Bilal Hussain

Law - LLB (Hons)

Growing up gifted, Bilal found himself in a high-pressure environment due to the demands of his family. Despite receiving an unconditional offer at BCU, the weight of his personal problems and the overwhelming thought of a new chapter took a toll on his mental health.  

“I was an academically gifted child and always knew I wanted to go through higher education. During my GCSEs I felt a huge amount of pressure from my parents, being the ‘successful’ child of the family. They would often push me towards certain careers such as dentistry or statistics, but deep down I didn’t want to do those. As my A-Levels approached, I still had no idea what I wanted to do until I had a conversation with a teacher about law. In the past I had been put off by law due to my peers painting it in a negative light, however conversations with my teachers made me see it from a different perspective and I decided to take it as one of my options. 

As time went on, I grew extremely fond of the subject and excelled in it academically, leading to me choosing it as my degree subject. As expected, my family disapproved to start with and objected, to which I told them I’d already submitted my UCAS application behind their backs. They didn’t take it well, but eventually they came around to the idea. Being the first in my low-income family to attend university was both an achievement and a huge weight on my shoulders.

Receiving an unconditional offer from BCU was life changing! It was not easy to get to that point, and I will be forever grateful for the opportunity I was given despite my A-Level results not being the best. I don’t know how my life would have turned out otherwise. 

I suffered greatly with my mental health throughout secondary school, sixth form and beyond. I was apprehensive that I wouldn’t be able to express how I felt when I started university and worried that I wouldn’t have a good support system around me. This stemmed from the family pressures I was dealing with at the time and living at home during university certainly wasn’t helping matters either. On top of this, I’ve always been a shy individual and doubted that I’d be able to make friends; I didn’t want to experience a repeat of my school years. 

My anxiety was particularly bad in my first year of studies, but BCU made every step necessary to helping me, including adjusting my timetable and connecting me with a personal mentor. This is something that has continued into my final year as I have regular counselling sessions with the Mental Health and Wellbeing Team for my depression and anxiety. My struggles led to me creating the Mental Health Society, a society that I have ran for two years now. It’s a topic close to my heart and I know many other students struggle with it too. 

I am the most proud of how BCU has helped me to grow as an individual. It’s made me feel like a completely new person! Looking back at my past self, I am now so much more outgoing and do things that the old me would never dream of, such as volunteering with my local Citizens Advice Bureau as an adviser. I feel confident and content with who I am now, and I can’t wait to wear my hat and robe to celebrate my LLB qualification.

I think it’s normal to not know what you want to do with life after you graduate, and that many students feel this way. Rather than seeing it as a negative, I am enjoying that I have my options open; the world is my oyster. University has prepared me for all aspects of life ahead of me, from forming friendships to getting a graduate level job.  

To me, ‘I AM BCU’ is a sense of belonging. It means to me that I can be myself, be the best that I can be, and be ensured that no matter what happens, I will make it and I won’t give up.”