I got incredibly lucky; I would be working for a prominent insurance company for my year out of university. Come September, for the first time in my life since I was seven, I would not have exams to worry about, no assignments to do to please my teachers and no more being a student for one whole year. I would be trading all that for a chance to fret about working under the constant pressure of getting things right the first time, meet tight deadlines to appease my line manager and being part of the 9 to 5 parade.
Don't get me wrong; I am happy. Getting a work placement is what I've been working towards for the past few months. Yet, if circumstances are more favourable, say I don't have to worry about not getting a job after graduation because my dying rich long-lost relative has just named me his sole heir, I wouldn't have aspired to become a corporate serf. There are better things to work towards. Like writing a screenplay for that movie I'm going to direct and distribute via my own film distribution company.
At this point, I'm still pretty clueless about what my career path would take, if indeed I would want a career in the traditional sense of the word (I wouldn't want to end up like Schmidt). The work placement would hopefully provide the answer.