Already living in Leeds, Luke decided to join Leeds Beckett after a conversation with the Clearing team let him know he could study his dream course of Creative Writing.

Originally signed up to study English Language at another university, Luke explains, “I just thought it made sense because that's what I'd studied at college, and it seemed like the logical step, but it wasn't really what I wanted to do.”

I spoke to Beckett first, and that was it. As soon as I knew it wouldn’t all be about the scientific side to English language and that I could study and get creative as part of the degree, it was an obvious decision.”

Despite living locally, Luke decided to move into university accommodation. A decision that, for him, provided independence and a lot of life experience: “As much as it may have not been the best financial decision, it’s changed me and everything about me. I’d recommend it to anybody. It’s been half of the learning for me, living on my own, meeting new people and learning to do my own washing up!”

For anyone from Leeds looking to stay to study, Luke spoke of how he discovered a new side to the city: “I think knowing Leeds before helped, but I realised now that I didn't know it at all. I thought of Leeds as the city centre, and now I’ve lived in places that I didn’t even know existed. Being from Leeds helped me feel comfortable in a way, but there are so many people who aren’t from the area who study here that I never felt that I was restricting myself in terms of meeting people.”

The course provided lots of opportunities to mix with different students, as Luke explains: “On the English and Creative Writing course, I mixed with other students from Media or History or English Literature, which has led to me meeting some of my best mates at uni.”

When we did screen writing in the second year, that completely changed everything. It made me realise what I wanted to do, and that there are real life jobs in the industry that I could pursue. The whole module prepares you to write like they would expect in the industry. It felt like we were actually learning how to be a screenwriter rather than just the theory.”

After writing what he thought would be his dissertation piece at the end of second year, he wrote a passion project for fun, a political dystopian fiction which actually became his final submission and is the start of a series of novels that Luke hopes to have published in the future.

The placement module allowed Luke to take on his own initiative, finding his own work placement, at Leeds United fanzine, The Square Ball. A small team means the local publication rarely take on work placements, but Luke’s boldness in walking up to them outside Elland Road on matchday showed his tenacity and his love of his local team.

Luke explained, “I literally walked up to them, because I know where they sell the magazine on match days. I walked up to them and said 'can I do this?' They said they wouldn’t normally do it, but I was confident and persistent, and it’s now provided me with a permanent role within the team. Staying in Leeds, going to uni here and then having Beckett being so tied to Leeds United made it a perfect opportunity. I was in the place I wanted to be, surrounded by jobs I want to have.”

For more information about studying BA (Hons) English and Creative Writing at Leeds Beckett, click here.