Second year, first milestone

Second year at Scottish universities is in many ways a turning point - at its end, students have the opportunity to choose their classes for the first time. Since grades in 3rd and 4th year, ‘honours’ years, impact final degree classification, it is essential to choose wisely. Classes vary in themes, lecturers, grading systems. Within my joint degree (English & Art History), St Andrews offers about 70 modules, from medieval English poetry through creative writing to African modernisms. From the 70 I have to choose the 10 - 12 most appealing to me, from which I get assigned 3 - 5 randomly.

Having to make these decisions in the middle of April, I will be choosing to a considerable extent based on lecturers - individual approach is essential, in university even more so than in high school. Nonetheless, the school year goes on. This semester I am studying anglophonic theatre from Shakespeare to Zinnie Harris, visual arts of the 20th and 21st centuries, and the philosophy of aesthetics and meta-ethics. I am especially lucky when it comes to tutors, mainly my tutor for literature. I leave Friday tutorials energized and inspired.

In my free time, I am trying to balance school, extracurricular activities (dancing, Amnesty International, student journalism) and work. I now teach IB English, IB History, and university application skills on the webpage MyTutor. The teachers must reside in the United Kingdom, but their students are from all over the world. The international nature of IB has thus allowed me to teach high school students from England, United Arab Emirates, Australia. Though a great pedagogical experience and a decent extra income, it is an unstable job. For that reason, I am looking into more part-time jobs in St Andrews.

Second year also features searching for summer internships. St Andrews has excellent career counselling - according to some the best in Britain - and provides a range of internship opportunities globally. Also, the university often offers to cover travel and meal expenses, which is more than useful in the times of so many unpaid internships. Therefore, the decision-making that awaits me is not only academical, but also career-related.

As is probably apparent from this piece, second year is, at least for me, a milestone. More than ever before it is necessary to prepare, plan, predict. I am happy to undergo these changes at St Andrews and I want to express my gratitude to The Kellner Family Foundation and everyone who is supporting me on my journey.

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