I should go about repaying mine.
If you’re as lost as I was (and still am), you can find out more about undergrad loan repayments here
As always, thank you for reading!
Let me know about how you found “life after university” and some of the things that you enjoyed or struggled with.
Ways you can reach me:
- Email: courteneynoonan@hotmail.co.uk
- Twitter: @courteneyjn
- Instagram: @courteneynoonan
Bye for now,
Courteney x
courteneynoonan.co.uk 
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