Hi, my name is Tom and I’m in my first year at Flinders University. Back when I was in year 9 I started to think about my future, and I made a plan for what I wanted to study and where I wanted to study it. My path was set (in my own head at least), I was to join the Defence Force as an Aeronautical Engineer. My family thought this would be a good fit, and I thought it sounded okay!

As I progressed with my schooling and moved into my final years I was studying subjects like Maths Studies, Physics, Chemistry and Drama. Of these subjects I honestly loved Chemistry and Drama, but was only pursuing the others because I needed them to gain entry into engineering. It was only part way though year 12 that I realised that I had a serious distaste for complex maths and physics, all of which an engineer would deal with on a weekly basis, possibly even daily. It was only upon this realisation that I decided that maybe engineering wasn’t the right path for me. I had a passion for both chemistry and drama, but my involvement in a  social awareness campaign at school, which included directing and producing videos, led me to focus more on the latter. I changed my path from Engineering to pursuing film making (Screen) at Flinders University.

This was a big change for me as I had planned out what I wanted to do previously and picked topics specifically for that. Once I made the decision to follow my passion rather than what others wanted for me, I was much more relaxed and confident.

I was confident knowing that I could change my preferences when applying for universities. I was very grateful to find out that even if I had put my application in for Engineering I still had the option to change my preference at a later date. Flinders staff are great at talking you through the whole process of changing your preferences from the point you first submit an application right up until the final cut-off date. My advice for students finishing school right now would be to follow your passions and to know that you have the opportunity to change your preferences after your application has been submitted. Good luck for the rest of 2015!