When it doesn't go to plan
Merryn Hobbs, a Research and Development Technologist for the global polymer group Trelleborg, didn’t quite get the A-level grades she needed to go to her chosen university. She spoke to us about her chemistry journey, and why she believes things don’t always have to go to plan to have a happy ending.
When she was 17, at the end of her first A-level year, Merryn had the opportunity to go on an open day tor Pera Technology, organised through the Royal Society of Chemistry, where she was particularly intrigued by a project called the AQUACELL, a system that used microbial fuel cells to clean industrial waste water and generate electricity.
In her final year at school, Merryn used the AQUACELL as a case study for her Extended Project Qualification, which students can opt to complete alongside their A-levels. Merryn’s project took the form of an extended essay and consisted of a series of case studies and evaluations on the topic of Green Chemistry.
An Extended Project counts as the equivalent of an AS-level, but little did Merryn know at the time that this qualification would be the crucial factor that would enable her to go to university.
On A-level results day, Merryn woke up and checked her UCAS account. To her disappointment she saw that she hadn’t got into Sheffield, her first-choice university. Later, when she arrived at school she found she hadn’t got her second choice – Cardiff – either. "What made it worse is that I was only one UMS point off in chemistry, and three points off in biology for the grades I had needed to get into Cardiff, and I’d been so close!"
She phoned Cardiff University, who told her she was on a waiting list. While she was waiting to hear back, she phoned Nottingham Trent, which had so nearly been her second choice. While they had a few places on their three-year BSc Chemistry course, they informed her she couldn’t secure a place until she had been formally released into clearing. By the time Cardiff confirmed that she hadn’t secured a place there, the places on the Nottingham Trent course had been taken up too.
"They basically told me I was too late for the BSc, which was a shock, but then they said, 'If you have an extra 20 UCAS points we still have space on our MChem four-year course'." Merryn was able to use her Extended Project and her AS-level in French to accumulate enough UCAS points to secure a place on the MChem course at Nottingham Trent, and the rest is history.
Merryn soon discovered that Nottingham Trent was the perfect place for her to study chemistry. "I had visited on an open day and really liked the department and the lab set-up there. The only reason I hadn’t chosen it was because it was a campus university and I didn’t like the idea of being out of the city. But I quickly fixed up my accommodation in Nottingham, not on campus, so I wasn’t restricted at all. If I’d known you could do that earlier, I would probably have picked it in the first place."
Opening doors
The MChem course opened many doors for Merryn, and the university supported her in finding two placements. "I did a 10-week placement with a Leicester-based company which I heard about through LATi (Loughborough Advanced Technology and Innovation) between my second and third year, and then I chose to do a year’s placement in my third year – working in an international school near Barcelona as a lab technician. The job was quite challenging, and the experience showed me that I don’t want to go into teaching! But living in Spain was amazing, I made some great friends there and I really want to go back to visit, because it’s a completely different culture and lifestyle."
During her industrial placement she was working on the development of a new coating to improve the properties of rubber, and after, towards the end of university, the company Trelleborg Antivibration Solutions offered her a job in a new role they were creating. She is now a few weeks into the job and is excited about what the future holds. "So far it’s been really varied. They’re a great team here and I have learnt so much already as well as using skills from my course."
During her four years at university Merryn was a student member of the Royal Society of Chemistry, and in her final year she volunteered at a Royal Society of Chemistry outreach event at the New Walk Museum in Leicester. Coincidentally, the event was run by education coordinator Heidi Dobbs, who had also organised the Pera Technology visit that inspired Merryn’s Extended Project.
She says she volunteered in order to get some different experiences to put on her CV, but would like to do more volunteering in the future. "Now that I don’t have study in my evenings and at weekends I feel like much more of my spare time is my time, so it would be nice to use some of that for volunteering. Especially as you can do it locally – it’s convenient."
"I found the event in Leicester really interesting because it was introducing kids to chemistry in the world around them that they hadn't ever thought of because they were so young. To help them think about chemical structures, on one of the desks we had MolyMods in the shape of certain scents, and they had to smell the scent and then I'd show them the structure. They got really interested in it."
Everything happens for a reason
Merryn has an MChem in chemistry and is at the beginning of an exciting career. She has some advice for students anxiously awaiting the results of their A-levels this week:
"I now have the philosophy that everything happens for a reason, because yes it felt like a disaster on results day, but now I’ve graduated with an undergraduate Masters and a first. If I had got into my first choice, chances are I wouldn’t have lived in Spain, perhaps I wouldn’t have worked in industry that summer, I wouldn’t have come out with the combined Masters, and I maybe wouldn’t have got a job straight away."
"But let’s face it, you don’t have to go to university – it’s not for everyone and it’s not the be-all and end-all. If you don’t get the grades you need, it may feel like the end of the world but it’s really not. There’s always another opportunity around the corner."
Advice for students
If things don’t go to plan on results day, don’t despair! Have a look at the UCAS Who to contact page for what to do next.
The first thing to do is to contact your chosen universities, including the ones whose offers you didn’t accept. If you need help after this you can call UCAS’s exam results helpline, on 0808 100 8000.
They can talk you through your various options, including re-sits and re-marks, vocational learning routes such as apprenticeships and diplomas, employment, and gap years. You can also call this number if your results are higher than expected and you want to review your options.
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