A letter to first year me: Harry

Posted on: 29 September 2023 by Richard Finch in Student experiences

As we prepare to for Employability Day 2023, BA English and MRes graduate Harry Cooper reflects on his time at university, and offers some advice to his first year self.

Dear First Year Me,

In four years time, you will be standing up and delivering a talk at an international linguistics conference, PALA 2023, and while you may not believe that, this is what university does to people. In other words, your time at university will take you to places you never thought you would get to.

University will open you up. The timid and skeptical Harry who arrives at university will be tested and pushed into new places. Do not be fazed or hesitant to step out of your comfort zone and try something new, as university life offers a unique environment to expand your horizons.

University will give you the biggest highs. The friends, academic staff, and the people on the streets will make you feel as if you belong in this new city. Just when life throws up a bad time, someone or something will appear out of those moments to bring you back up.

Your time at university will build you up into some amazing experiences, as you will deliver talks internationally, become a researcher, and offer support to the poorest communities in Liverpool. And laugh the hardest you have ever laughed in your life - which is the most important thing. University will test you.

A combination of coronavirus and limited finances will provide a stubborn resistance to having a straight and smooth pathway toward graduation. But testing times are quintessential to being at university; generations before and after will go to university and struggle, but when you push through them you will gain so much confidence.

Take these moments in your stride, take time to breathe, and rally on. People around you will be finding it hard too, so keep persevering. Finally, university is about you. Make these years your own. Embrace your shortcomings and work on them, or try new things. Make sure you come out of these years knowing you more than anything else. Then, whatever life throws at you when you leave, know that you are ready and have a degree from a world-leading university to make your next steps.

Go get 'em!

Harry

Postgraduate Researcher in Cognitive Linguistics and Poetics, University of Liverpool