How Has University Been So Far?

On Saturday 13th September I moved to University. It is the most exciting and nerve racking thing I have ever done and so far I am really enjoying it. The first week 13th- 20th was known as Welcome Week so I didn't have any proper lectures and a variety of different events were arranged so you had the opportunity to meet people on your course. The week starting on Monday 22nd we  had proper lectures although our first lectures were just explaining what we would be doing throughout the year. On the Tuesday we had a leadership day and everyone on my course went to the Sports Arena and we did different teamwork activities, I really enjoyed this day as I got to meet people on my course and get to know them a bit better.

So far I am really enjoying my course and I am finding it really interesting. I have made lots of new friends. One thing I was nervous about when moving to university is the drinking culture that surrounds student life. I don't drink so I was very worried about moving to uni because I didn't want to be the only one who didn't drink and I also was really worried that I would be pressured into drinking but so far most people have been very understanding and I have met people who also don't drink or don't drink very much. If the drinking culture at university worries you then I want to tell you not to let it stop you from going. Yes drinking is a big part of university but there are other things available that don't involve drinking.

At the moment I am so glad I moved to university and I can safely say it is the best decision I have ever made.

If you have any questions about university then please don't be afraid to ask them and I'll do my best to answer them.

Prettylittlefashionista xxx

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Ordering Prospectuses

I recommend ordering as many prospectuses as you can. Most universities offer prospectuses that you can order off their websites. The best part is they don't charge you which is why I suggest get as many as you want from universities as it will help you narrow done your search. Not only do they provide information about courses they give general information about the university and university life. 

The information in the prospectuses is quite limited and you can't make your decision based purely on them You really need to go to an open day as this provides you with a lot more information. You can find out about your course, the university and most importantly you can get a feel for the place that you could be spending the next 3-4 years of your life. 

I think I had at least 10 prospectuses, they are really useful to have as you may also find out about other courses that you may be interested in doing. 

I hope you are enjoying this series. If you have any questions please feel free to ask them? Please bear in mind that I haven't actually started uni yet and I am just talking about the process at the moment. I plan to carry on with these posts once I start uni later this year.

Prettylittlefashionista xxx

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Starting the University Process

So the first thing you need to do is make the decision that you actually want to go to university. I must stress that this should be your decision not your parents, friends or teachers but your decision. If you don't want to go then that is ok as there are plenty of other options for you. I know it is easy to get swept a long with the whole university process as the majority of people in your year will be going but if you don't want to go then that is fine.

Next you need to decide what course you want to do. For some people this is really easy as they have always known what they wanted to do, for others it isn't always as easy. I never actually wanted to go to university but my school encouraged everyone to start looking at courses just in case you change your mind as it is easier to pick up the process if you have already started looking at courses. I happened to stumble across Retail Management courses and I knew instantly that this was something I wanted to do. I'd actually been looking at doing retail apprenticeships so this course fit in perfectly with what I wanted to do.  

Once you have found a course you want to do start searching UCAS for universities that offer you're course. For some people they will have a list of criteria that they want from a university such as distance from home, whether it's in a big city or not. For me I found that not that many places offered the course I wanted to do so the distance from home didn't bother me too much. My firm choice university is 164 miles away from home and my insurance is 197 miles away so for me distance isn't a worry although for some people it might be. 

The best time to start looking is after you've finished your AS exams. Although you may want a break it is best to start looking early as you can start booking open days. Also I think it's good if you've got a relatively good idea of where you want to apply to when you go back to school in September. 

Although I didn't do this, during the summer holidays you could start thinking about what you are going to include in your personal statement as if you have a few ideas before you start writing it will make it a lot easier to write. 

I hope you are enjoying this series. If you have any questions please feel free to ask them? Please bear in mind that I haven't actually started uni yet and I am just talking about the process at the moment. I plan to carry on with these posts once I start uni later this year. 

Prettylittlefashionista xxx

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Preparing For University

I am starting a new series called preparing for University. Hopefully in September (exam results depending) I will be starting my first year at the Uinversity of Central Lancashire to study Retail Management. I thought I would start a series all about my preparation for university to help other people that maybe going through this process. Today I am going to start with a introduction about my process  and how I decided I wanted to go to university.

Let me start by saying that going to university had never been something I really wanted to do. There are some people that know from year 7 that they want to go to university because they want to be a vet, doctor, teacher etc. However I never knew what I wanted to do and I still don't really but I have narrowed it down a bit now. At the end of year 11 and the start of year 12 I really wanted to be a makeup artist so I started looking at places that I could go to study and going to visit some of them. Whilst looking around, I realised that I didn't think I'd actually like being a makeup artist although I love makeup I didn't feel like it was the right career path for me. This really confused me as I wasn't sure what to do as this had been what I was planning to do after A levels so I had to spend awhile thinking about my other options. My favourite subject is business studies so I decided that going to university to do a course in business would be my best option. Whilst searching for courses on UCAS I came across a Retail Management course (quite by accident) and after reading about the course I knew that this was something that I wanted to do. 

After deciding what course I wanted to do, I began to search UCAS for universities that offered that course. Unfortuantley not many universities offer this specific course so I didn't have as much choice as others but I knew that this was something I really wanted to do. I managed to select 5 universities that I wanted to apply to and then I needed to start writing my personal statement. A personal statement is a bit like a cover letter that you write when applying for a job. It is basically a piece of writing in which you have to sell yourself and make the university want to offer you a place as you are competing with 1000s of other people (I will do a separate post on this as it is quite a topic). 

Once you have written your personal statement you can apply and then you just have to wait for your offers to come back. I was lucky and got offers from all of the universities I applied to and I got them back quite quickly so I was able to make my firm and insurance choices quite quickly. Once you've made your choices and booked accommodation all that is left to do is revise for exams as well as buying things that you'll need for next year. 

This was a relatively brief overview of my process so far and I will do posts that go into more detail of each area. I just want to mention that this is just my experience and my adivce everyone has a differnt way of doing things but I wanted to create this series as I thought it may be able for anyone going through the process. 

If you have any questions about the university application process then let me know and I'll do my best to answer them and if there is anything specific that you would like to see let me know. 

Prettylittlefashionista xxx