Well i'm pretty much decided now, i just got to finish my statement and then send it off! I'm hoping to do French and German, and i'm applying to Aston, Birmingham, Salford, Notts and Leeds.
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Well i'm pretty much decided now, i just got to finish my statement and then send it off! I'm hoping to do French and German, and i'm applying to Aston, Birmingham, Salford, Notts and Leeds.
I hate deciding on unis!
Knowing me, i'll change my mind in about.... umm.... 5 minutes? :p
I've just got my personal statement to write as well. I'm (hopefully) doing Policing or Policing with Criminal Investigation. I've only got four choices at the moment, Central Lancashire (Preston), Canterbury, Staffordshire and Buckinghamshire. There isn't anywhere else that does the course so I'm thinking about applying for Criminology somewhere for my last choice.
Is it Buckinghamshire Chilterns you're applying for, or Buckingham Uni?
Chilterns.Quote:
Originally Posted by Abi
I've just got a prospectus through for Birmingham. Not exactly top of my list and I don't particularly want to go there but there isn't anywhere else that does the course I want to do. I could put criminology down but I don't really want to do that.
Still haven't written my statement yet :rolleyes:
Don'y worry about the statement it will come. Mine didn't happen for ages and eventually i had a loads of ideas. Hope the applications are going well.
I have Bristol, Newport, LIPA & Northampton in mind to do a BA hounors in Performing Arts/Drama/Acting.
Only because they offer film/tv/radio acting... and we're doing this at college and its so intreging.... plus I've done Media work before....
I've settled on
Portsmouth- English and Journalism
Portsmouth- Media and Journalism
Bournmouth- Journalism
Winchester- Journalism
Kingston- Journalism
Mainly all in the south, apart from Kingston. I Loooove Portsmouth, thats why i'm applying for 2 courses :)
I've got to sort out my reference with my tutor tomorrow, and then i'll send it tomorrow night. He's put on my reference that i'm predicted grades lower than what i am. Plus he's missed stuff out, which is annoying. Its all very final at the minute though- scary!
Good luck Abi. It was such a scary feeling once i finally sent mine off. Hope it all goes well and those offers come flooding in.
Good luck to everyone who is applying - i hope you all get the offers you want. :)
I need to stop looking at my personal statement. Everytime i do, i end up changing something :p
I was exactly the same, i kept think ing i needed to add something or it didnt look quite right. It will be such a weight of your mind once it is all sent. Then all you have is exams to worry about.Quote:
Originally Posted by Abi
Even though i've already sent mine off, i keep worrying about it thinking if it's not good enough... maybe i should move it off my desktop to some other folder...
Still haven't started mine. I don't know where to start. I think once I have the first few sentences I'll be able to do the rest, its just getting started thats the problem. I'm finding it hard to think of things that I'm good at and what my positive bits of me are . I can think of loads of negative ones but not many positive
I'm going to ring my aunty at the weekend, she used to work for uni admissions so she knows whats good and whats not good to write.
have you got a setout of what you need to include We were given a template of four stages and that ade it really easier for me. As i knew what they were looking for.
I think I have somewhere but its in five or six stages. What were your four stages?
What course i wanted to do and why
Any activities that i had to show i had an interest in the subject
ANy other personal Activities (academic or not) relating to the subject, I managed to link being a guide leader and sailing to Law, don't know how, i htink i mentioned responsability
A conclusion
Think theres a thread me and Bry used last year on personal Statements. There are a few tips on that. If you need any more help i will trey and find mine from last year,feel free to email or pm me.
Just a question..
You know when you go uni.. how many courses/subjects do you do?
I am interested in doing Economics.. does that split into several things or is it one thing you learn? Or do you choose more than that.. If so how many?
Thanks!
I really need to start thinking what I want to do, I cant just leave it till well later on, my mum reminded me I need to start applying by october
You pick 1 subject, and do that for the full 3 years. If you look at UCAS you can get an idea of where you can do the course, and they'll have details about what is covered in the course.Quote:
Originally Posted by .:SpIcYsPy:.
LSE is probably one of the top places for Economics.
This is what you do in the course. Gives you a bit of an idea how it works.
Economics is a very good course, but very competitive. Especially if you choose to go to the top AAAA places, like LSE, UCL, Oxbridge etc.
And Abbie, you have untill January to apply. Unless you apply for Medicine, Vet Med, Dentistry, or to Oxbridge. You have untill October the 15th (I think...) for those, and untill Jan 15th for everything else. Though, obviously, the sooner the better. If you're starting to think about what you want to do, then look on UCAS. It helps to know what choices you actually have, before you start thinking seriously about it. Or you might come across a course that you really like the look at, that you never thought of. And it might be too late by then :)
I already know what I want to do, Journalism...but I might combine it with something...not sure though. My teachers said they want us to start this summer, and apply by October.
