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

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