The day my future was open (Raphael)

First of all, welcome back online everybody! We have been having a few technical difficulties here at First_Year@UniMelb but we’re glad to be back in functioning order. Hope to have more great posts for you soon! (Semester two has started, I’m sure there will be)

I wanted to write a quick post today to acknowledge what happened on this day last year.

Open Day 2015 for me was a defining moment. I’d been weighing up the myriad of University options all vying for my first course preference, unsure which I would pick. It was pretty overwhelming, and for every detail that looked great in course brochures (of which I had over 10) there was another that made me second-guess myself.

Course content, structure and length as well as campus location, environment and student life all make up the University experience and I was realising that realistically, not every box could get a tick.

But stepping through the gates of UniMelb on this day last year made me forget all my doubts. Having been to a few open days in the weeks prior which left me with more questions than answers, I remember just waking through Parkville and thinking how clear, open and exciting the path ahead would be for me here at Melbourne.

Open Day 2015 made me imagine all the opportunities I would have. It made me love and appreciate the campus like I hadn’t before. And even though I missed the Bachelor of Science information session 3 separate times due to it being too full, there really was no question after that August day that my first (and only) VTAC preference would be the B-Sci at Melbourne. I can say now that I definitely made the right choice and am so glad I ran with my feelings.

So today is especially sentimental for me; it’s the day that started it all for me, and it’s also the day that will kick start things for the next cohort of soon-to-be school leavers, like I’m passing the baton down to the next generation.

To all of you who are now in the same position that I was in a year ago, I hope you get the same feeling at Open Day, and that you get excited for the years that are ahead of you once you finish school; there certainly is so much to look forward to! Be true to yourself, go with your gut and you will make the right choice with whatever course you end up choosing.

Happy Open Day everyone 😊

Raph