Five years ago I got up early on a mid-August Wednesday and headed into school to pick up my Leaving Certificate results.
I was never one for the maths and would much rather have my head stuck in a juicy novel than a geography book so I don’t really know what I was expecting.
Needless to say, I opened that dreaded envelope and was heartbroken and disappointed with my results. While all my friend’s were celebrating their good news I had to face the fact that without a miracle I would not be getting an offer on Monday.
I went out with the girls that night and pretended to enjoy myself but really I was devastated. Always the hopeful type, I wished for a miracle place in any university but it wasn’t to be.
After three days of sporadic crying my mom bravely broached the word I had been dreading (“Repeat”) and to my horror I was once again to don my awful brown uniform, except this time my friends wouldn’t be there to share the pain.
I’ve made it sound terrible but that is how I felt during those weeks between the results and returning to school. It’s hard to deal with the disappointment and to distinguish your college excitement.
Now that I’m an adult in a grown-up job that I love I can honestly tell you that repeating the Leaving Certificate was the best thing I ever did.
The first few weeks were hard as my friends moved on to their exciting new college lives on campus but soon I started settling into school again.
Because of my disappointment, I was determined to show everyone how well I could do this time around and next summer I wanted to be as happy and as proud of myself as my friends had been.
I threw myself into my books and my new subjects and apart from a few drunken calls on a Tuesday night from my college friends I got through the year just fine.
Throughout my first LC, I was unsure of what I really wanted to study in university and law courses filled up my CAO. During my Repeat Year, I realised that it wasn’t for me. I had always loved to write, travel and meet new people and I decided I would take a chance and apply for a new course, Journalism and New Media in U.L.
Before I would have been afraid to apply for a course in a college where I didn’t know anyone but now I was focused on achieving what I really wanted.
Along came June and instead of dreading the two weeks of exams I could not wait to get them over with so I could spend a summer catching up with the girls. When that dreaded mid-August Wednesday morning came around again I was ready for it.
I surpassed my expectations and achieved great results. This time there was no doubt in my mind that I would be accepted to university. I was ecstatic.
The following September I enrolled in U.L. and I have made friends for life. My friendships at home remain strong and although we don’t see each other as often as we should, when we do it was just the same as it was five years ago.
I will graduate from university in two weeks and I really have landed a job that I love. The advice I will give you is to have a good cry but don’t forget to pick yourself up and throw everything into preparing yourself for next year.
Chances are, like me, it will be the best thing you will ever do. And when that results day comes around again next summer, you’ll have every reason to be very proud of yourself.
