I grew up in Ballarat and went to a public school: Mount Clear Secondary College.
I did think briefly about university in year 10. However, I never thought I was smart enough or would have the opportunity to go. It was hard for me to obtain much information either, as no-one in my extended family or circle of friends had ever been to university and I knew nothing of the experience. The only advice I received from my high school teachers was that for further education to even be an option, I must do well at high school. Therefore in year 10, getting through my VCE was my only goal. I really wasn’t thinking about my future when I was in year 10. I hadn’t considered what I might like to do at all, other than be at the stage to rule out what I didn’t want to do. I never thought about dropping out of school, as I always did well and thought that I could finish my VCE. However, at that stage a real university degree was not on my mind at all.
I experienced a lot of obstacles when I decided to gather more information about university. My family did not know how to support me or realise the importance of attending the open days, so I was reliant on high school careers counsellors. The careers counsellor at my high school was meeting with us during lunch breaks and we had about ten minutes each. I didn’t attend a school which was very supportive of encouraging higher education. I did have a couple of teachers who believed in me and were incredibly supportive, although looking back now, their encouragement came from a personal moral obligation and not an academic requirement from the school.
I saw advertisements on TV for the University of Melbourne’s Open Day and I attended. This was followed by the decision to make the move to Melbourne and study a Science degree. My family was horrified at the thought of me moving away from the family with no-one to live with, but they were supportive of my decision to further my studies. My family helped me in any ways they could. I was excited at the prospect of attending university. However, it was a scary and overwhelming change.
Studying science at the University of Melbourne has been the best decision of my life. It opened so many doors for me and I have made some amazing friends and had the opportunity to work with some very talented people. I subsequently graduated with first class honours.
I have been studying for my PhD with Nobel Laureate Peter Doherty and Stephen Turner in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology and will be submitting my thesis in the coming weeks. I have accepted a post-doctoral position at the University of Oxford and will be leaving in December. Looking back on my pathway, the only advice I can give to year 10 students is this: a higher education is not for everyone. Initially, I wasn’t sure it was for me either, but if you follow whatever it is that you are interested in and study things that excite you, you are guaranteed success. Further education offers you the opportunity to learn how to think.
Even if you don’t pursue a career in the field in which you have your degree, having an education means that you have shown a future employer that you can apply yourself, know how to think logically and you are interested in your own personal development. And it might kick-start a fabulous and fruitful career which you love! It did for me.