First and Second Choices

Hello again! It's been a while!

Recently I have continued my application process by applying for university 'visit days'. These days help you to decide if a specific university and course are right for you. I've booked to go to days at Birmingham, UEA and Keele. Normally it's helpful to go to just one or two, especially if you can't decide which university to put as your first or second choice. I'm visiting three myself as I received an Unconditional Offer from Keele and am wondering whether to put it as my first choice, as after I receive my mock exam results I will have a better understanding of what grades to aim for.

If you're going to a visit day, here's a few things you might need to think about:

• Would I be happy to take this course for three or four years?
• What type of accommodation suits me? Self-catered? On or off campus? En-suite bathroom? 
• What is the student life like? What about societies or nightlife?

And of course, the most important:

• Will I be happy here?

Don't feel pressured to accept or decline any offers yet, as the deadline is far away in May - there is plenty of time to really think about what kind of education suits you best. In my case, I have to decide between a university in a big city with about 30,000 students (Birmingham) or a university in the middle of a countryside with one of the lower student intakes (Keele).

I haven't really thought about what will happen after I leave home; everything is so focused on the here and now, especially with the constant reminders about coursework and revision. But Student Finance has now officially opened, which is yet another responsibility to handle. I expect every school will have countless assemblies and form notices about it, so there's no need to stress.

My next blog will probably be published after I have been to my visit days, so I leave you until then...

~Nicola

Hey There

Hello for the first time, readers!

My name is Nicola, and I'm a year 13 student currently going through the long and agonising process of applying to University!

*throws confetti*

I applied to do English Literature at Birmingham, the UEA, Kent, Keele and Lincoln.
So, I was lucky enough to finish my application pretty early on, and had it sent off in the half term. Every email I got after that, I expected to be an update, and every time it wasn't my heart dropped. But after a few days, I got my first response from Kent. It happened pretty quickly after that: after exactly a week, I had received all of my offers, including an UNCONDITIONAL from Keele! Beforehand, I saw a lot of my friends receiving unconditionals, sometimes more than one, and I felt a little inadequate - why didn't they want me as much as they wanted them? But every offer they make means that they want you, so I wouldn't get too hung up on it, personally.

I was the exception in the fact that I already have all five offers. Lots of people I know haven't sent off their form yet, but that's okay. All universities are different, so you may have to wait weeks for some to come through, as every university does the process differently. But now I'm really excited - I have a lot of choices to make!

~ Nicola ~