The day that opened up my whole future
ATTENDING a college Open Day helped teenager Adelle Rhule-Martin make her mind up about A-level choices.
The 19- year- old, from Erdington, vi si t ed Bi r - mingham Metropolitan College (BMet) three years ago and opted for business studies, maths and biology.
‘It gave me the chance to speak to staff and students and get a feel for what being in college is like,’ she says.
It also introduced Adelle to t he c ol l ege’s Greater Birmingham Professional Services Academy (GBPSA), an employer-led programme that guides young people into careers in business, law, finance and property.
Programme partners include Deloitte, Deutsche Bank, Bilfinger GVA, Gateley Plc, KPMG, LaSerUk, Lloyds and Wesleyan.
Adelle was one of the GBPSA’s first students, attending workshops, lectures and site visits with businesses across Birmingham, as well as studying networking. She completed a work placement at Bilfinger GVA and was offered a job as an assistant property administrator just after finishing her studies.
Adelle says: ‘The GBPSA showed me a world I hadn’t realised existed.’ Planning to become a surveyor, Adelle wants to get a degree in real estate and then work towards an Assessment of Professional Competence (APC) to become an Associate Member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. Alistair Gates, founder of
Opendays.com says: ‘It doesn’t matter how much you read in a student prospectus or watch on a virtual Open Day, checking out a college and local area is vital.
‘When you go to university, you might live in a completely different part of the country for at least three years.
‘ Fr o m looking at a prospectus, a geography degree at Warwick might look very similar to a geography degree at UCL, but it’s only once you visit and speak to the students and check out the night life, that you get a feel for a place.’
FOR information about Open Days at Birmingham Metropolitan College, visit bmetc.ac.uk