University of Liverpool alumni: Redefining success

Posted on: 3 April 2024 in 2024

Following graduation our alumni embark on varied life journeys across the globe, and will be presented with opportunities, challenges, and celebrations along the way.

In the following article, one graduate [who wishes to remain anonymous on this occasion] shares a brave and honest insight into their life post-graduation.

A university experience encompasses many areas of life and is much more than exams and results; it can be a period of adjustment, exploration, personal growth and development, and lifelong friendships. We are proud that Liverpool, both the city and University, is bursting with character. The following graduate has used their strength of character to share their story and the importance of what both the University and city mean to them.

‘What have you been up to since graduating?’

My heart sank when I opened the Alumni email.

It's the question I dread being asked at social events; the question I struggled to answer when I was single and dating; the one I ask myself in the middle of the night.

The simple answer is that life hasn't panned out for me the way that I imagined on the day of my graduation. Standing on Abercromby Square, smiling with my parents for photographs, I could never have been prepared for what awaited me...

It started off well. I secured a full-time, professional job before graduating. My cohort graduated into a recession, and opportunities felt scarce. As our third year drew to a close, we were anxious about the disintegration of our Uni bubble, the scattering of friendship groups and the uncertainty of the future. Perhaps this is a feeling familiar to all year-groups, but for us it was augmented by the economic context of that time: companies were withdrawing their graduate programmes and organisations were making redundancies rather than recruiting. Many of my contemporaries went travelling, took casual shifts in bars and pursued creative side-projects, or embarked on another qualification.

I worked within the NHS. It was emotionally draining work but I believed in what I was doing and I could see the impact my efforts had on those for whom I cared. It also allowed me to use my degree subject directly which gave me a sense of a thread from university through to the beginning of my professional life. I had a sense of purpose and I was pleased to have become independent straight out of university. I was earning just enough to start paying back my student loan.

But then, a relatively short time into my working life, I became unwell. I was diagnosed with an illness that was both acute and chronic. After an extended period off-sick, the world of work moved on without me and I found myself adjusting to life with a disabled body. I slid out of the working population and became one of the millions claiming disability benefits. The years since then have been dominated by hospital appointments, DWP assessments, months of being bed-bound or house-bound. In short, I am one of the awkward statistics of post-graduates who seem to be a poor representative of their University. So far, I have not been able to sustain the work for which I was ostensibly educated.

The only saving grace was that my tutor, together with support from the Student Disabled Team, allowed me to crawl to the end of a Masters with reasonable adjustments to my deadlines and working conditions. My second graduation felt more victorious than my first. It was winter - there were no roses in bloom on Abercromby Square – but my qualification was a victory over my condition and represented hope for the future.

It may not be glamorous, but as a community with a shared history at the University, we must acknowledge that not every graduate goes on to gratifying things. It can be disheartening for some Alumni to compare themselves to the impressive accomplishments and experiences of others and feel that they have been left behind.

It is, of course, important to celebrate the achievements of those who have gone on to excel in their chosen fields; those who have forged interesting paths and those who have made noteworthy discoveries through their dedication. However, it is also important to recognise that the lives of some alumni unfold in difficult ways. I am thinking of those whose parents may need to inform the University that their child has passed away, and needs to be removed from the mailing list. I am thinking of those whose health has declined to the extent that they cannot proceed with their career as planned. Those who feel they studied the wrong subject and have floundered in work they don't enjoy. Those who lack direction or confidence. Those whose personal lives have made it difficult to focus. And those who have become carers.

Some Alumni may feel like an entirely different person to the teenager who arrived at the gates of their student accommodation for freshers’ week. I would like to say to those people: don’t give up.

University isn't just about gaining a great degree and maximising your salary. It is about learning how to respect yourself, how to form meaningful relationships, how to navigate a new place and develop resilience. The University of Liverpool instructed me in these life lessons without me realising it. I thought it was largely about employability but my time at the University of Liverpool was preparing me for something else entirely. My main feeling about the University and about the people of the city is this: Liverpool cares.

So, what have I been up to since graduating?

I have learned life-survival skills. I have insight into the human condition that is beyond my years. I have been humbled. I have learned the real meaning of success - to live with a sense of one's own mortality; to act on compassion for others; to honour the fragility of the elderly. For success is not just about promotions, fame or wealth; it is about character.

Alumni are welcome to share their stories through our Class Notes or do contact the team via alumni@liverpool.ac.uk.