Joining Falmouth as my Insurance Choice

This piece was written by Animation BA(Hons) student Abby about joining Falmouth as her Insurance choice.

There’s a general notion that university will be some of the best years of your life. However, if you’re anything like me, that can be quite an intimidating statement! With so many internal and external pressures, applying becomes an incredibly daunting and nerve-wracking situation – especially when things don’t go as planned. 

My journey from A-Levels to my current degree choice was not at all streamlined. In my final year at school I already knew I wanted to take a gap year, as I was unsure about what to study at university (despite leaning towards the social sciences). However when Covid hit, I found myself falling in love with the art world and started animating short films in my spare time. I took on a Media Foundation Course to make up for my lack of an art background and this is when I finally felt ready to apply for university.

Unfortunately, the application period was particularly rocky for me – surprisingly enough, Falmouth wasn’t even in my original top five choices. The first hiccup was one of my options cancelling their course, which is when I stumbled upon Falmouth University. I saw Falmouth as the back-up for my back-ups. On top of this, I got rejected by my top two universities and withdrew another application due to deadline stress. By this point I felt lost, anxious, and my confidence had been knocked pretty hard. That said, I began to realise that what I feared the most was the unknown and its uncertainty; my plan B only seemed scary because I didn’t prepare for one at all.

With this in mind, I put a lot of effort into researching my last two choices that had accepted me – one of them being a hidden gem: Falmouth University! When investigating, I found it incredibly helpful that their website had a variety of webinars with current students covering subjects such as student life, portfolio guidance and even finance tips! Plus the Ask a Student platform allowed me to hear about the animation course from someone’s personal experience. Despite living in London and not being able to make it to any open days, I felt that I had a lot of clarity on what my time at Falmouth would be like.

Throughout my first year I have never thought that I made the wrong decision. Falmouth caters to all the factors that I consider important to having an enjoyable uni experience! From the huge range of sports and social activities for me to dabble in, all the way to doing a course that I find really enriching. I’ve even noticed that moving from a big city and being slightly out of my comfort zone has made me a better artist!

In the end, I want to reassure people that rejection isn’t always a bad thing! It can open doors to opportunities that you may have never imagined. However it is always important to prepare yourself for different outcomes to ensure that ‘future you’ will be in good hands. Plus if ‘future you’ ends up here in Falmouth, I hope it becomes as special of a place to you as it has to me!