Rachel was telling me this evening that Cardiff University (where she’s a student at) is now ranked the 20th best university in the UK according to The Guardian. The universities that I have had links with in some form or other are:

• Cambridge: 2nd – I was offered a place by Jesus College, Cambridge, and although this was my first choice university, I didn’t get the grades they wanted. I’ve always wondered what my life would be like now if I went to Cambridge.
• York: 8th – I applied to York and was offered an interview, but I’d already accepted offers from Cambridge and Swansea by this point.
• Warwick: 9th – I was offered a place, and a friend, Catherine Aveyard, went there.
• Durham: 24th – I was offered a place.
• Leicester: 34th – I was offered a place, and am currently doing my LLM by distance learning at this university.
• Swansea: 61st – my second choice, I did my History degree there.
• UWE: 84th – I did my Diploma in Law (CPE) there.

Anyway, I digress. The whole point of this post is to have a moan about the fact that I didn’t get the grades I needed to go to Cambridge. They offered me a place on the condition that I got AAB in my A Levels. I got BBC. This was particularly annoying because all through my A Levels, I consistently got As in English Literature and History, and Bs for German, but the final grades rested on the final exams, and two years of work were wasted because I didn’t get the grades I felt I deserved.

Perhaps I didn’t work hard enough for the exams, perhaps I was too cocky, perhaps I couldn’t do it. I don’t know. It’s always going to bug me.