Sarah Blatchford – BA (Hons) Business Administration

'I chose to study Business because I really enjoyed the subject at school. I’d worked for around six years before deciding to study for a degree, so I’d seen how businesses worked and wanted to know everything that my managers knew.

I had originally started my degree at a technical college close to home, but didn’t feel like I was getting the ‘student experience’ there and so decided to explore other institutions. My brother had studied for his degree at Portsmouth and when I visited him I really liked the city; it’s definitely important to be comfortable with the place you’re going to be living for at least three years of your life.  It’s really great being by the sea, and we get so much sun, down here on the south coast, it’s hard not to be happy all the time!

The business courses here in Portsmouth give you the opportunity to study a wide variety of subjects, some of which you might not have thought about exploring. I’ve gained such a varied base of knowledge on the course through all these different units, it’s great to be able to choose options in my final year to look further into the subjects I’d enjoyed in the previous years.

I decided not to take a placement year, as I’d worked for a number of years before coming to university, but other people on my course had decided in their second year that they wanted to go and work in industry and it was really easy for them to transfer to the business studies programme.

The lecturers here are great. They’ve got a real passion for their subjects and are willing to talk at length to anyone who will listen to them. I’ve found that the seminars here are really great as well. It’s interesting to listen to other students’ views on the subjects, and some of them have just as much passion for it as the lecturers.

Upon graduation I got a job as the Transport Performance Officer for Somerset County Council on their graduate scheme.'