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On the whole, I would say that I have always been a fairly book-smart student - so much so that when the classic question came up of what I wanted to do when I was older, my nine year-old self would always respond: "go to The University of Cambridge." Granted, I did have my fair share of ups and downs and it was in Year 9/10 that my grades were still relatively good, but were starting to slip. Circumstances meant that when it came to Year 11, all I really did was study to distract myself from everything that was going on around me and when my grades were starting to go up, I realised that if I kept things up, I could apply to Cambridge. At first, I would say this was nothing but an innocent source of motivation - but my thoughts soon turned obsessive, and it even became the thing I thought about on the treadmill to keep me running: "So you're going to apply to Cambridge but you can't even run 2K, who do you think you are?", I'd tell myself - as if there was some magic correlation between the two. I went on to do my exams and then results day came around... long story short, I didn't get the results I wanted and it was, admittedly, a big blow to the system - though it seems strange to look back and think I spent the majority of results day crying when I respectively did pretty well.
Nevertheless, I survived and went into Year 12, where the time came to look around universities - and for a period, I was completely lost because I went to a taster day at The University of Cambridge and I didn't particularly enjoy it. This is where one of the pro tips comes in: please look around every university you choose if the option is there; just because you think it sounds good on paper doesn't mean that you'll necessarily enjoy the atmosphere in person. A few months later, I decided to go to a taster day at Oxford and I much preferred it: this was the university I would now turn my attention to. Again, though vowing that I wouldn't become obsessive, I did the very same thing and having researched extensively how to write a personal statement and the sorts of activities that look good on it, I applied for programmes such as the Eton College Universities Summer School and Work Experience at The United Nations. That's another thing, though I did this perhaps a little too extensively, researching these sorts of programmes and things such as how to write a personal statement in the Year 11 summer holidays helped me immensely with my application and I would highly recommend doing so!
From this point on, I will be the first to admit that I was stuck in an "Oxford bubble" - and it was only really in November that I started to 'snap out' of it. I hastily chose 4 other universities that, in all honesty, I didn't really research (another big mistake) and ended up applying for Oxford, Edinburgh, Durham, Bristol and UCL to read Spanish. I did my entrance exam and I got called for interview; to some degree, I was happy - but I couldn't help but feel a massive feeling of impending doom. Interviews came round quicker than I perhaps wanted them to and I was probably in one of the worst mental states that I had been in in my life. Unsurprisingly, my first interview was absolutely atrocious and I knew there and then that I wasn't getting in - of course this upset me, but to be perfectly honest, I couldn't see myself at the college I had chosen. Again, please look around before applying blindly! By this point, I had already received offers from Bristol and UCL - but, as awful as it sounds looking back, it didn't particularly phase me. The night before receiving my rejection, I got an offer from Durham and began to joke around about now having the grounds to be a full-on Oxbridge reject - which I did indeed become the following morning. Admittedly, I had a two-minute long cry but, as much of a kick in the teeth as it was, I had to go to my Spanish lesson so sorted my act out quickly. It was strange, because after the news, I felt some sort of weird freeing feeling - perhaps I spent so long trying to identify myself via an institution that I forgot what really mattered to me. That and, upon reflection, Oxford really wouldn't have been the best thing for me mentally.
Having furthered researched the courses of the other universities that I applied for, I decided that it was either going to be between UCL or Edinburgh - which, funnily enough, I still haven't heard back from. From there on, I decided to attend the SELCS Offer Holder Day at UCL and, in all honesty, I left the university feeling rather perplexed - we'd already applied for our courses, so why was there such a great focus on detailing the various language/degree combinations available? This got me thinking, I knew I didn't want to do French along with Spanish as a joint honours as, in all honesty, I need time to fall in love with the language again following a tumultuous A-Level experience - but why hadn't I considered languages such as, say, Italian or even Latin? By this point, I was already learning a little bit of Latin on Duolingo and decided to bite the bullet: I asked to convert from BA Spanish and Latin American Studies to BA Language and Culture - which is a flexible course allowing you to study a major and a minor language with a 75/25 split. Given that my heart still truly lies in the Spanish language, I thought that this sounded brilliant and that brings me up to today. As my other choices ask for higher entrance grade requirements, it looks like UCL is now going to be my firm choice and my only choice - oh Edinburgh, had you not taken 5 months to review my application and still not respond to me, perhaps I would have more greatly considered you...
Well then, now that this little announcement has come to an end, I probably ought to get on with the boring admin and apply for Student Finance and accommodation. Before I do that, however, I wanted to quickly round-up a list of do's and don'ts for all of you thinking of applying to university in the near and not-so-distant future:
T H E D O ' S• Make sure that you do your research early - not only on the universities and their courses, but also on the more technical aspects such as whether or not you have an entrance exam and things that you can do for your personal statement early on to be a more competitive applicant, such as apply for summer schools and essay competitions. • Speaking of entrance exams, make sure that you begin preparing for these early so that you can take on a 'little and often approach' - things are going to really get intense in Year 13 and you don't want your A-Levels, which will be the qualifications to get you into university, to slip. • Find out whether or not you may or may not have an interview so that you can start preparing early on. Make sure to challenge yourself to think deeply and critically, force yourself to have an opinion about everything you read and tackle the technique early on. • Consider other factors in applying, such as whether the university is a campus or not, whether it is based in a city, what the nightlife is like etc. While the course may be the most important aspect, don't forget that this is where you're going to be living for up to 6 years! • Pay a visit to your chosen universities if you have the option - there were some universities which sounded brilliant on paper but which I hated in person! • Contact current students and gather their thoughts on the university - they are the ones who will know best. • Take into account any feedback on your application - but do remember that it is a personal statement, and the feedback you do get may at times conflict. Follow your gut with what you think is best - but don't ignore your teachers either. | T H E D O N ' T S• Particularly to those of you who are applying to Oxbridge, try to avoid getting tunnel-vision and being stuck in an Oxbridge bubble - the acceptance rates are, of course, notoriously low and there are so many other amazing universities that even may suit you better! • Apply to a university solely for its name - make sure you take the time to research the course in-depth to ensure that what you are actually going to be studying is something that suits you. • Look too greatly into league tables - these may be a good initial indicator of how well students at a particular course at a certain university perform, but they are subject to great change over the years. • As self-explanatory as it probably is, avoid applying to universities just because your nearest and dearest are also applying there - you may want very different things from a university and you don't want to end up miserable should things end on a bad note. • Save applying to the last minute - the earlier you get it done, the quicker you can resume your focus to your A-Level qualifications which, again, are going to be what gets you into university. |