Yeah I think I'll have to look on UCAS cos I really have no idea, although the only thing im certain on is I want to travel in a gap year otherwise I'll never do it and I will be very dissapointed in myself
You can study it on its own or you can do a joint honours with something else. Basically, you choose one subject as a major and one as a minor or you can do equal weightings. The major course has more work and weighting and the minor has less.Quote:
Originally Posted by .:SpIcYsPy:.
Not all universities offer joint honours so you will have to look around.
Oxbridge is very competitive so unless you're predicted mainly As and are on target to get them I wouldn't bother applying. If you apply to Oxbridge you can only apply for four courses instead of five I think. Or is that medicine/denistry/vetrinary? I read it the other day on UCAS.
Just as an overview of the whole system in case you don't know, you pick five choices from any university and course type/subject unless you're applying for Route A/Route B art and design in which case you have fewer choices. Send your UCAS off and you will get replies from the universities offering you a place or not. If you get a place it could be conditional (meet the points) or unconditional (a place no matter what results you get). Once you have all your replies you choose a firm choice (one that you want to go to and can meet the requirements) and an insurance choice to fall back on if you don't.
I went on the Cambridge side.. and I am so confused with all these new things (only looked into this last night and today!)
It says for Economics..
Admissions tests See admissions tests and written work
I clicked on the link and it shows this:
http://www.cam.ac.uk/admissions/unde...ics/tests.html
I'm just completely lost now.. I am planning to go to my school's 6th form college..
I don't know if it's got anything to do with this :lol:
Thanks x
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that Oxbridge have entrance tests to test your reading, writing and maths skills. It depends on what college you apply for as Oxbridge is split into lots of different colleges.
Okay I have no idea about UCAS about from its a pain the ass
Indeed it it. The easy part is putting exam results, work experience and previous jobs in. The hard bit it the personal statement. My advice is start working on it now then you can get the whole thing sent off as soon as possible after the opening date.
Ohhhh I see.. So is there a whole seperate college for Economics and every other subject? How do you know which college to go to?Quote:
Originally Posted by Abigail
(Thanks for your help btw it's really helping! x)
I already have an idea on what to write on my personal statement - part of a budding journalists group, work for the newsletter, had a work placement at a local newspaper, and i'm going to mention different short stories and poems i got published in books - i suppose that's a start.
Yeah, I started by brainstorming ideas. I couldn't get started so I divided it up into four sections, why I wanted to do the course, extracurricular activities and hobbies, what I hoped to achieve after uni jobwise and something else and just wrote words down.
I'm not sure if there are seperate colleges for each faculty, I haven't really looked into it as I didn't apply. I know that there are seperate sex colleges and co-ed (both sexes).
You just apply to the university as you would any other and they sort the right college out for you. You should send off for a prospectus.
I don't know if you have looked at any prospectuses. Some universities are spread across two or three sites. Canterbury has three seperate sites and in the course section bit there is a campus code for each course to say which campus that course is on.
Another thing that I thought of is your A level choices. You need to start sending off for prospectuses now to see what subjects each institutions specifically want. Most don't accept key skills, some accept general studies (except Oxbridge and red bricks) and for some courses you will need specific subjects. Obviously for a science degree you will need a science A2 but some places also accept maths.
No, it doesn't work like that. Each Oxbridge university is split into Colleges, which act like mini-universities. If you decide to apply there, then you pick a subject, and then pick which college you want to study it at. Most subjects are offered at most colleges. Once you decide on that, you apply to a COLLEGE not to Cambridge as a whole.Quote:
Originally Posted by .:SpIcYsPy:.Ohhhh I see.. So is there a whole seperate college for Economics and every other subject? How do you know which college to go to?Quote:
Originally Posted by Abigail
(Thanks for your help btw it's really helping! x)
Some people get rejected straight away. The rest get 2 interviews. 1 at the college you applied to, and 1 at another, random college. You can then get an offer, get rejected, or get pooled. If you get pooled, then any college can look at your application, and give you an interview/offer if they want to, but you have no control over what college this is at.
You can also apply to the pool. You just apply for a subject, and don't specify a college. Then any can pick you up, but at the same time, you have a big risk of not getting an offer from anyone.
Its a bit confusing...
It might be easier to understand if i give you an example. One of my friends applied for Cambridge doing Natural Sciences at Downing. She got an interview at Downing and at Trinity. She then got an offer at Downing. If Downing had decided they didn't like her, then she would have got pooled, and Trinity could have picked her up, if they liked her.
Make any sense? :)
So you apply to the colleges and not the universities itself at the start right?
