In the second part of our exclusive interview with Cherish Daniel-Markson, from the University of Warwick, she tells us about her future career plans.
She goes on to give an advice to Nigerian students aspiring to further their education outside the country.
Read on to learn the steps to achieve academic excellence as an international student.
What are your plans after university? Do you plan to further your studies or kick-start your career?
This is a question that has been popping up a lot for a lot of students in their final year at the university.
I think I am very fortunate in the sense that because of the mindset I have and the expectations I have of myself, I pushed myself to be in a position where at the end of my course, because I am an international student, it wouldn’t come to a point where I have to make the decision to go back to Nigeria or feel like the decision is taken out of my hands because my visa has expired.
So what my plans are: in my second year, I was very fortunate to secure two internships with commercial law firms in London, I did those internships in the summer of my second year, and thankfully, I got a graduate job offer with one of the firms.
So after my degree, I will spend a year doing the SQE, the professional exam that you need to do to qualify as a lawyer in the U.K., and then after that, I will begin my job at the law firm.
The SQE is basically like a master’s and a professional qualification at the same time. I am going to further my studies and also go straight into my career.
What are some of the important lessons you have learnt at the University of Warwick?
It’s a difficult question because the university has been such an insightful experience. I can’t just bring it down to one answer, but if there was one thing I would say, it would be never to give up, as cliche as it sounds.
So when I came into my first year of university, I had massive impostor syndrome. I felt like I didn’t deserve to be here, I felt stupid, I felt less.
That’s why it’s so important to have a network of people who support you and uplift you, especially in those moments when you have these negative thoughts about yourself.
I think it’s great to have people who will sit you down and kind of tell you the truth about what is actually going on and not repeat the thoughts you are hearing in your head.
So just to never give up, especially having been advised not to listen to those negative thoughts in my mind, I think it kind of flipped a switch in me where I realized that those thoughts were just noise in my mind and me trying to limit myself.
So, I had a shift in mindset where I wasn’t so focused on other people and their accomplishments but very much on my abilities and what I am capable of.
That translated into the success I have had in my academics and also in my soon-to-be career.
So I would say just don’t give up, especially when you think you can’t do it.
That is when you need to double down and have an honest talk with yourself so you can realize your weaknesses and work on them, and ultimately you can produce the results that you want to achieve.
That is what Warwick has taught me because my degree has been such an uphill battle, especially the transition between A-levels and university, which is such a difficult one that I can’t really put into words.
But just having that mindset that I could do it and that I was never going to give up no matter what happened definitely helped me to push things forward, and it helped me to pick myself up, especially in those moments when I thought I couldn’t go on anymore.
What advice would you give to Nigerian students aspiring to achieve academic excellence at international universities?
Concerning the information on how you need to apply to these universities, the internet is your best friend. it always has all the information that you need, and I think it just comes down to how badly you want it.
So I think you just need to spend hours reading and researching everything about the university, and I think that will put you in a very good position to apply. I think, generally speaking, universities and institutions in the U.K. are very happy to have international students come into their schools.
So as long as you take the initiative and as long as you show that you are genuinely excited to study with those institutions and that you have good intentions, I think you will have absolutely no problem securing a place there.
In terms of how to behave and carry yourself when you get admission into these institutions, I think it’s a difficult question because I cannot dictate to you the behaviors you should portray.
But I feel, generally speaking, that you should carry yourself like a normal person would, but if you want to be excellent, you have to do excellent things.
You have to go above and beyond what normal students do, go the extra mile always. If people are giving 10, give 20, you have to do more than everyone else, especially when you are an international student. You have something to prove that you came there for a reason, not to just be complacent, and just do your degree and leave.
If you want to make a mark, you have to make an effort to make that mark because you are going to be surrounded by impressive students from all over the world, so I think it is definitely worth putting in the effort to study and to make your mark on the institution.
What makes Warwick University so hard to get into?
It’s a very interesting question because I can’t tell you for sure what the answer to that question would be, but if I had to guess, I would say that because of its reputation. It’s somewhere in the top 10 or top 15 universities in the U.K.
So of course the people that are applying to this school are incredibly brilliant people with incredible results, and these are people that are probably the smartest people in their own school.
I guess when the people who are picking out candidates to accept into the university see all these different applications and all these impressive results and grades, I think it makes it difficult for people in the majority that have maybe average results to get a chance.
I think that’s one aspect of it. I know it has a good reputation, especially when it comes to research, so I think the university is probably using that to leverage being so picky about who they will accept into their school because, naturally, you would want to accept students that would have an impact on the world and the university’s profile in the coming years.
I think that’s why. It’s definitely not a conclusive answer, there are probably a ton of reasons why it is like that, and I’m sure the acceptance rate is also different for different courses.
So you might find that the acceptance rate for the business department would be even lower than it might be for another course at the university. Generally speaking, because of the university”s profile, the school is capable of being picky with acceptance.
How is your social life? Do you have friends in Nigeria, or are your friends strictly UK-based?
Of course, I have friends in Nigeria. I have friends in the U.K., and I have friends in the U.S. I would say that my social life is good, but as I would say my social life is good, someone can say my social life is horrible. It really is just a matter of perspective.
I would say that I am very satisfied with my social life. Even though I love academics and doing well in school, I also love spending time away from my books and spending time with friends and family.
So yeah, I have had the opportunity at university to make new friends from all over the world. I have made friends from Greece, and even some more friends in Nigeria that I didn’t even know when I was there.
I have made friends from the U.S. and the U.K., and I have also maintained some of the friendships I had while I was in Nigeria. With social media, it is easy to keep in contact with people.
So to answer your question, my social life is good, and I think university also helped me expand my social circle.
There are a lot of events, and they also have these things called societies, which are student clubs in different areas; it could be like a cooking club or like a cultural society.
They have the Nigerian society and the African Caribbean society. Those are places you can go to meet people and make friends.
University is good in the sense that if you are an introverted person like myself, you do not have to be incredibly social all the time. If you want a social life at university, you absolutely have the opportunity to make that happen, but if you want to have a chilled-out experience, you also have the opportunity to do that, it just comes down to what you want.
So yeah, my social life is good, and I am very happy with it.
How do you see the Nigerian judicial system based on the books you have read and the stories you have heard compared to the U.K. judicial system?
To start off, I want to say that no system is perfect, but that being said, my experience with the Nigerian judicial system is so limited that my opinion is not going to be very grounded.
But from the things I have seen on the news and on social media, I am inclined to say that it is not very good, it is not just working, and it hasn’t worked for a very long time. I would say it is corrupt, and it’s kind of sad to see some things on social media.
On social media, there’s this popular content creator. I think he is called Layiwasabi, he cosplays a lawyer, and it is funny and all, but really, when you reflect on it and think about it, is our system so bad It’s almost comical that people are producing videos online just to make fun of it? but really no one is making an effort to make it better. It’s really sad to see.
I think it definitely doesn’t help that most of our students, especially law students, are going out of the country to study and practice law. I think it would be good to see countries where the judicial system works and then go back home and kind of do our part to make things better. It is a goal we should all have, and it is very aspirational.
It is something I would like to do in the future, but right now, it almost seems like a futile effort.
I don’t imagine myself going back to Nigeria and practising as a lawyer, and then magically fixing everything but I am hopeful that things could get better eventually, under a better government, and under a better authority.
I hope that things will eventually mend themselves and that things will get to a point where people will get to trust the system and not see it as a cause for ridicule.
