If there's something in life you want, you've got to fight for it, that's for sure. I started off at Harper Adams on a four-year Agriculture course; things are looking a bit different now.
I had two gap years before I started at Harper, mainly because I didn't know what I wanted to do after A-levels and also because I was very immature - some would say that hasn't changed!
I went to Australia for 11 months and worked on cattle stations and sheep properties, all on a vastly different scale from the UK; the cattle station was 1.3 million acres, two miles to the front gate from the homestead and an hour in either direction to the nearest town, which was no bigger than Harper's campus.
Coming from a non-farming background, it has been harder at times to get my head around the course, to the point that I had to retake an entire module in my second year; thankfully I did pass it third time round!
Due to my previous experience, I managed to qualify myself as placement exempt, which was a job to achieve in itself. I decided to take a year off anyway to earn some money - but it meant that I didn't have to do any of the placement assignments.
Upon completion of a year working on a dairy farm, I felt it wasn't what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. So I went to work in a farm shop instead, and the retail environment definitely rekindled my interest in the industry!
Upon arrival back at Harper Adams for my final year, and after a lot of effort, I've managed to change my course to reflect more my interest in the agri-food retail and business element of agriculture. It's less of a science-based approach, which suits me perfectly, and set more around a management and marketing approach.
By the time I finish at Harper, I'll have done three years in industry and three years of academic work - though I'm sure if you actually added up the amount of work that's been done, it'd be nowhere near three years!
I was looking on Facebook the other day at what some of the people that I was at Sixth Form with are doing now, and one girl has been through five years of law school and is now a qualified barrister - it made me think, seeing as I haven't even finished university yet.
On the other hand though, I've been travelling round the world and gained vital work experience within the agricultural industry from a variety of angles, so that's definitely an advantage in my case.
There are certainly a large proportion of students at Harper who have farms in the family or have a farming background. I' d like to think I was part of a niche market that have an interest in agriculture but are not restrained by the demands of returning home, and so can instead further my talents in the broader business context.
However, as with everything, I'll have a fight on my hands!
