Kaplan Scholarship Winner 2010

My name is Lauren and I am currently studying my AAT accountancy qualification at Kaplan Financial. I work full time at Vale & West chartered accountants, and study on a day release. This is my story of how I got to where I am today.

I first decided to look in to a career in accountancy in year 10 at school, and did a weeks works experience in accountancy and met Joey from Kaplan. Joey told me about studing towards a professional qualification while working full time and I was really interested however I already decided to study A-Levels. So I went to college first to study A-Level accountancy and A-Level business studies. While at college I met Joey again when she came to do a presentation about apprenticeships in accountancy, I was still very interested. I went to Kaplan's parents evening to find out more and became even more interested. I then attended Kaplan's business school which I really enjoyed!

Therefore I applied for the Kaplan scholarship, and managed to get short listed to do a presentation for 5-10 minutes to a panel of four people from Kaplan on 'why I should win the scholarship'. I then made it in to the final five and had to be interviewed by a external panel. Then about two days later I found out I had won, I could not beleive it! Now all my tuition fees are all covered by Kaplan!

I then started looking for a job to run along side my studying. It took a while but I did not give up! Now I am employed by Vale & West chartered accountants and enjoy it very much. I mainly do accounts preparation for soletraders, partnerships and small companies.

At college I have nearly completed AAT level 2 with two more exams to take at the end of the month. The staff at Kaplan are very supportive and the learning materials are excellent! After my AAT I plan to carry on my training to become a chartered accountant. I am very happy with the way my career is planning out and I am very excited for the future!