They return with their tail between their legs...

Ok...not quite...but almost.

I've been invited back to my secondary school/ sixthform for their careers day to talk about careers in Marketing/PR/Journalism... at least that's the category they've given me. The fact that I didn't go to university and now have a job at one of the biggest media companies in the world less than two years after finishing my A Levels seems to have been skimmed over... I'll make sure that I make that loud and clear to the students during my presentation.

I really hope they give me another session to talk to the pupils about alternatives to uni.  In an ideal world, I'd be able to address everyone, including those who already had their hearts set on university. Not just because I endured 24+ months of speeches, presentations, preparation days etc about university when I had no intention of going and I have a desire for revenge...but because all young people should know their options, they shouldn't just expect a degree through university. And if nothing else, so that they're made aware that their friends don't go to university, won't end up at the job centre every week for the rest of their lives. Those people then won't have to fight of nasty comments or defend their decision endlessly.

Not only am I looking forward to sharing this wonderful idea that you can and most certainly will get places without university with my younger fellow Bexley Grammar pupils, I can also PROVE that very statement to my teachers and senior staff who pushed me to university and shut down any other ideas that I had.

Well, whilst they're still being teachers, I am a qualified marketer, I have the most wonderful job at the Guardian and I enjoy my career every single day. So there!

Results day 2014

Well done to everyone on their results!
Its finally over and done with so celebrate that you've survived two of the toughest academic years of your life- you've finished!
I hope you got what you expected of your results or you were pleasantly suprised, its probably time to get drunk/ go to a party/go to a family meal/ see your friends/ get drunk.
Maybe you didn't get what you were hoping for and now its probably time to get drunk/ go to a party/go to a family meal/see your friends/get drunk.
Either way, you're future hasn't really changed that much, your distant future anyway. Maybe you'll go back and do some resits, maybe you'll go in to clearing, maybe you get your second or third choice of uni, maybe you go on your gap year, maybe you go in to clearing, maybe you get a job, maybe an apprenticeship, maybe you go to college. What ever it is this day will in no way harm your future. Trust me.
Every year there are more and more options to help you do what you want to do.

A year on from my results day and I am not the same person. I was quite disappointed with my results but I knew they weren't the be-all and end-all (I promise they're not) and look at me now. One results day and a bit of hard work later and I work at

Don't compare yourself to your friends or siblings or cousins or look at how other people in the country did-it won't change your results. Of course, if you decide to do some resits you can think about where you went wrong but don't do it today, don't even do it this weekend. If you're going to have to drastically change your plans for September, do it. Just not today.

Now is the time to celebrate before you take the next step! (That third bottle of wine probably isn't a good idea)

Words of advice from my friend Anthony for those of you choosing A Level subjects

anthony (@tonyeloquenza) tweeted at 0:04 PM on Thu, Aug 22, 2013: word of advice...select you a-levels wisely. on what you actually have an interest in. don't let your grades distort what you actually want. (https://twitter.com/tonyeloquenza/status/370501663335153664) Get the official Twitter app at https://twitter.com/download