Spring has finally sprung. Finally.
In my head, it's truly spring when it's warm enough to leave the back door open all day.
As a part of biology homework, we were all given a broad bean to grow. There's no point beating about the bush but my first one died, in fact I'm pretty sure it fermented after sprouting as when I finally tipped it out, it smelt sweet.
So as my family are into growing veggies, we have a seed box and so I was determined to get a bean to grow. With a large jam jar filled with slightly damp kitchen roll, I put two varieties of broad bean on opposite sides next to the glass, a pea between them on one side, and a runner bean on the other. Watching them grow and change each day is surprisingly amusing, the pea is the most reactive and now has an extensive root system, stem and leaves and is out the top of the jar. The runner bean seems to have forgotten the laws of plant hormones that say roots grow downwards and instead has grown sideways, in fact now over the broad beans to either side. Last night, it too reached the top of the jar. One broad bean seems dead, the root end is black and yet each day it is definitely longer. the other has managed to lift itself upwards on its root, and seems to be about to join the race to the top of the jar. As peas and runner beans are climbers, I thought of a way to get round the issue of them having nothing to climb. Chop sticks. I have celotaped chop sticks to the rim of the jar next to each of the two climbers. A cocktail stick of guidance needed to be used to encourage the runner to not in fact grow into the celotape but there we go.
Why not grow a bean or a plant, it's quite amusing, and you don't even have to take it for walks!
All the best,
Bea x
A collection of my thoughts and experiences as I go through the constant state of confusion that is student life
Thursday 31 March 2016
Tuesday 29 March 2016
Never forget why you're working
Everyone has an ambition, a thing they want to do one day.
Today me and my family went to the zoo, it couldn't have been more of an incentive to put the work in for my exams. The idea that one day I could be working somewhere like that, or abroad fighting for their conservation and survival. So many beautiful animals who are so threatened by the effect of mans' action on the world. Below are a few of my favourite photos from today.
Find your thing, find your inspiration and go for it! Anyone who tries to knock you down simply shrug off - your future is controlled by you, not outside factors or other people. Maybe even listen to a little Fight Song by Rachel Platten, or a bit of Motown? Both just radiate positivity!
All the best,
Bea x
Today me and my family went to the zoo, it couldn't have been more of an incentive to put the work in for my exams. The idea that one day I could be working somewhere like that, or abroad fighting for their conservation and survival. So many beautiful animals who are so threatened by the effect of mans' action on the world. Below are a few of my favourite photos from today.
Find your thing, find your inspiration and go for it! Anyone who tries to knock you down simply shrug off - your future is controlled by you, not outside factors or other people. Maybe even listen to a little Fight Song by Rachel Platten, or a bit of Motown? Both just radiate positivity!
All the best,
Bea x
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Monday 28 March 2016
Facebook!
I now have a Facebook page to make it easier for people to keep up with what I'm posting!
Check it out here: https://www.facebook.com/beablogslife/
Thanks!!
All the best,
Bea x
Check it out here: https://www.facebook.com/beablogslife/
Thanks!!
All the best,
Bea x
Student Loans - Not so scary after all!
So I just finished applying for my student loan, it’s very
early I know, haven’t even accepted offers yet but from the scare stories of
people not getting their maintenance money through until mid-October, I was
determined to get it done early on.
From how it was presented to us in college, I thought it was
going to be far more complicated and scary to do than it actually was. With the
option to save and continue, it’s easy to do sections at a time rather than all
in one go, and gives you time to think about it. I found the hardest section to
answer was who to put as my extra contacts! They've clearly put a lot of
thought into how they've set out the website, making it truly accessible for
people. Even reading through the terms and conditions (which I actually did for
a change) was clear and understandable, not using overly complex language,
designed to confuse as is so often the case. Explaining how we repay it and
when is reasonable and again, easy to understand.
Overall, I’d give the .gov website a big thumbs up! Maybe I
won’t end up broke after all!
All the best,
Bea x
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Personal Statements - PS are BS
Personal statements are horrific.
That is the truth through and through. Nobody enjoys writing
them, I highly doubt anyone enjoys reading them, and more often than not, they
seem to be ignored. My personal statement took around 8 drafts, being sent back
and forth between my tutor, secondary school tutor, parents, and biology
mentor, as well as myself. Even after all of this, there are still whole
sections I’d love to change but I think that’s a common feeling about a piece.
I worked on it for MONTHS!
And yet, one of my universities gave me an offer within 18
hours… factoring in that this was over night and even admissions staff need to
sleep, I find it hard to believe that they actually looked through all of my
references, attendance and personal statement, rather than just predicted
grades and going on that.
However, I have heard it said that admissions tutors can
tell a lot from someone’s PS. If you’re applying for medicine but have a
biology based subject as a backup, but all through your PS you talk about your
love for medicine, helping people and interest of the human body, it’s not a
very subtle hint to the AT that their course isn't your top choice, and will
often be rejected simply due to your lack of interest for their subject. In the
long scheme of things, I see this as pretty justified, no teacher wants to
teach a classroom full of students who don’t want to be there!
