Confessions of a serial degree taker

Daily writing prompt

What colleges have you attended?

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I’m taking ‘college’ to mean ‘university’, since I have only been to one college – a 6th form college (16-18 years old) where I did my A levels.

In my time I have got degrees from four universities and a diploma from a fifth.

I did my first degree (Chemistry) at Loughborough University, a mid-range university and high-level pronunciation test for non-natives. This is the most important college/ university because that’s where I met Mrs S.

After Loughborough I worked at Liverpool University, where I also studied part-time to get a Masters in geosciences. I learned how to use Excel (version 5.1) to model isotope fractionation in carbonate minerals.

My next job was at Bath University, still a low-level lab tech. After a couple of years there I was offered the chance to do a PhD. Since my career was otherwise stalled (departmental politics) I said ‘yes’. I finished my study of the surface chemistry of pharmaceutical cellulose excipients in 2002, graduating in 2003. More importantly, Mrs S and I got married during my studies.

2003 was also the year we moved to Australia and in 2004 we became parents. In 2005 we moved back to the UK, where I started work for the company I would be with for 19 years before being laid off in late 2024.

During that time I did another part-time masters (I’d intended doing a Diploma, but the course was pretty interesting and useful). This one was run by De Montfort University in Leicester, on Quality by Design in the Pharmaceutical Industry. I also found time to do a Diploma in Innovation at the Saïd Business School (Oxford)in early 2024. Both of these were remote, so I don’t know if I can say I ‘attended’ them.

So lots of pieces of paper and academic experience. I think they’ve been worthwhile, even though I still don’t have a regular job that uses any of them!