My secondary school were on at me from year 9 (14 years old) about going to university, they took me to open days and workshops and really encouraged me to think about applying, so from a young age I decided, more like forced, to want to go to uni. When it came to applying I looked around a couple of universities however, knowing the amount of student loan I would get, it was evident that I wasn't able to live away at uni, more on this later... Anyways, school were really hot on us getting our applications in; even if we didn't want to go to university we had to go through the process as if we did. I honestly feel like this was a really bad decision by my school because so many people then felt as if they had to go to uni and if they didn't, then they had a shitty life ahead of them, which obviously isn't the case.
The living situation is obviously a big one, I live at home and drive 40 mins to get to uni whereas my boyfriend and my best friend live at uni and have to walk 15 mins to get to uni. From observation, living at uni gives you more of the expected life style; you're independent, you can drink all the time and you make loads of new friends due to living with people you don't know. Living at home, you don't get this obviously however, worrying about food, bills and if you can afford to live, isn't really an issue as long as you have enough money to get to university or not. I think that me living at home is a massive factor to me not liking uni however as I know I literally cannot afford to live there, it isn't something that is constantly playing on my mind. Having your boyfriend and best friend living away from you isn't ideal obviously but then you have somewhere to stay if you go out for the night.
Everyone tells you that Uni is a lot easier than A-Level however, I think it is equally as hard and you don't have teachers pushing you to do your essays or coursework, it is completely up to you whether you do it or not and the lecturers don't really care if you turn anything in or not. So you aren't being spoon fed; I think this is what makes university such a big jump, you have to do everything for yourself.
University honestly isn't for everyone, so if you don't go to uni or you get there and hate it, don't feel ashamed, especially not if you drop out. It's easy to feel stupid or like a disappointment but that's the case, uni just wasn't for you, and thats okay.
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