Hopes, Fears & Opportunities
At the start of third year I wrote a blog about my Hopes, Fears and Opportunities for the future. Now that I am coming to the end of my three-year university course I will reflect on this and see what has changed and what new hopes, fears and opportunities I have developed.
Hopes
My hopes for this year included graduating with a grade I am proud of; I feel that I have put my all into this year, especially this last semester in order to achieve a grade I am pleased with. I want to be able to finish the year and feel like I can say I did everything I could, and then I will be happy with my grade. The rest of my hopes so far are still the same and will require me to work hard after I leave uni. I want to be able to find work or an internship that focuses on what I love doing and puts my degree to use. I mentioned a saying I heard on the course in first year and I feel it has stuck with me throughout my three years here “If you love your job, you’ll never work another day in your life.” This is something I truly believe in and wish to achieve. A hope that will never die of mine is to live in New York some day, even if it’s just for a week. All these ambitious hopes aside, my dream would be to find an intern or placement after uni which allows me to shadow and work with someone that I hope to be like in a few years time, whether this be at a magazine company or an online clothing brand, as long as I can learn and contribute I feel this could help me to begin my career.
Fears
I had quite a lot of fears at the start of third year that involved never finding work and being stuck in the job I’m in now, which has nothing to do with my degree. I think and I hope that I have gained too much motivation over this year to not get stuck in my job, I want more and I know what I enjoy doing. My biggest fear now is fear of the unknown. I’ve been in education for 18 years and I feel it’s all I’ve ever known. University has been my safety blanket for the past three years and to think that I won’t have that anymore and I have to go out into the ‘real world’ by myself scares me. I hope I don’t leave uni and feel I’m to scared to apply for jobs or go to interview, I want to keep this motivation I have at the moment.
Opportunities
I have had so many opportunities in third year which the teachers have helped set up massively. At Uni the tutors set up residential trips, guest lectures, talks and workshops with people in the industry, this gives us as students chance to speak to and interact with the people that are already working in and are successful in the industry that we want to enter. Tutors set up meetings with artists and exhibitions especially on residential trips, which are amazing opportunities as we’ve been to New York and Prague in recent years so it’s great to see how people in different countries contribute to the industry. Unfortunately I didn’t get chance to go on this years residential trip to Paris which would have been an amazing opportunity to try and meet some fashion illustrators. After Christmas was when I began my contact with professional practitioners, this started with some meetings that the tutors set up which gave us the chance to hear from the practitioners on what they do, their client lists and how they can help us. This was followed by group or individual portfolio reviews, which was a great experience to practise interviews and showing our work to potential clients. I also received great feedback and constructive criticism, which really helps with building my portfolio. I attended an event held at Manchester Metropolitan Business School also which allowed us to hear from professionals in the industry and also get our portfolio’s reviewed by art critics and directors! Having these opportunities and pushing myself to go to events such as this has helped to build my confidence in showing my work but also prepared me for interview scenarios.









