I know, that’s the title of the popular and revealing game. However, what ‘never have I ever’ is about is honesty – something which I am about to provide you with in regard to university.

The first year is a breeze for some, a horror for others. For most, you’ll fall somewhere in between. I love learning, university was always going to be for me. I thought if you studied hard enough and loved your work, it would be forced to love you back (in the form of great grades). This was true to an extent. However, what I also learned was that an A+ can be elusive and that there’s nothing we can do with disappointment but use it to become better.

I got a bad grade (singular – of course) in the first semester. However, that one bad grade taught me a lot about myself. I had spent my whole life excelling and I honestly thought university would be the exact same. It isn’t.

Dwelling on a bad grade, agonising over all the work you put into not getting one… It’s not going to magically get you one. You have no choice but to move on. Don’t take it as a personal hit either, it isn’t. You’re still the same person. When my best friend called to see how I felt about the grade (she had done much, much better) I told her simply “people who want to be the best have to believe they’re the best, so I’ll forget about this. Because I have to”.

Some would say this isn’t the right way to deal with disappointment. I say, those people are wrong.

So, the first year of university wasn’t doused in sparkles, it was challenging. But nothing worthwhile is ever easy – a fact we all know well.

The moral of the story: Do your study, go to your classes, go to drinks with your friends when you’re supposed to be doing your study and going to your classes.

Make university a meaningful experience.

How do you do that? You make friends, you take opportunities, you join clubs, you step out of your comfort zone in a hundred small and varied ways. This part of your life isn’t to be wasted, because youth should never be wasted.

You will have bad lecturers, bad tutors, bad moments. Those will be heavily outweighed by all of the good lecturers, good tutors and good moments. You will fall short gloriously and you will succeed in ways you haven’t imagined. You will be dragged to shadows at 12pm and find yourself home by 5pm, a total mess. You will have all nighters and sleeps that last for 14 hours. You might find someone to love, or even a few people to love, or no one to love at all (which is unlikely – there’s someone for everyone). Overall, you’ll have fun, and that’s all anyone could want really.

So, whether or not law school is for you isn’t the question. You have to ask yourself whether you’re for law school. It’s certainly not for everyone, and five years is a long time to waste doing something you only half like or don’t like at all. In the shadow of much greater writers than I, I could only offer the same assertion that one should always follow their dreams.

As for the BA? A wide range of interesting and thought provoking topics. A bachelor of arts isn’t a ‘bum’ degree and it certainly isn’t a ‘lesser’ degree. A mediation on human life itself is a science, is important, is something meaningful to study. Don’t ever choose another degree for your conjoint just because you think it will ‘look better’. We live in a world where experience and the labour market is heavily diversified – something which will only increase in our lifetime. All skills are valuable skills.

If there’s anything I’ve learnt in my time at University it’s:

• Don’t drink 3 cups of black coffee at 11pm. You won’t sleep and your heart may fail.
• Always make sure there’s money on your hop card
• You are capable of memorising five essays in one night. But try your best not to put yourself in that situation.
• Try your best to get to know the people around you. You might be surprised who you end up meeting/becoming friends with.
• When your friends tell you that you can absolutely go out on Saturday night and still be able to write that essay on Monday, know they’re lying. Go out anyway.
• Macbooks certainly don’t live up to the hype

For the last time: Yours truly,

Tiana