Optional modules helped me turn a subject I love into a career

Why I chose Southampton

Southampton was the perfect blend of everything I wanted out of my time at university. I fell in love with the campus environment on my open day and liked that this was combined with still being immersed in a vibrant city. 

I really liked how the campus felt like such a community and had so much green space as well as everything you could need together - the library, gym, cafés, the Pub, restaurants. I wanted somewhere where I’d feel at home immediately and Southampton was the right choice for that. 

Outside of learning core elements of my course, I felt that my degree gave me a huge opportunity to pursue my own areas of interests and independent thought. 

I enjoyed a range of optional modules in different subjects such as archaeology. The modules I chose were interesting and stimulating, and I enjoyed the variety of ways they were assessed. 

I really enjoyed the practical sociophonetic project and conducting the dissertation in my final year. These gave me great research skills that I still use. 

Making friends and memories

I’m still very close with some of my course mates and we often remember how inspiring some of our lecturers and professors were. It was great working in the pretty Avenue Campus, and of course, going for a post lecture pint at The Stag’s! 

I was part of the Glen Eyre netball team which was brilliant fun and gave me a group of girlfriends for life. Although Covid hit during my degree, we still made so many memories before and after, both on and off the court. 

Southampton has so much to offer as a city; I had end-of-year boat balls, trips to the New Forest, parkruns and BBQs on the common, festivals, themed pub crawls, Varsity in Portsmouth and many more experiences. The campus also had so many events while I was there, the themed balls were brilliant, and there were Christmas markets and even a funfair once. I live in London now but still come back to Southampton regularly.

Developing my career

After graduating in 2021, I began a job in London in business development for a software company. This helped me earn money to complete an MPhil postgraduate degree in linguistics at the University of Cambridge, where I specialised in forensic linguistics. 

I’m currently moving my career in linguistics more into the financial sphere. I’ve been working as a Behavioural and Equity Analyst for an investment bank, utilising linguistic cues in speech from company executives to help identify topics of concern or risk for investors. 

For example, I attend meetings with CEOs and investor relators and listen to their language patterns when discussing company performance to make judgements on their honesty, confidence and transparency. 
Before this I worked for the UK Ministry of Defence as a Forensic Linguist - although I can’t talk much about it, it was incredibly rewarding.