Hollie Dunn

After missing out on a university place with her Higher results, Hollie Dunn (20) didn’t let the setback derail her plans.  She instead took up a place to study social sciences at North East Scotland College for two years before going straight into the second year of a psychology degree at Aberdeen University.

Hollie’s story began at secondary school in Aberdeenshire. She said, “I had set my sights on studying Applied Social Sciences at RGU so when my Higher results came in and I didn’t get the grades I needed, I was gutted. At my school, if you wanted to do something academic then you went straight to university. I wasn’t really aware of college being an option as a stepping stone.”

She continued: “Despite being apprehensive about starting college, I quickly realised that I had made the right decision. I made some good friends at the start of my course which was crucial as we were able to support each other when online learning began in March 2020 and continued the following year.”

Hollie had some other friends who had started to study applied sciences at university at the same time. She said, “I was surprised at how similar our experiences were. We were studying the same topics and could actually help each other out with learning the trickier concepts.”

During the course, Hollie realised that she particularly enjoyed learning about psychology. She said: “My time at college helped me see that I actually wanted to study psychology at university rather than a more broad-based social sciences course. If I hadn’t gone to college first, I wouldn’t have had the chance to discover that so I’m really glad I had the opportunity to properly explore the subject area before making a final decision.”

Hollie joined the second year of the degree course straight from college. She said, “Joining the second year has been great because it means I can find my feet before the challenge of third year comes along. Quite a few of the people on my course have come from colleges in other parts of Scotland so there’s a group of us in the same boat and we can support each other.”

Once she completes her degree, Hollie is open to a variety of career paths. She said, “If I need to study more for the job I want at that point, I’m definitely open to that. I’m interested in a variety of things including clinical psychology and maybe teaching. Completely new jobs will also be created so I’m not making any firm decisions yet.”

Reflecting on her journey so far, Hollie is keen to raise awareness of the opportunities available at college. She said, “Some people are giving up on their future plans when they don’t get a place at university straight from school. I’d love to give talks to senior pupils to explain how college to university articulation works and how great an experience it can be. Don’t give up at the first hurdle – there’s usually another way to get to your goal through college.”