Former Birmingham Scholar Charity shares her insights

Former Birmingham Scholar, and current EDI Student Ambassador for Birmingham Scholar, Charity Agwu shares her journey and insights on getting the most of the Birmingham Scholar programme. 

Hello! My name is Charity 

I am currently studying MA International Law, Ethics and Politics after doing my undergraduate degree in Philosophy. I did my undergrad here in Birmingham and decided to stay because I’ve become so familiar with the place and have enjoyed my time here so far. 

I wanted to study Philosophy because I took it as an A level and really enjoyed it. At degree level, it’s a lot different but I enjoyed most of the modules. During my first year, the country was in lockdown and student life was hard to navigate while the university was adjusting. In my second year however, I was able to get help focused on academic writing and career support through Birmingham Scholar. It gave me a lot of clarity as to what careers were available for students in my college, which was CAL. I was also able to get really good advice and guidance on how to write an essay properly focusing on details that would eventually make a difference in the grades I achieved. I was also able to get help with applications for jobs and internships and exclusive programmes that would be suitable for me based on my characteristics such as being a woman/ethnic minority.

I chose to do International Law, Ethics and Politics as a Masters because I wanted something interdisciplinary but also related to my undergrad degree. I wanted to be able to broaden my knowledge in different areas after doing a single honours degree. I am now able to use the writing skills I gained from the Birmingham Scholar programme and refine them to write even better essays at Masters level. 

Birmingham Scholar is really helpful if you want to explore opportunities on what's available for students from various backgrounds and also in your academic life with increasing the quality of your assignments. It also opens you up to new experiences and allows you to meet new people and build your network which will become really important as you build your career.