Q is for... Qualifications!

Well I've mentioned exams often enough over the last couple of months, that I thought I would use my Q post to talk about my qualifications (and I promise to try and keep it brief!).

I studied Biology at university (well, more specifically, Ecology, Conservation & Environment). I don't think I ever entered into my degree anticipating I'd get a job out of it at the end; I think the closest I got to that was considering a career in teaching. Mostly I studied Biology because it was interesting.

I got to learn about paleoecology, evolutio, animal behaviour and (most importantly) I got to study dinosaurs. Seriously, the best piece of work I did at university was an essay on dinosaurs. I got 95% for that. I still have it somewhere. I would probably have done fairly well had I gone to Bristol to actually study paleontology, although I believe you need stripey jumpers and a big beard to dig up dinosaurs for a living, so I might have struggled afterwards.

The kind of stuff I studied at uni is now the kind of stuff I love to watch programs about on the Discovery channel. There's a series on at the moment called Becoming Human which is all about human evolution. Funnily enough, my final year essay was on the subject of the evolution of intelligence, so it's really interesting to see the changes in theory on the subject between my final year in uni, and now.

So this post isn't utterly devoid of pictures, I shall embarrass myself by sharing this graduation photograph. My hair really wasn't that ginger, honest. It had been black, you see, but then I tried to bleach the black out, and it went a bit orange. But not that orange. The photographer has somehow digitally enhanced it to look more ginger than it really was! Also, we are (I think) the only university in England to graduate in grey robes instead of black. Bit of trivia for you there.

But I graduated years ago. So why am I doing more exams, I hear you cry. Well, a few years ago I got a job working in the finance department of a company, doing low level admin type stuff. I was encourage to train as an accountant, they offered to pay for my studies, and so for the last four years I have been sitting exams twice a year, clawing my way to fully qualified accountant status. Unlike my degree, these exams are all about having a career. But, I have sat what will hopefully be my final two exams ever, all I have to do is get two pass marks in August and I'll never have to sit another exam again!