University Choices

[emma_strange]

Starting in September i have to start making my university choices, applying through UCAS, picking a course to do. I was just wondering if anyone else is at this stage? And which uni's/courses they are thinking of.

These past few weeks i've been getting loads of uni prospectuses in the mail that i've ordered off the internet, and think i have made a decision about the university I want to go to and the course i want to do. But was just wondering, how do you know if you've made the right choice?

[Pinkbanana]

Universities have open days. Its best to get the feel for a place (if you are going to live there at least 3 years). When you go for the interview its usually a good time to have a look around....

Im past all that now, did the uni bit and loved every minute of it. I went to Durham.

Look at what stuff the uni has to offer, I mean social/club wise. I went to Durham cause of the rowing ect...as well as the course (I read Education) and cause it was fairly local. Moved to Durham, but close enough to pop home with the old dirty washing!!!! A few of the people I knew (from London) couldnt hack being so far away from home and left, so I guess distance is important too.

Good luck.

[Dr. Tangliss]

Have you decided on a course or area of study?? In my opinion that's the first point of call, simply because some uni's have 'better' courses then others. Then you need to consider where abouts in the country you want to study, or would you consider studying in Wales, Scotland, etc... Thirdly, you need to find out about the facilities, amenities and nightlife.

Go to plenty of open days. You have up until next April time to make your decision, unless of course you are applying for Medicine, Denistry, Veterinary Medicine or Oxbridge, where the dealine is 15th October.

[Katy]

Im at that stage now and i have my top 3 choices, going to have another look round them in sept october time. The forst thing i did was decide what course or Area. I decided Law/Psychology depending on the results i get in August and found the grade boundries id need as im not going to get AAA and go to Oxbridge, so my realistic top 3 are Banger, Chester and Aberyswyth. In that order. I also decided that a big City Uni wasnt my thing so i crossed Manchester off my list.

[emma_strange]

I've deciided on the course area, i want to do Media. It's the only thing at college i'm actually decent at!

As for area, i'm wanting to go to Scotland, i think the uni's i'm going to apply to are Robert Gordon and Paisley. For Robert Gordon i would need CCC (one has to be in English) and for Paisley i would only need BC or CC, so i guess it all depends on my grades. My mum wants me to apply to one close to home as a just in case, so that'll probably be Sunderland.

[di marco]

i went through this last year and what i did first was decided what subject i wanted to do (performing arts) then searched on the ucas site for all the unis that did performing arts, i then sent off for a prospectus for nearly all the unis that did performing arts (it was about 20/30 over all, although media would probably be a lot more so sending off for all of them might be a bit silly lol!) then i read through all the courses at all the different unis when i got the prospectuses through, if i didnt like the sound of the course i just through the prospectus away, for all the courses i did like i went to open days for the uni (wel most of them anyway), i went to at least 1 open day a week for a few months just cos i wanted to make sure which unis i was going to pick! some of the unis straight away from going there i didnt like so they were crossed off the list

then once id been to all the open days (now this may sound a bit sad!) i made a table thing and listed things like where it was in the country, what the area was like (cos theres not really a lot of point going to a good uni in an area thats awful cos youre going to have to live in that area), what the course was like, what jobs the degree offered afterwards, what the facilities were like (both academic and social), what the food arrangements were like, what the accomodation was like (and if it guaranteed accomodation for all first years), how much it was going to cost me to stay there, how i could travel back home, the grades/points i needed from my alevels to get onto the course, and a few other things ive forgotten now lol! basically although you want to do a good course and the course thats right for you, you also need to make sure youre going to be happy there (especially if youre moving away from home) so the other factors are also very important

i would also advise that you apply to 6 unis (the maximum amount you can apply for) even if you dont really want to go to them, just so you have some backups in case you dont get offers from the first few unis you like

not all courses/unis do this, but for some of my unis i had to go to an interview/audition for and so this gave me a chance to see exactly what the course was going to be like (although this only happened after i had already applied to them) cos we did workshops and stuff, and also got to see what the students there were like/if they liked it and to speak to some of the tutors. for me this was good cos for 2 unis i went for an interview at i didnt actually like once id got there, and one of them would have been in my top 2 to start with so im glad i found out before i accepted. at the beginning of the process i had 2 firm faves that i really wanted to go to but afterwards i accepted 2 completely different unis, which just shows that even if you think you might like them you might not

also, you get til some point in january to complete your ucas form by, but the sooner you complete it and send it off the better cos the interviews start in november and so some places have been given out before the january deadline

anyway, sorry for going on for ages, hoped it helped

[Katy]

foind this old thread. Its all gettinga bit scary and realistic as my UCAS has been posted and now i just have to wait.

ANyone else sent theres yet.

It was deadline day at our college today, loads of fretting, and stressful students and teachers.

[Cornishbabe]

foind this old thread. Its all gettinga bit scary and realistic as my UCAS has been posted and now i just have to wait.

ANyone else sent theres yet.

It was deadline day at our college today, loads of fretting, and stressful students and teachers.

Where have you applied to and for what courses?

[Trinity]

I've deciided on the course area, i want to do Media. It's the only thing at college i'm actually decent at!

As for area, i'm wanting to go to Scotland, i think the uni's i'm going to apply to are Robert Gordon and Paisley. For Robert Gordon i would need CCC (one has to be in English) and for Paisley i would only need BC or CC, so i guess it all depends on my grades. My mum wants me to apply to one close to home as a just in case, so that'll probably be Sunderland.

OMG - don't go to Paisley!

I went to school there - couldn't leave the place fast enough.

That said, my mother, brother and sister in law all went to Paisley Uni and have done really well since they left.

[Bryan]

I've applied to Doncaster, Bournmouth, Southampton and Middlesex

Main 2 are Bournemouth and Southampton to do Scriptwriting

Southampton requires 180 points ( which is 3 Cs if im correct) I loved the Uni and the Area but wasnt so sure about the course?

Bournemouth requires 300 points (3 bs) and is a better course.

At the mo i want to doss for a year at college and just get Cs so Southampton sounds like my likely choice.

I still want to apply to Bourenmouth but I have to write a 10-15 page script to them as part of my application, I HAVE to do it tomorrow and I have no inspiration at all