Open Day Tips

So for those of you are just entering sixth form, and maybe just starting to broach the topic of university in your mind, I thought I'd compile a few tips that may help with open days. These are a crucial part of your application experience, as they give you a real feel of the course and the university and you can decide if you can imagine yourself living here for the next 3 years (5 if you're an aspiring medic like me!).

- Get there early! This is super important, especially if you're anywhere near what I'm like on the stress scale (a proper stress bunny). For most open days that I've been to, I've driven up/taken the train into London that morning, and it did involve a few pretty early starts (I think it was half four for Bristol..?). You need to build in time for traffic/transport problems and wasting time parking, finding the campus etc. Getting there early also means you can get to any talks you've booked on time!
When I went to Sheffield, my mum and I drove up the evening before and spent the night in a Premier Inn - this was relatively expensive as it was short notice, so if you're thinking of this, it's always useful to book in advance. However it meant we had a stress free experience as we were near the campus (handy in the pouring rain!) and had a place to park our car all day, meaning we could take as long as we wanted wandering around.

-Book talks! They don't all have to be relevant to your subject, there are loads of useful ones on student finance, life at this uni, etc, but they are essential in my opinion. Lectures give you a taste of the university and course, and you're often spoken to by students there about their experiences. I find that often, the lecturer gives you some more information than is featured in the prospectuses/online. There's also the opportunity to ask questions, which is great to clear up anything that you're uncertain on.

-Look around your department. Doesn't matter what it is, just have a good look around! Check out the general university facilities too, and see what you think of those too. There are always friendly students around, and it's definitely much better to ask what you think may be a stupid question and get a genuine answer than staying confused!

-Finally, my family always like to have a wander round the general university too. Check out the student union, and just get a feel for the place. My mum and I like to sit and have a coffee and just gauge the atmosphere, see what the food is like...these are all important things in the university process! The town you'll be living in will be your main home for the most part of your time at university, so it's important to have a brief look at that as well. If you don't have time, do a little bit of research, and find out what it's good for. If you're going to live there, you want to enjoy it!


But my last tip is to relax. Whilst it is a stressful process, it is honestly exciting too! I can't wait to start university and start the next chapter in my life. Just enjoy the open days, and don't let anyone pressure you into applying somewhere for their reason and not your own! At the end of the day, your course is what you make of it!

A picture from my lovely, albeit rainy weekend in Sheffield.

Brain Explosions

So I've not been very active in the past week or so. Not that I was particularly active before that, having started this blog about a month ago. But you catch my drift.

Anyways, I thought I might offer a bit of an explanation. You see, I was busy spending all my waking hours preparing for the UKCAT. Those of you who may have read my 'about me' will know that I'm starting my final year of school - year 13 - on Monday. This is the year where (dun dun dun) we start applying to university through UCAS. The process itself is relatively straight forward, however it is a little bit more complex for medicine, which is my dream.

There are around 30 universities that offer medicine in the UK. They have three choices for admissions tests; the UKCAT (by far the most common - around 20 use this), the BMAT (less popular, places that use this include Imperial College, Oxbridge, BSMS etc), and then no admissions test at all. At the moment, I'm looking to apply to Sheffield, which requires the UKCAT.

The UKCAT is an incredibly time pressured exam - over 200 questions in an hour and a half! There are five areas with the main ones being: verbal reasoning (comprehension style), quantitative reasoning (maths), decision analysis (code cracking) and abstract reasoning (shapes and patterns) - my least favourite section! The final area is 'Situational Judgement', a fairly new part which incorporates medical ethics and applying your views on behaviours to various (medical related) examples. If I'm honest, being a bit of a geek myself, I find it quite enjoyable to do most of these sections as I like the challenge it gives, however the time constraints make it a tremendous ask to finish everything properly!

Having done it several weeks ago, I'm pleased to report back good news. Although I do get my results on the day, I've just been so busy with rehearsals, school work & starting my new job that I've not found time to write at all! But my average across the first four sections (each scored out of 900) was 697.5 - I was pretty chuffed! Different medical schools request different cut off points, and luckily for the ones I am primarily looking at, my score is well above the cut off point. The Situational Judgement test is marked quite differently, with scores being in bands from 1-4, 1 being the highest! Having only seen these style of question a few days before the exam, I was surprised and thrilled to get a band 1 score!

All in all, it was a pretty good day, topped off with a celebratory Nandos with my family - and that can never be a bad thing!

My next post will hopefully be up before the end of the week, although I can't promise anything, and it will probably be open day related (i.e. my experiences, and how to make the most of them!)