Some of you will be thinking about going to Uni and will be starting to decide which Uni's are you are going to apply to so we asked Cara Webb (one of our Insiders) for inside info about applying to go to Uni and starting Uni (including Freshers week!)
Getting the grades, getting the As's, and applying
Moving from GCSE's to AS's was a huge step and I hadn't thought it would be hard as I got 5A*s and 4As at GCSE so thought I was quite good but it was a shock when the work was so much harder. I was complacent from my good grades the previous year and so didn't try as hard as I should have done and got disappointing grades, an A and 4 B's at AS which wasn't good enough for medicine, the course I wanted to study. Despite this, I was still encouraged to apply and spent a long time writing my personal statement, I think I did about 12 drafts which in the end got me my offer at medical school in Southampton as it is the main thing they look at when deciding to give you an offer or not. Due to the bad results in the Summer of my AS's I retook exams at Christmas however nearly everyone took some exams again. When taking the A levels this summer, I felt it put more pressure on me and that I would have been able to concentrate more and do better in my A levels which are even harder had I done better the first time. The wait over the Summer for me was awful as I was expecting to be disappointed again and not get the AAB grades I needed. To make it even more pressurised, I had only been accepted to Southampton and so didn't have a back up if I didn't meet the grades but thankfully I did so didn't need to go through clearing.
After getting the grades
Once I got my results it didn't quite sink in that I had actually done it as I was convinced I wouldn't meet the grades so it felt quite surreal going round IKEA which was crowded with many other future students and their parents buying everything they would need to live and cook food with. I wasn't worried about looking after and cooking for myself as I have known how to cook for years and wanted to be at University for a very long time but I did have worries about how I would get on with people, whether I would make any friends and how I would survive without the friends I had previously had as no one I knew was going to anywhere near my university.
First day of Uni
I packed all of my clothes and new belongings into boxes and backs, rammed them into the back of the car and set off at 5 in the morning to where I would be living for the next year. I was apprehensive as the building I was staying in looked awful on the internet but was pleasantly surprised when it was much nicer in person. I got my keys and unpacked all my things and being the second person who had arrived went with my parents to have a final meal. They dropped me back and I went to meet my new flatmates. There were 8 of us in total and then one more person arrived on the Sunday night who had moved in earlier than all of us and been on a navy training week so I'm glad I wasn't him as by then everyone knew each other’s names! Everyone was so friendly and welcoming as everyone is in a similar situation; they all want to make friends, have fun and get on well to make starting the course easier.
Fresher’s week activities
To start Fresher’s week, in the evening we had a welcome party at the student union club called cube where we got t-shirts and marker pens to write out names and something about us. This was really useful and a good way to get talking to people as you already knew something about them so couldn't ask the usual what’s your name and what are you studying, so it forced people to tell you more about them and hence be more friendly. The next day I had an introductory lecture for my course and went to find the supermarket as I'd run out of milk! In the evening we went to one of the largest clubs in the country, Oceana in Southampton for it's student night. The next day was the bun fight, which is where all the clubs and societies have stands at a fair where you go round and they try and get you to sign up to join! I ended up signing up for information about many clubs I couldn't possibly join as they're so persuasive. For example women’s football despite the fact I have no coordination and someone tried to teach me the offside rule and gave up so really I had no chance! That evening was a no clothes party which thankfully none turned up naked to, the idea was that you wore other things such as boxes and bin bags and I wore a very fitting bin bag dress with sellotape all over the front! The next day was the big event of the week the Fresher’s fair. Here hundreds of company’s and local businesses come and give you freebies in the hope you will buy from them in the future or visit their bars/clubs. I managed to pick up free tins of soup from lidl, sim cards from 3, environmentally friendly bags, pizza from dominoes and shots from all the bars along with many other items and came back ladened with 5 shopping bags full of free things and flyers so had a lot of fun despite the hour and a half long queue which was satisfyingly 3 miles long when I came out! On Monday I have the Fresher’s ball to look forward to featuring Calvin Harris and a full 9-5 day of lectures for the whole week but for the time being I've had enough fun for the whole month!
Overall, the process you go through to get into University is well worth it for the rewards and fun you gain and there is no need to be worried as everyone is in the same situation so you all learn together!
Cara Webb
Monday, 2 November 2009
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