How I navigated the tricky journey from school to UCC life

When I started secondary school, I thought that by the time the Leaving Certificate came around, I would know exactly what I wanted to do with my life. Like most students, I quickly realised that wasn’t the case.

I’m currently studying Commerce in UCC, and have also worked in hospitality for the last four years, working my way up from yard man to my current role as Supervisor.

In many ways, I have Commerce to thank for the skills that have helped me progress in hospitality. But did I always want to do Commerce? The answer is… no. I didn’t know what I wanted to do at secondary school.

I recall being in my first year of secondary school and wondering what I wanted to do in college and being reassured that the choice would become more clear. However, as the years went on and the time-frame closed, I still had no idea what I wanted to do, so I did what any normal person would do and panicked!

I began to spiral, ‘if I don’t pick the right course, I won’t pick the right job and then I won’t be able to…’ and so on and so on.

I cannot thank my career guidance counsellor enough, I had many meetings with her where we went over my interests, and discovered that they lie in people and numbers.

So she helped me set up meetings with people in multiple fields and narrowed down my search. I implore students at secondary school to meet with and talk to their career guidance teachers because they are truly there to help you, and have invaluable resources and knowledge that will help you to make the right choice.

Eventually, with the deadline only a week away, I decided to pick the broadest business degree I could find, still worrying even after all my research that I would hate it and be back to square one. Thankfully, I could not have been more wrong.

When going into Commerce, I believed it would be the same as the Leaving Certificate - learn information and regurgitate it for the exam. However, what I’ve realised in the last two years is the course is about much more than lectures or exams. It’s about understanding how the world around you actually works.

You start to see business everywhere; in the brands people wear, the way companies grow or fail, and even in how people make everyday decisions. It really makes you think about how it all connects.

In Commerce, you cover a range of modules like Business, Economics, Business Information Systems, Maths, and Management. Yet, what is truly surprising is how much they mix together, overlap, and how one lecture can expand your understanding of another module in ways you wouldn’t have expected.

Going into college, I knew I enjoyed Maths and Accounting but my love for these subjects has only increased with my time in UCC.

The lecturers have shown me that what you learn will be used in the business world. This answers the big question teachers are often asked in secondary school - “when will we ever use this?”

However, the modules we have done have also given me surprises. For example, Economics, which I never found all that interesting in school, has become a subject I’ll never miss out on in college. The structure of assessments is also different from what I expected. Instead of everything depending on one set of exams at the end of the year like the Leaving Cert, many modules are assessed via a mixture of assignments, group projects, presentations and shorter exam cycles. Instead of two years for six exams, it is now 12 weeks for six exams.

It can feel intense at times, but it also keeps you constantly engaged.

That being said, my transition into university wasn’t completely smooth. One of the biggest challenges at the start was adjusting to the independence that comes with college.

In secondary school, your day is structured for you, but in university you are responsible for managing your own time. Balancing lectures, assignments, social life and part-time work can be difficult in the beginning.

There were definitely moments in first year when I wondered if I was keeping up with everything properly. Yet, over time, you adapt, learn how to organise yourself, prioritise your workload, and how to ask for help.

That’s just from an academic standpoint, one of the best parts of Commerce has been meeting like-minded people and many of them becoming close friends. There’s something comforting about being surrounded by people who are in the same situation, trying to figure things out just like you are. Everyone is working towards something, even if they don’t fully know what that something is yet.

The sense of community is strengthened through the Commerce Society. I had the pleasure of being involved with it during the first year, and it is the largest society in UCC.

They regularly organise events for students and work closely with the Course Directors to provide opportunities such as the BComm Case Study Competition and the BComm Business Plan Competition. These events allow students to use what they are learning while also meeting other people within the course, which keeps encouraging students to step outside their comfort zones.

Another element of Commerce is that it pushes you outside your comfort zone, for example, with placement and the Erasmus programme. Even so, you always feel supported by the lecturers through each process.

For me and many others, this course has encouraged me to see what’s out there. With modules that are specifically for CV development and interview preparation, I was able to secure a summer internship with Apple.

I also decided to really take a leap outside my comfort zone and go on Erasmus to Groningen in The Netherlands for the full year, as of September. This is a scary choice, as it feels as if I’m leaving my whole life behind me. My family, my friends and job are all back here, the comfort that I and so many are used to being wrapped in, is coming undone.

Commerce has taught me to be curious, by teaching us to question and understand, not just to memorise. It’s taught me to be adaptable, by giving us projects and competitions that require us to understand how the skills we are being taught can be used, even in the most foreign situations.

The course encourages us to seek new experiences, by giving us opportunities that we never thought we could do. I know from what has happened so far in my degree, that these choices to step away from the comfort of the known, are the scariest, but also the choices worth making and experiencing.

Looking back, Commerce hasn’t given me everything I wanted, but it gave me a lot more of what I needed - time, great options, and a chance to explore different paths without feeling boxed into one direction.

I feel that that’s something a lot of students need to hear; it’s OK not to have everything figured out, even when those around you do. Sometimes, the best decision you can make is simply to choose a path that gives you room to grow, and to trust in that.