Do you ever wonder how different your life would have been if you went to a different university?

[tarnishedmetal]

I often think about how your university choice has a huge impact on your life trajectory.

I went to Oxford as a swotty comp girl. Didn’t have the most amazing time but it has shaped who I am. I wouldn’t have had the career I have now if I’d taken the Bristol offer.

But if I had taken the Bristol offer, I might be living in Bristol today? I would definitely have been a lot “edgier” and normal! Maybe that would have been a better choice.

I am so glad I didn’t take one of my other offers, even if it is a terrific uni.

Funnily enough I was wondering about that just last weekend! I would have made different friends, had different boyfriends. I might have ended up in the same first post-graduate job, and I might have still met my husband. But things might have been very different. Where you go to university has a key influence on the rest of your life.

I have never regretted my mid ranking university choice as very few institutions offered the specialism I wanted. My sliding door moment was in my final year when I was offered a place on the NHS Management Training Scheme on the same day as an offer for accountancy training with the National Audit Office. I took the NHS option as health care was a bit more familiar for me, but I do often wonder about how my life might have been different if I'd taken the NAO option.

I chose Leicester over Exeter as I couldn’t afford the train fares to Exeter. I don’t regret it, it was the right decision at the time and Leicester was a great uni. I had zero money as my parents refused to support me and there were no student loans then. I had friends with who I rented the house with but couldn’t afford to go out or join clubs except one where I helped serving Olvatine on Friday nights in a nursing home. I went on to have a great career.

I see my daughter living her best life at Cambridge, studying hard, having lovely friends, clubbing, being involved in societies, volunteering - and don’t envy her, just happy for her and delighted she is happy and doing well. Yes a moment, a tiny moment I wonder if my low expectation comp school had thought of it I might just might have had a different path, but can’t regret the one I took as it led to my daughter and lots of other positive things in my life.

Well I wouldn't be living where I am - wouldn't have met husband or the godparents to my children. After a 30 year break I'm back at the same uni doing a Masters and loving it. I guess if I'd gone somewhere else my life would have been entirely different but I wouldn't have met the same amazing people - just different people and places.

LSE incoming!
OP I was an international student who got a scholarship to study anywhere in the UK - I thought accounting was a safe career and so choose the most prestigious university for the subject. Had I known that grad jobs take any degree I'd have gone for Oxbridge to study English Literature, my true love. I got 4A*s in Maths + 3 'heavy' humanities subjects, loved academic discussions, weekly essays I'd have thrived.

However the heavy careers focus as LSE was instrumental in me landing a graduate role - at that time we had to have a job offer before graduation or leave. The graduate route visa didn't exist. If I had been in a cohort of mostly UK students, and not pushed by the career centre + other international students I can see myself blissfully being unaware until it was too late!

No regrets. I love my alma mater and had the time of my life in London :)

No, would make same choice again, was perfect for me.

University choice = a 'Sliding Doors' moment.

However, we have Sliding Doors moments each and every day. They're just not as big/obvious.

It sometimes wanders through my mind but then if I went anywhere different I wouldn't have the same lovely son and I couldn't possibly imagine that so it leaves my mind quickly.

I went to the university I most wanted to attend. The only time I doubted the experience was when a sibling took the same course at Cambridge and the gulf between them in terms of essay writing and astute observations made me feel like I'd wasted my time.

Same for me. I was at Bristol from 2002-2006 and, whilst I LOVED Bristol, I was surrounded by too many pompous, spoiled rich kids and used to wish I'd gone to somewhere like Leeds.

I regret the course I took (nursing) and wished I did something else instead. But the university was ok, and I stayed on in London because as my dad says, the only work back home is farming or working in a warehouse. I never worked as a nurse but went into customer service jobs. I do alright for myself now. Not rich, can't afford a house or flat to buy, but I manage.

I don't tend to be the sort to keep friends, so that's irrelevant.

My personal relationships have been moulded by living in London. I've had two serious relationships and neither of them were good. I'm not looking for anyone new.

I was looking to go to Uni in Newcastle. How life would have been different! I love Newcastle, it has a good energy about it. It's like that old film, Sliding Doors, isn't it? What would be different if you made a different choice?

Like many others, I met DH at university, so all of life, including where I live (his hometown) and my children, would potentially be different if I had gone somewhere else. My sister also met her DH at my university (weirdly, he lived in the same street as my DH as a kid and went to the same school too), so potentially the whole of my kids' generation could have looked different!

Job-wise, I went into a field that was much easier to get into from a few universities at the time (90s), but it's meant I've been able to set up on my own rather than having an especially stellar career.

Eldest DD is just starting to look at universities and it's definitely taking me back to making those choices - not sure I have any real regrets or normally give it a lot of thought though.

I went to Leeds and it got me into a very competitive industry. Friends who went to Oxford didn’t get into the industry although tried for years. I think the recruiter liked the modern course we did and came from Yorkshire, which helped. A posher uni grad might not have got that opportunity. So I’m glad for my choice and have no idea what I’d have done otherwise for a job

UCCA (now UCAS) made an error and one of my A level results was missed off. I therefore got rejected by Liverpool on results day and ended up at KCL via clearing (I found out later about the UCAS error as KCL thought I only had 2 A levels, I had to send proof to them). It set me on a different pathway as I changed degrees at the end of my first year. I'm not sure what my pathway would have been if I'd gone to Liverpool!

I could have applied to Cambridge (probably would have gone for Natural Sciences), but didn't try to investigate the possibility as I would have had to have a gap year to do so and just wanted to get on with learning something! Our school exams in Australia were October/November time. I could only have done it with scholarship support but it is reasonable to assume I might have got that.

Now that I know more about the oxbridge system I can see that it would have suited me very well and my ultimate career direction could have been very different. Or things might still have gone wrong just in slightly different ways from what actually happened to me over the years (classic underachiever in some respects).