More Than One Way In

Callum had been sitting outside the careers office for twenty minutes before he finally knocked.

“Sit down,” Priya said, waving him in. “You look like someone died.”

“Bristol said no.” Callum dropped into the chair. “That was my first choice. My only real choice, honestly.”

Priya turned away from her screen. She’d had this conversation before, in one form or another, maybe two hundred times.

“Okay. So one door closed. Let’s look at what’s still open.”

“There isn’t anything else. I aimed too high. Everyone said I aimed too high.”

“You aimed where you wanted to go. That’s not a crime.” She pulled up his file. “You’ve still got four other offers on the table. Two of them run the exact same course.”

“But not Bristol.”

“No. Not Bristol.” She leaned back. “Look, you’d better decide what you actually want — the city, or the academic side. Because if it’s the course itself, you’ve got two strong routes to it, and one is arguably more advanced by your second year.”

Callum was quiet.

“And if it doesn’t work out, there’s always the alternative: a year working, then reapply. People do it all the time. It’s not a failure. It’s just a different road to the same place.”

“My dad’s going to lose it.”

“Your dad will be fine.” Priya smiled. “You ought to give him a bit more credit. But that’s a separate appointment.”

Callum actually laughed at that.

“One rejection,” Priya said, standing to see him out. “Not one wall. There’s more than one way in.”