Hello to you all! My name is Mahesh Godhania and welcome to the first of my blogs for Working Options.

I am 20 years old, in the third year of my four-year degree course currently completing a year long placement at Vauxhall Motors in Luton. Studying at Aston University for a BSc in Accounting for Management, I hope to keep you engaged with my studying and career journey, please feel free to post any questions or anything that comes to mind in the comments section below!

My association with Working Options began in 2013 and time has flown by ever since! It was in my first year of sixth form college. I was one of over 20 students in the Careers Ready programme (Formerly, Careers Academy), when I heard about the Working Options scholarship programme in partnership with Sainsbury’s [This programme has now ended]. Following a rigorous selection process, including 3 presentations and a 4-week internship, I was awarded with the scholarship prize to help fund my university place.  I’d also seen Working Options delivering presentations to my college which were very motivating and included guest speakers from industry whose experiences are invaluable to any young person.

In this blog I will be focusing on the topic of going to university. I decided that university was for me as I didn’t really want to be going straight into work following college. Another big contributor to me deciding to go to university was due to the 4 week internship at Sainsbury’s, with 2 of those in the retail finance department at their head office in Holborn. This had a very positive impact on me, as I was able to communicate with many professionals and see the type of journey they took to get to their position. I was also really impressed with the real-life work that goes on and it struck me that university would prepare me well for the Finance based career I am looking for.

My advice is to try and get some experience in something that you enjoy, even if it’s for a few weeks as not only will it look good on your CV but also it gives you a way to plan what it is you want to do.

A decision I had to make was whether it was worth the financial expenditure to go to university? This could potentially put many people off, but I believe the system in regards to repaying loans is very friendly, although debatable with the interest added. I had a part-time job during college and worked extra hours in the holidays to save a decent amount of money.

I decided on which universities I wished to apply for on the basis of table rankings for my subject of choice, being realistic on grade expectations and the fact I wished to move away from home. Other factors included the university’s emphasis on graduate employability i.e. offered a placement or not, effective careers service? Then also, the type of scene you want. I wanted to experience a good social scene with lots of opportunities and things to do! The Student Room website provides useful information for any topic!

The university I decided to go to was Cardiff. Unfortunately not achieving the grades for the entry requirement meant I was offered a place at my insurance option, Aston. Despite the disappointment, I was the only person to blame for not getting the required grades! Truthfully, I should have put more work into my studies at that time. Looking forward and learning from my past experiences is something I constantly try to do.

What I wished to study stemmed from working around finance professionals in the office environment during my weeks with Sainsbury’s in Holborn. I found many people were qualified accountants therefore going to study that subject would enable me to have a sound background whilst keeping other doors open for my future. The modules in my degree vary a fair bit and I feel that is a good approach to take unless you have your heart set on something in particular!

In my next blog I shall talk about Life at university. I hope you all are having a great day and I would be happy to respond to any comments.

Mahesh