If you’ve been following my travails this year you’ll know I was studying two VCE subjects, it wasn’t with the aim of actually completing my VCE and not having to studying any year 12 subjects ever again as I didn’t do any research regarding whether they’d accept my previous results but with a totally different aim.

Being an adult student means I need to use different criteria to get into university and when I did my research I misinterpreted the information I was given and thought I needed to get 60% in two VCE subjects to be enrolled in a Bachelor of Arts. The following day was enrolment day for VCE at CAE and so I went in and enrolled in English and English Language, both subjects ‘cos I don’t got enough English.

After studying since February it was August I discovered my mistake and kept going anyway. A few days ago I proved my change of name to VTAC and it seems they were able to match me up with my results from a long time ago, not only that but they even allowed some of my subjects from back then to add to my results from 2011 and also from this year so I now have enough points to get my VCE. I have a fairly low score but I’ve been hoping for this day for a very long time and am currently very emotional about it so my low score isn’t an issue…that will probably come later when I find I can’t get into anything I want to do but I’ll consider that when it happens.

I’ve been talking about doing a Diploma of Professional Writing and Editing at RMIT, but I’d also like to do an Associate Degree in Professional Writing and Editing, but I’d also like to a Bachelor of Arts! There are many similarities between the first two, but the Diploma doesn’t need a pass in VCE while the Associate Degree does, the Bachelor of Arts needs either a pass in VCE or two university units.

I’ve been looking more closely at the Diploma for two reasons, one is that it didn’t need a pass in VCE and the other is that it’s a year full time and I’d then be qualified to do the work I’ve been doing for the past few years (some of it free and some of it paid). Now that I have my pass in VCE I’m going to consider the other two courses and just see which is likely to accept me.

It would be an awesome thing to be able to do the Diploma and then the Associate Degree after that but it might be a case of money and whether we want to be able to afford it. I’ve already put in my applications but now I get to put in my change of preferences (something I thought I’d never be able to do) and go from there.

I just want to reiterate something every teacher has been saying. Getting your VCE and getting the score you want isn’t the be-all-and-end-all of life. Sometimes it’s better to get out of school with your life and emotions intact, get a job for a few years and then go back when you’re more able to cope with things. Over the next few years I intend to prove that you can still do what you want to do albeit somewhat belatedly, but it’s still possible.