The Evolution of Popular and Cool

It's been a while I know, but this has been on my mind a lot lately; the difference between being popular and being cool.
Back in primary school, it was so small that they were rolled into one, it depended on whether you wore the right clothes, watched the right TV shows, and played the right sports. Of course having a school uniform took out the clothes factor a lot (as it did at secondary as well) which I am so grateful for (massive believer in school uniforms).
Then you get to secondary school, for me this was going from one class per year, to eleven so quite an increase. With 6 feeder primarys and people coming from elsewhere, the cool/popular groups combined. It was here I started to see the difference between popular and cool. You were able to be widely liked and known without having to be cool. The majority of people knew each other so the cool groups stayed pretty steady from primary to secondary.
6th form. 2000 people per year (no that's not a typo). With so many people coming from around the country and around the world, many of these groups were thrown up in the air. It was too big for there to be a cool group. It was very refreshing. Your "social standing" if you must call it that was determined by which seating area/canteen/cafe you went to at lunch time. There was no uniform but unlike all of the non-school-uniform days in primary and secondary, there was far less competing to wear the right clothes, and dress the right way. In a way, it was a bit like St Trinians with everyone finding a group of people similar to themselves, you had the hippies, goths, varleys, rugby lads, and us average joes.
And then you get to University, for the majority of people, they have come without their friend group from school. Being cool is pretty much irrelevant. It's all about knowing more people, and that comes under popularity. Joining random clubs and societies and putting yourself out there is the only way to do it, dressing in the right clothes and treating people in a way that makes you feel "cool" is going to get you no where. You need connections these days if you ever want to find a job, and Uni is such a great opportunity to do this.
I think in general, it comes down to this; Cool is dressing the right way, acting the right way (often frankly cruel), and keeping to a small group of people. Popular is being widely known, and generally well liked for who you are. I feel like you could write a whole psychology paper on this but I have enough work of my own I should be doing!
Popular or Cool, you decide; I definitely know which one I'm aiming to be
All the best,
Bea x

Bea is back

I have now returned from the land of revision! I am a human once more!
I hope that everyones exams went as well as they could, and that everyone gets the results they have worked so hard for!
Leaving college feels really weird, it's been a very fast two years but I've some of the best times of my life there, and met some amazing people. Leaving secondary school I felt kind of happy, but leaving college is sad and scary. Sad I won't see everyone, and scary that we're all going to be so far from each other. Oh, and the food is amazing and I will really miss the chicken, bacon and lettuce baguettes.
Waking up this morning and knowing I have no more revision is glorious. My wall has been relieved of formulae, equations and diagrams and looks like a wall again.
Top Tip: Be careful when taking blu-tack off of wall paper. lesson learnt
But now the question is, what do I do?
Getting home yesterday and going for a family hike was perfect and I can strongly recommend it. Even if it's just yourself or a few friends, pick a spot on the map and go explore. Getting away from wifi and the constant fear of what the world is going to do next is very refreshing.
I can't really not mention it, but I am strongly Pro-Europe. That's all I'm saying.
Today is my last big orchestra do, and will again be very emotional. I'm going to buy a notebook to make a written diary of this summer, in theory, I'll be starting uni exactly 3 months today.
That's seriously scary.
Along with documenting my time for these 3 months on here, it will be nice to have a solid copy of my thoughts to look back on. I'm also going to carry on my work on my holiday book, so will do a post with a photo in due course.

All the best for the future, onwards and upwards as they say!

Bea x

Choosing a University

There are many factors when it comes down to choosing a university, but here are my top 6 factors to look at for finding the perfect place:

1.       Distance – Does living far away from your family bother you? If you are more of a home bod, draw up a circle on a map to look at universities within that distance. The same method works for if you know that you want to go somewhere further than a certain distance from home, or not within London for example.

2.       Family Ties – Going to university in a city where you have family members can be nice. It means you have someone to reach out to in an emergency but it could also become a tie. Falling into a habit of seeing them a certain time a week with no flexibility, or being called in as baby sitter every week could get tiring. In my opinion, I was biased towards places my family don’t know so well, as to make it my place and my adventure.

3.       The Course Content – this is VITAL! You do not want to get stuck in a course that you find boring, just because you went for a university your friend is going to, or because they have good sports. Yes, university is where you’re likely to meet your lifelong friends, but you also want to learn something – preferably something you like.

4.       Facilities – if your course is very lab based, such as Biochemistry, you don’t want to go to a university where the labs are a long way off campus, or old, small or forlorn. Equally, if you were doing a subject such as English, you don’t want to go somewhere where the poetry section of the library is equal to your bedroom shelf.

5.       Hobbies – do they offer a good Orchestra, Football Team, Harry Potter Society or whatever it is that is your passion. As I said above, uni is a very social place and so you’re going to want the opportunity to meet like-minded people. Don’t choose a uni just because of this, but if it came down to two and one had the opportunity for you to express yourself, it’s a done deal.

6.       Accommodation – Do you want the opportunity to cook for yourself? Carefully look at some universities accommodation, some such as Cambridge do not have places with the facilities for their students to cook. It’s definitely worth looking into if you’re a keen cook like me. 

All the best,

Bea x

(ps. I'm loving the variety of countries I'm getting views from, so amazing to see how the internet reaches people from so far and wide!)

Open Days

Out of the 5 universities I applied to, I only ended up going to a true open day for one. Originally I was planning to apply for both Biology and Natural Sciences at Bath as I was not sure which of the two I wanted to study, both of the courses looked great. Before I actually submitted my UCAS, we did a road trip one weekend, going to the Birmingham Open Day, then onto Bath, and through to Exeter. Birmingham was beautiful, I was truly surprised by how much I enjoyed it! Amazing sports facilities and music society, with friendly people and a lovely campus. They were so coordinated sorting transport and parking for everyone, as well as easy registration and sign in areas to receive all of the relevant information about the day.

We went on to Bath, and although it was a Saturday afternoon, we were still surprised at how quiet it was. It was one of those places for me where you get there and instantly know there’s something you don’t quite like. The people were friendly enough however as a prospective Biology student, I didn’t like how the Biology department was this separate, small group of buildings away from the main centre of the campus. Until I visited, I hadn’t realised how small the university was, probably brilliant for some people, but just not for me. We stayed with a family in the city and went out for dinner in the centre, having visited several times before, it felt very familiar.

The next morning, we drove on to Exeter. Visiting on a Sunday morning, we expected it to have even fewer people around than at Bath, but we found the exact opposite!! People were everywhere, going to their sports activities or even just seeing friends. The sports centre staff were so friendly, letting us look around and see the gym, we went out for a Sunday lunch in the city, it was a much smaller city than I had realised, but charming all the same. After this road trip, I chose to apply for Warwick in my spare option which I had been saving for Bath Biology in case I liked it, however I have never visited the Warwick campus as due to the structure of the course I’ve never had a real enthusiasm to go.

For my final university, York, I was invited up to an Offer Holders day. It took 6 hours of trains and a bus each way but it was really worth it. Their Biology department is like no other, the campus is beautifully structured, and decently close to the main city. They split students from parents, giving a chance to meet people you would be sharing a course with, I in fact met a girl who lives just 10 minutes from me! All of the staff and students were welcoming and helpful, going into one of the colleges (their version of halls of residence) was so useful, meeting the student who lives there and seeing what the facilities are truly like. Walking back through the city (bearing in mind it was mid-December) it was stunning. I’m not going to lie, I fell in love with it, and from that one day, I was made up. That was where I wanted to go.

Going to at least visit the universities (and the cities) is very important, and often eye-opening!

All the best,

Bea x

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

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

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

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

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

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