And the example made alot of sense.. Thanks! x
I've applied for the course you want to do, so i can give you tips as to what you need to start to do :)Quote:
Originally Posted by DaVeyWaVey
Most of the universities stess that work experience is everything. So try and get as many placements at newspapers and magazines that you can. Start to put together a portfolio of your published work as well, because if you get an interview at late notice, they'll want this. And it can take a while to put together.
You need to apply for an NCTJ accredited course, if you want to work in newspapers. Or be prepared to do a course after uni, which is accredited.
Most universities want BBB. They want at least 1 essay subject, like English, and they'll want you to get a B in it. They don't like completly vocational subjects like Drama, Theatre Studies, Design Technology, etc, so if you do anything like that, then work experience is even more important to gloss over that fact!!
Thats just my experience, at least. Feel free to PM me about anything you like about Journalism. I have 4 offers out of the 5 i've applied to, and have an interview at the 5th, so i might be of help :)
Yeah, you pick a college and apply to there.Quote:
Originally Posted by .:SpIcYsPy:.
Cambridge and Oxford don't use UCAS, so its a paper-application for them, and UCAS for the rest of your uni choices. Which was annoying this year, because there was the postal strike at the deadline. So find out early where you can get the CAF/OAF form from, so you can start filling it in over summer.
Do you fill in the application forms for uni in Year 12 or year 13 (and send them off)..
UCAS.. do they have all the application forms for all the other universities or something? Thanks!
You do all your uni applications in early year 13, including Oxbridge.Quote:
Originally Posted by .:SpIcYsPy:.
All other universities use the same application form, which is on the UCAS website. You create an account through your school, fill in the form (Which is soo annoying and time consuming!!), and its sent to your referee (Usually your tutor or Head of Year), they add your reference and predicted grades and send it. Its all done on the computer.
To be honest Spicy, i wouldn't worry about it if i were you. You need to concentrate on doing well in your GCSEs. The people who get into Oxbridge have 12 A*s, AAAA at AS level and lots of extra-curricular stuff. Work on getting to that, and worry about the applying process later. And unis like LSE look for 7 A*s too.
Thanks Abi. I've already started creating a portfolio of different newspaper articles that I've got published and I've got them all in a folder, so I guess that's a start.Quote:
Originally Posted by AbiI've applied for the course you want to do, so i can give you tips as to what you need to start to do :)Quote:
Originally Posted by DaVeyWaVey
Most of the universities stess that work experience is everything. So try and get as many placements at newspapers and magazines that you can. Start to put together a portfolio of your published work as well, because if you get an interview at late notice, they'll want this. And it can take a while to put together.
You need to apply for an NCTJ accredited course, if you want to work in newspapers. Or be prepared to do a course after uni, which is accredited.
Most universities want BBB. They want at least 1 essay subject, like English, and they'll want you to get a B in it. They don't like completly vocational subjects like Drama, Theatre Studies, Design Technology, etc, so if you do anything like that, then work experience is even more important to gloss over that fact!!
Thats just my experience, at least. Feel free to PM me about anything you like about Journalism. I have 4 offers out of the 5 i've applied to, and have an interview at the 5th, so i might be of help :)
I have to apply for work experience within the next few months and I hope to go to a newspaper/magazine (i went to work experience at a newspaper in Year 10) so hopefully the two work placements will be good, and as it will be a different newspaper/magazine, it will show a bit of diversity. I didn't know about the NCTJ accreddited course stuff, so thanks for saying...
The only thing I'm going to have trouble with are my grades I think..my target grades stand at an A for English, and 3 Cs for my other subjects at AS Level, so hopefully they'll boost to 3 Bs for predicted grades when it comes to sending off my UCAS form.. I am doing Drama, lol, but I think I may be dropping it at the end of the year..
Thanks for posting your experience with applying Abi - I appreciate it and good luck with your interview on the 5th - hope it all goes well, and I'll PM you if I want to know anymore. :)
yeh i was going to say that, most other unis dont really look at your gcse i dont think but oxbridge do, my school said that you should only bother applying to oxbridge if you got at least 10 A*s at gcse (with the rest being As) and were predicted all As at AlevelQuote:
Originally Posted by Abi
i wouldnt worry too much about your target grades atm cos youre not too far off BBB (and an A in english is good). dont know about other schools but at my school they asked us what grades/points each uni wanted and altered our predicted grades slightly so that we at least got an interview! obviously if you were predicted all Es they werent going to write on our ucas forms all As but i was predicted 1 A, 2 Bs and an E but they highered my E to a C to make it look better lol! maybe talk either to your subjects teachers or your reference writer and say you need 3 Bs and ask how likely it would be for you to get Bs in your subjects, if they think its possible for you to get that then they might change your predicted grades to Bs to write on your ucas form, but make sure you apply somewhere that also has a lower grade/points mark just in case. if that makes sense lol!Quote:
Originally Posted by DaVeyWaVey