Why I'm not going to Uni.

I’m asked on a regular basis at the moment about which Universities I’ve ‘firmed’ and which ones I’ve applied for. To be fair, I’ve been asked which Universities I’ve applied for since this time last year and whenever I say with a smile ‘I’m not going to University’ I get a reaction; normally one of shock immediately followed up by ‘why?’. When I explain my thinking, I then get an answer along the lines of ‘OK, well good luck’ and that’s it. End of conversation. To be honest, I’ve gotten used to answering why I’m not going to University, and am entirely happy with my choice, but part of me feels alienated because I’m not going continue in education after July.

It isn’t the huge debt that it will put me in after a course that’s putting me off; I’m well aware that I wouldn’t have to repay a penny until I’m in a job earning a lot of money. I’m also well aware that it isn’t as daunting as it may seem – I had a sister and a brother who both went and my cousin is nearing the end of his first year at Reading. I’m also well aware that it is supposedly the best years of my life. Yet it really doesn’t appeal to me for some reason.

The beauty of journalism is that it doesn’t really require a degree; look how many successful journalists there are out there and look how many don’t have a bit of paper telling them they can write or speak. I know I can write. I’ve shown it many times in the last few years and that’s part of the reason that three years of learning how to write really doesn’t appeal to me. Instead, in those three years I reckon will I learn far more by working somewhere, ideally in motoring journalism, but any kind of journalism will do to get me going.

I’m often told I’m blessed with having a contact book larger than a Rolls Royce Phantom and with a work experience with impressive names to boot:  CAR, Autocar and AUTOSPORT to name three. TopGear should be on the list too, but it isn’t for reasons that I won’t discuss any further. I didn’t just make the tea during my stints; no I got a lot of content posted, I wrote race reports and got told to eff off by Jason bloody Plato and then got an invite to the Sky F1 Media Day at the Royal Automobile Club. These things don’t happen by accident: as a fourteen year old I looked through CAR one day and thought ‘I can do this’. Four years later I’m well on my way to doing just that.

Yes, I’ve had my lucky breaks; I wouldn’t have got work experience with CAR as a 15 year old had I not had a family friend in the same company, but even then, CAR were taking a huge gamble in taking this fifteen year old from Devon who thought he knew everything about cars. I’ve said it many times and I’ll say it again, I’m forever indebted to Tim Pollard for spending a lot of time during that week telling me to shut up and write and hopefully setting me up for life. Tim, if you’re reading this, thank you from the bottom of my heart.

‘Here’s a press release and an image. Write a news story on it and for heavens’ sake don’t write about it on Facebook as nobody’s meant to know about it until 6pm. I’m off in a meeting for an hour and half’ were a few of his first words to me, and probably taught me a few things that I carry forward to this day: I respect embargoes because I know that if I don’t, a big burly man named Simon will phone me and be rather angry at me. Or something.

Veering back on-topic, I have the experience, I have the talent – Jim Holder, the editor of Autocar said I stood out from 40+ work experience students last year – and I have people in the industry who know who I am very well thanks to me going up to them and introducing myself to them. One of my tutors at college recently told me that I’m like a human version of LinkedIn as I’ll do whatever it takes to connect with people. This is true, as I love to ‘meet’ other journalists online or in person. Strange how I haven’t really used LinkedIn, mind you.

Thank you internet also for making my dream that much closer; without you, I wouldn’t be half as far as I am now, with several pieces online and many many emails sent, as well as speculative tweets asking if it is possible to do x y and z. My parents keep on telling me I’m the exact meaning of ‘if you don’t ask, you don’t get’. I’ve been a jammy git alright and it’s paid off so far.

I still don’t know what I’m doing come July, but one thing I do know: whatever I do, as long as it is journalism related, I will love: there’s nothing better than breaking a story, writing nonsense (I do that well as you know) or even writing something remotely sensible. (On this note, I’m made a promise to myself to blog on a far more regular basis from now on)

So University, it was nice flirting with the idea of taking you on board for a bit, but I’m afraid I’m going to have to give you a two-fingered salute and say that you’re about as much use to me as a speed hump is on an runway. Notepad and pen in hand, natch.