Chris Stark BSc Politics , 2008

BBC Radio 1 DJ and co-host on Scott Mills show

Hi, I'm Chris Stark and I studied BSc Politics within Social Sciences: Politics & International Relations at the University of Southampton.

Opportunities come from things you don't expect at university, and you can pursue most interests even if you are starting off at the most basic level.

I am a co-host on the Scott Mills Show on BBC Radio 1. So every day between 1-4pm we do our radio show, the nature of my job changes on a daily basis. It's always been my main ambition in life to work at Radio 1, and now I am finally doing so!!  The freedom my course gave me allowed me to pursue my involvement in the University of Southampton's student radio station Surge. Without Surge I do not think I would be on Radio 1 today.

My degree allowed me scope in my dissertation to write about a topic that particularly interested me, which with support from my personal tutor, enabled me to create a final piece of work which was the accumulation and representation of what I had learnt from the University of Southampton. My personal tutor was brilliant, at times I fell behind with work as I was DJ-ing as well as doing lots of student radio, but they gave me lots of support and helped to keep me on the right track. Although the course was hard work, it allowed time for me to develop and pursue interests in other areas of University life such as student radio, sport and involvement with SUSU (the Students' Union). I felt that the course itself taught me a lot, and developed my writing and research skills which have been valuable assets in my current job. The course also gave me a great network of people to work with, and help if I ever struggled with assignments.

The University of Southampton is a great place to study for the main reason that you are surrounded by so many like-minded people. I made friends at University that I will have for life and most of these were outside of the course I was studying. Opportunities come from the stuff you don't expect at University, and you can pursue pretty much any interest even if you are starting off at the most basic level. The University has a great Student Union, and a unique atmosphere around campus. In fact writing about it makes me miss it a LOT!

My advice is to make the most of every opportunity whilst you are at university, I know that sounds like a massive cliché. Don't stress about the work, realistically it can be difficult at times, but there are always ways to get help, whether from other people on your course, or tutors. At the same time make sure you put the work in, it won't take lots of effort to stay on top of it all.

And mostly - ENJOY IT!! The University of Southampton was a very special part of my life, and looking back I really enjoyed it!!!