One of the hardest bit of the PS is 4000 characters, and the
nightmare that is the inconsistency between how word processors count
characters, versus how the UCAS website counts characters. I can recommend
doing some background research googling the dos and don’ts of writing your PS.
The one major point I will emphasise here (so as not to just repeat everyone
else entirely) is that I find it hard to believe that you “have had a passion
for chemical engineering from a young age” or “as long as I can remember”. It’s
just not true, and we all know it!
Get your friends to help you, those who have known you for
several years or so are likely to be aware of what work experience you've done,
or what skills you have which make you perfect for the course which you simply
wouldn't think of! Don’t be scared to print it off now and then and annotate
it, absolutely pick it apart, rearrange it even, aim to get that page as
colourful as the revision that you would be doing, if you didn't have to do
this, would be.
Keep your head up, and try not to repeat the same word too
many times (I'm a sucker for doing that so sorry in advance!)
All the best,
Bea x
Sunday 27 March 2016
To Oxbridge, or not to Oxbridge
Growing up, watching a lot of University Challenge, and
believing what the media had told me, I had been given the impression that
going to one of the Oxbridge universities should be a goal in life. When I
began looking at universities in the autumn of AS (first year of college) I was
instantly disappointed that simple due to getting 2 too few A* grades at GCSE (needed 5),
I had no chance of applying to Oxford to study Biology. Later, looking through
the course content, my dismay soon went as the areas covered are not, in my
opinion, the best bits! During this year, I applied for a Sutton Trust Summer
School, although I did not get in, I was offered a place on the Experience
Cambridge programme, which ran as two days, a month apart where we were to
research a question in our groups, communicating through their online portal.
Visiting Cambridge really gave me an insight into what I
wanted out of a university. Yes, the buildings are beautiful, however when we
moved between buildings, I did not like the masses of tourists - being stared at
as though we were attractions, and having grumpy professors try and barge pass
thinking that we too (as we were a group of 3 girls clinging together in the
busy street) were also tourists. I am aware that many other city based
universities, are not nearly as full of tourists, however from this, I chose to
only apply to campus based universities. Having grown up visiting Southampton
University almost every year, I am definitely biased towards campus based!
At Cambridge, I was looking at studying Natural Sciences,
which there is a very broad course. At my college, you have to decide in the
summer (even before results) which college you want to apply to, and for what
course - I didn’t enjoy this added pressure at all. Another thing to consider
with universities that my Cambridge experience flagged up to me, was the
possibility of cooking for yourself. All of the accommodation at Cambridge is
catered, it really reminded me of a posh boarding school, which I think is why
it becomes such a cliché. As someone who went to a big secondary school (300
per year) and a massive college (2000 per year) the idea of going into a
college where there are only 200 people in total I found quite daunting,
especially seeing as much of the socialising is done within these colleges. When
I was there I visited Kings College (image below) and Corpus Christi, both of them beautiful
architecture and gardening. I must add though, that we all agreed that it was
as though you could feel the pressure already on you, before we had even looked
at applying.
From this event, I am still friends with several of the
people I met here, however none of them are going to be heading there in the
Autumn. Seeing friends who did choose to apply for Oxbridge, has in truth
made me thankful that I did not go through that process. All of the extra
forms, extra paperwork, separate application and so on, as well as an earlier
UCAS entry date. This is without even factoring in the nightmare of entrance
exams.
If you think you can take the stress, let alone get the grades,
go for it! At the end of the day they are brilliant universities and I know of
several people who have loved both. A really important thing though is to not
apply just because it’s Oxbridge, and if you’re lucky enough to get an offer,
don’t feel obliged to go just because it Oxbridge.
At the end of the day, you need to choose somewhere you’ll
be happy!
All the best,
Bea x
Saturday 26 March 2016
Lights, Camera, Action
So this, in theory, is going to be my tips for surviving student life.
6 months from now I will (in theory) be studying Biology at The University of York, by reading my posts it will give you a little insight into the reality of not only applying to university, but hopefully (so long as I do too) how to survive it. I'm currently in 6th Form College in the run up to the fateful A level exams...
Some weeks may be a tip of revision, or what I've been cooking or wondering, by no means expect any kind of continuity, I will try and keep it light-hearted though!
I hope you enjoy your journey with me, or at least that this can be something I look back through in years to come.
All the best,
Bea x
6 months from now I will (in theory) be studying Biology at The University of York, by reading my posts it will give you a little insight into the reality of not only applying to university, but hopefully (so long as I do too) how to survive it. I'm currently in 6th Form College in the run up to the fateful A level exams...
Some weeks may be a tip of revision, or what I've been cooking or wondering, by no means expect any kind of continuity, I will try and keep it light-hearted though!
I hope you enjoy your journey with me, or at least that this can be something I look back through in years to come.
All the best,
Bea x
Labels:
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