During this unit I have been able to research and have a look into education and employment, something that is a big part of my life especially as I am considering going to University next year. I have been able to research into a number of different universities, ones I’ve even decided to visit and maybe think about becoming a student there come next year. This research has helped me realise I definitely want to attend University to study Media and Communications. This is a broad course which covers every aspect of media, it’s a good course for people who want to do do media but aren’t exactly sure what they want to do in this subject. It covers all sectors and I’d love to have a go at everything because I may even like a certain sector but never considered taking it as an individual subject because I didn’t think i’d like it.
As part of the research I first of all researched the difference between a job and career, this allowed me to see what each of them can offer me and what I would benefit out of the most. I have then completed four mind maps which looks into two educational pathways and two job pathways that I could possibly take after studying the photography course. I decided to look into a Media degree, which of course at this point is more convenient for me as that is what I’m actually going to be doing, a fashion degree, Wedding photography and Journalism. It made me realise how many different pathways ways I could take just by doing a photography course at college. I have also completed a variety of different case studies, This starts of with identifying specifics so that I could evaluate my strength and weaknesses of myself as a person, this was about me and what I can give to the industry, the second case study was about when I did my work experience and what it has taught me along with strengths and weaknesses and how that helped me along the way. I was also able to analyse the opportunities and barriers that went along with that too. I have also competed my personal statement, this is important as I need it for when I apply for University. I was able to use the UCAs templates to help write down some notes about me that cover all areas and they string it together in sentences and paragraphs.
I found this unit quite useful as it gave me time to write my personal statement as I hardly have any time out of college to write it due to having a job. I found it quite easy to write my personal statement once I had written a few notes down, after that it was all about putting it together in sentences. I knew I wanted to go to University which made personal statement writing a little easier as I had something to aim for. This Unit has fallen into place with applying for universities at the right time as I am in the middle of looking around different places to see if I like it there and to see what the course can offer me at these locations. I was able to research into different job and careers that I could take after doing this photography course, it enabled me to make a decision of what I want to do at University, I chose Media and Communications. As a part of the research I was able to work out the financial cost that everything would be when given different job scenarios, I had to work out everything I would be paying for, then take it away from the amount of money i’d be earning that year. I was then able to work out how much money i’d have left over to take care after myself. This task made everything surreal and showed us how much money we would need to make our adulthood life seem ok. A Job to earn money is vital especially when having to pay off rent and and contracts such as wifi and any household everyday essentials.
The only thing I struggled with when it came to this unit was working out the financial costs of things and how to take it off annually, after it was explained to me multiple times I got the hang of it and was able to complete it along with the rest of the course. This unit is small and quick to complete yet helps the most with the university situation.
This unit has helped me research the different aspects i soon live to see after finishing my photography course at college. I have finished my UCAs application and now I will continue to go to different university open days to see what is best for me. Knowing the information that I have researched during this course has made it a lot easier for me to understand.
Rachel Jacob 