Sarah Slaughter

Before coming to Goldsmiths I travelled a lot, moving around from place to place and picking up work as I went along to support myself. After several years I felt my lifestyle was becoming unfulfilling and realised my knowledge of the world around me was limited.

Goldsmiths gave me the opportunity to expand my understanding of the world I had seen while travelling and gave me a set of tools to develop that learning further. I didn't have any qualifications beyond a handful of GCSEs but Goldsmiths put me on an 'Integrated Degree', which meant I completed a foundation year before I began the full degree programme.

The History department was welcoming and I felt at ease when approaching staff with any questions I had.

My favourite part of the degree was my third-year dissertation. By this point, I felt comfortable and thoroughly enjoyed the research I undertook, which included going to the National Archives and reading through 100+ year old government documents. At that point I felt like a proper Historian!

Once I moved to London I realised that all the wonderful variety of people I met while travelling were right here in one place. I made new friends and met up with old travel buddies, and together we were able to go out to take part in free and low-cost activities available in both New Cross and central London. There were so many things to do! I still haven't worked my way through the list of museums, galleries, theatres, and everything else - I've now been living in London for 14 years!

I would advise anyone thinking about doing a degree to make sure that they examine their motivations for coming and ensure that they are doing it for themselves. I was almost 30 years old before I decided that university was for me. Some people are much younger when they know what they want to do, and some need to experience life a bit more in order to determine their best path.