Why did you choose an apprenticeship and what did your decision-making process look like?
I live in a deprived part of Manchester and it's a postcode that unis often pick up on to make contextual offers, especially if your parents haven’t gone to uni. We had quite a lot of unis coming into school and speaking to us, and I was a high-performing student. But, we also had apprenticeship providers come into our school because not many people went on to do a traditional university degree.
In my 3rd year of secondary school, Manchester Metropolitan University came in to speak to us about their apprenticeship programme and they explained how apprenticeships worked, and I thought, wow. So I don't have to go to uni and worry about performing well in traditional exams and essay writing? I can actually go out and learn from working? I just fell in love with it, and I told every teacher I was doing an apprenticeship.
When I told my parents, my mum, who never went to uni, was really supportive but said it sounded too good to be true. She was worried because she still believed that getting a degree was the most important thing. But then I told her you could get a degree through an apprenticeship. My dad is Persian, and he has a very traditional mindset, so he thought the only way 'to survive in this world' would be to go to uni, but we warmed him up to the idea. We sat down and explained to him that I could still get the degree but in a way that suited me better.
Then I chose my A levels. I've always wanted to be a people manager, so I chose general A levels that complemented those roles. I chose English Language because you’ve got to talk to people and understand what they’re trying to say. Maths, because you’ve got to understand how data works, and psychology because you’ve got to work with people. My college still pushed me to fill out a UCAS application for a traditional degree, but when we had time to work on personal statements, I worked on cover letters.