When looking at her options for tertiary study, Catherine was unsure exactly which direction she wanted her career to take, and she explains that a Bachelor of Science suited her perfectly. 'I was keen to continue studying after high school, but was not yet ready to commit to a more professional-style degree. I had always been interested in biological sciences, and I had a strong aptitude for mathematics and statistics at school. I decided that a BSc would be a good way to increase my skills and knowledge, and would leave my options wide open at completion.'

Catherine found that her two major subjects worked well in combination. 'I pursued more of an ecological focus with my biology, and was especially interested in marine systems. I also studied a fair bit of applied statistics.'

Catherine hopes to use both her biology and statistics skills at some stage in her career: 'These are particularly relevant to environmental and climate work, and I hope to work with crown research institutions,' she says.

In the January after completing her degree, Catherine began her career as a Statistical Analyst at Statistics New Zealand, and so far she is enjoying the role.

She describes: 'I work in Statistical Methods, so essentially we support the running and release of sub annual business surveys and statistics, and provide analytical support as required.'

Catherine feels her degree prepared her well and she looks forward to contributing to Statistics New Zealand as her skills develop.

'Definitely the stats side of my degree helps me a lot!' she says. 'Study in general has made sure that I am able to act independently to answer my own questions and challenges, and my research and reading skills are right up there for that.'

'So far, I am definitely loving the team environment!'

In her spare time Catherine volunteers for St John at sports games and other events around Christchurch. 'I hope to stick around Christchurch for a while, and further down the track consider more study or travel where I can. This is a pretty exciting time in my life!'

Following her own experience, Catherine's advice to prospective students is to make their own decisions when choosing their degree.

'I would recommend that people do what makes them happy, what they love, or what they are most interested in. As a young adult it is easy to be swayed by parents, friends and family, who tell you that they know best. However, you know yourself best. At the end of the day it is your life, your degree and your student loan, so don't just get into a degree because you will get an amazingly paid job at the end - if you hate the study you will probably hate the job! Plan your degree to suit your interests, and take other people's opinions as advice and not as instruction.'