So...offers come out tomorrow. This is it. The day you've been waiting for. I don't want to freak you out, but it can be a pretty scary day (or a pretty scary lead-up, anyway!) Here's what I did to relieve the tension (after unclenching my tightly wound fists!)
The end of January should be a peaceful time, a relaxing time. The rush of Christmas has dwindled and is all but gone (as well as the ham your Mum insists on buying year after year), summer has well and truly settled in, and holidays are aplenty.
Yep, the end of January is a fantastic time, especially after all your hard work last year. You deseve a break.
Yet, just like any good thriller, there is a twist in the plot. (I fancy myself a Jamie Lee Curtis-type, so please, indulge my film fantasy for a few moments.) Three words: Main Round Offers.
Suddenly your heart starts to race a little, your pulse quickens. Sweat beads (small, but present nonetheless) start to appear. Breathing, something so simple, becomes a chore. Yep - this is what I like to call POP: Pre-Offer Panic.
If you are suffering from Pre-Offer Panic (like I was), you are not alone. Unless you are one of the teensy minority that got a UAI of 100, you are at the peril of those dastardly villains, the University Admissions Centre. I suffered at their hands, like countless others, and you may, too.
My first preference was Arts/Law at Sydney. Always was, never changed. I didn't even particularly want to be a lawyer, or do anything remotely involved in Law (not that I can remember, anyway!) but I remember it was always my first preference because I thought it would be great to be able to say to everyone, "Yep, I'm doing Arts/Law at Sydney."
Now, when our UAIs came out, I knew I hadn't met the previous year's cut-off. But I wasn't far off, so I thought (hoped, desperately, desperately, hoped) that perhaps nobody would want to do Law that year, that Vet Science might be the new black, and that all those high achievers might have applied for that course.
Alas, when our offers came out, it was not to be! I did, however, receive an offer for my second preference, Arts (Media and Communications). Looking back, even if I did receive an offer into Arts/Law, my expectations of uni life generally were so different to the reality, that I wouldn't have been able to cope with the demands of such a degree. So, ultimately, it worked out better that I didn't receive my first preference. And who knows - after I finish this degree, I might just do Graduate Law...the option is always there!
That's the thing about Main Round Offers - you might not get what you want, but there are always alternative pathways. It might sound cliched, you might have heard this a thousand times by now: but there is not one, single road to the career you've set your heart on. When you get your offer tomorrow, be proud of yourself. You've made it this far!!! Lots of people aren't as fortunate.
If you receive an offer for your first preference: good on ya! I'm very proud, and you should be, too. If you don't, don't fret. It really isn't the end of the world. There are other options out there, just like I learnt.
Good luck!