Profile - Natasha Beattie

Why did you choose to come to Exeter?

I'm from a little town up in the north where there isn't very much of anything and everyone tends to know everyone else, I decided I wanted to come to Exeter when I settled on wanting to start all over again. When you start university I feel you're starting a new adventure and taking some big steps into becoming truly independent, when I saw the University of Exeter I knew this was where I wanted to start my adventure.

Why have you chosen your subject of study?

I knew I wanted to continue doing Spanish to a degree level but was also unwilling to completely drop my love for social sciences, when I saw the course for International Relations with Modern Languages, I appreciated that I could do both. I enjoy that with International Relations I'm able to step slightly out of my comfort zone whilst also being able to fall back on everything I know from my GCSEs and A Levels; that combined with my love for Spanish makes for my perfect course.

What career aspirations do you have?

I'm still quite unsure about what I want to do career wise for the future, but the ultimate goal is to be doing something I enjoy. I'd like to pursue a masters degree perhaps not long after my BA, but I imagine in the future I'll be working for some international governmental programme or at least doing something internationally; we'll have to see!

What will you be doing outside of study?

I've recently joined the Dance Society as dancing is always something I've enjoyed over the years. I'm hoping to join in with other societies and activities but I've yet to sign up for anything else outside of my studies. I'm hoping to do some things that I've never done before!

What does receiving this scholarship mean to you and how will it impact on your time at Exeter and beyond?

Being awarded this scholarship means an ease of mind, one less thing to think about when everything I have is what I've had to work for on my own. It's hard to envision not being able to rely on your family when coming to University, there's actually more people then you think faced with this problem and it can be scary, but it's scholarships like this that give people like myself an opportunity to put their all into their studies and achieve their potential.