My tertiary education journey

I initially struggled studying at university straight after high school. I found the large university quite an unwelcoming place. It didn't help that it took me over an hour and a half to get there by public transport, I was isolated from my school friends who were studying other courses, and I wasn't comfortable with my choice of course. Although I'm not overly creative, I certainly know what I like, but this wasn't really enough to undertake a course in Architecture, and I didn't take art at high school. After only a week I decided to change to Civil Engineering. Although a good idea at the time, I found the change to be the opposite of creativity and incredibly technical. Again I didn't seem to have the aptitude, so subsequently failed the year.

I decided to take some time away from study. I went to work for a large bank and my first placement was in a city branch. I enjoyed the work and the staff were very sociable and quite a varied group. I even got along with the manager who encouraged me to return to my studies and supported my application for time off to attend university to study Arts Economics full time the following year. Having worked full time for nearly a year, I was better able to apply myself to my studies. Changing to a more suitable course also helped. I should have realised I was more suited to economics and commerce as I did well in Economics at high school. I passed all but one subject, and even achieved a Credit in two of the subjects. I transferred to part time study at the university and returned to work at the bank full time as I didn't have a lot of money to be able to afford to undertake full time study. I moved from the city branch to an administrative role where I was responsible for supporting those in the bank who were also studying.

I transferred from Arts to Commerce (Marketing) and continued to use public transport to get to university after work. It took me about one and a half hours to get home after lectures and tutorials. Having moved from full time to part time study meant I could only schedule my subjects over four nights rather than the usual three nights. I found this incredibly tiring, particularly with my full time work. There were also issues at home I was trying to deal with, and it was all too much for me. My work in the bank always took priority as I needed the money and enjoyed the work. The first year of part time study I passed two of the four subjects attempted, the second year I passed one subject and the third year I failed all subjects.

Not a great outcome, but I was determined to complete a degree. The next year I transferred to a a Bachelor of Business degree at a College of Advanced Education (CAE) which was closer to home. I passed the two subjects undertaken in Semester 1 of the new part time study, but failed the two subjects undertaken in Semester 2. Although I received credit for the subjects I had successfully completed at university, I was actually going backwards to complete a degree as the CAE course contained more subjects than the university degree. I failed the two subjects undertaken the following Semester which meant I had to take more time out from my studies. During the time off I decided to look into applying at a rural CAE to complete a B Bus (Administration) course by correspondence part time. The CAE became a university about the time I started there. Finally, after a further eight years (yes, you read that correctly and if nothing else I'm persistent), I satisfactorily completed all the requirements of the B Bus (Administration) degree.

I was the first in my family to obtain a degree and my mother was incredibly proud and came with my wife and me to the graduation ceremony. I was extremely pleased to finally finish the course, even under all the difficult circumstances. I believe the degree helped me in my banking and finance career. I still enjoy studying and learning new things.