UK Uni help

[adj137]

Well it's that time of year, well actually unless you're applying to Oxbridge or for Medicine, it isn't. But i am.

I have to have my choices ready for the first day back and seeing as i'm on holdiay before that i want to get it clear in my head where i'm going to apply for medicine. So far these are what i've got.

I'm allowed 4 of my spots for medicine applications and i've whittled it down to five, in no order:

Bristol
UCL
HYMS
Peninsula
Nottinghm

on top of that i can have two places for anything, and i feel like putting down history just because i can, applying for Warrick, Bath, Durham.

What i want to know is if anyone has any knowledge they can share about my choices. I.e is it infested with Chavs.

also if anyone has any tips on personal statements i would be very grateful as my form tutor just ripped apart my last draft.

 

[rhizome17]

I have colleagues at Bristol, Warwick and Durham. In terms of academic reputation all three are great. Medicine isn't my field but there are good things happening in the humanities at both Warwick (especially philosophy) and Durham.

What do you mean personal statements?

 

[adj137]

If you're part fo the UK uni admissions procedure then you go through the UCAS process and for that you need a personal statement of 4,000 characters w. spaces basically talking about : why you want to do the subject, what you do academically and how it helps, work exp. / voluntary service related to field (lots required for Med.) and extra cirricular. I'm having trouble not only fitting in my stuff into the word limit but also having space to explore it and say why it helps.

 

[Stotty]

Exactly the same situation for me but for Oxbridge fella Suppose i should start mine

 

[NottsSupporter]

I lived in Nottingham until May this year and it's an okay place. Was just working there so I can't say anything about the University itself...except that it looks okay from the outside. City centre has lots of pubs and bars. On the downside the city's full of chavs and some areas are really rough. Saying that, I never had any trouble at all, but I know a lot of people who will tell you they've had.

 

[TOON ARMY]

Have you been to any open days yet?

 

[champdave]

Was about to say you're a bit too late but then I realised it's for next year

You're going to get chavs and the like wherever you go. Live and let live (but start a plot to destroy them) I say

I just got my unconditional offer from Sheffield a couple of days ago (starting uni come September) so I'm chuffed at the mo. I actually got turned down by Oxford as did everyone at our school - if our school is anything to go by then Cambridge is the one to apply for out of the two! They accepted someone who didn't answer anything in the interview and someone predicted 33/45 in their IB exams! (entrance grade for oxbridge is 40+)

Best of luck anyway

 

[adj137]

I went to the Bristol open day and absolutely loved it, its a really buff place with really buff people . - the place itself had a pretty cool atmosphere.

Stotty what are you thinking of applying for at Oxbridge? - the main reason i didn't apply was firstly medicine is hard to get in as it is and also i didn't really like the kind of people at my school applying - that and i missed the deadline for applications so i thought best to leave it.

Tom cheers man, tomorrow i'm going to have a go at my second draft, we'll see how it goes from there. When you wrote yours did you get yours looked over by someone in the field you were looking at.

I hear that the outskirts of Nottingham are quite racist but the on the campus it's pretty chilled - although this is all second hand info from my friends who went there. Sheffield seems pretty cool, i know loads of impressionable people who want to go there because they read NME and think its the haven of real Indie music. my cousin who went there says it was nice and laid back in his first few years.

Really though looking back at my week, i've completely wasted it in terms of doing any work - i've just been sleeping or watching bbc.co.uk/sport and hoping for some transfers - if i had applied myself i could have done this along time ago.

 

[champdave]

If you need a second proof reader, I'd be more than happy to help out. I have a habit of spotting mistakes

 

[adj137]

cheers man thank you for the offer which I'll probably take you up on.

i just finished writing my opening paragraph,i think its ok but i'll come back to it tomorrow and see if i think its Sh!t then.. [it's usually the case when i write things]

i've already used up 1/4 of characters...i'm breakin' in to sweat.

 

[TOON ARMY]

I know Nottingham pretty well with having relatives there and a mate at Trent uni. The city center is very modern and pro-student as well as the trent bridge area near the cricket and football grounds. You may have noticed a lot of cheap student accommodation in St Anns. If you are quite conscious about safety then avoid St Anns and Lenten. These areas are pretty bad for your race related gang crime and rising gun crime. Still you have more chance of being run over by a tram then getting shot. Like most British cities the boundaries between good and bad areas are vague and it's case of doing a bit of research when you are applying for accommodation. The student room (Tom posted the link) has a decent Nottingham contingent who will no doubt give you any pointers about accommodation if you seek it. If you are off in the halls they are on-campus i believe so you will no problems

I have offers accepted from Sheffield and Newcastle for September (History and Politics). I'm not too confident of obtaining the required AAB in my results next month so it looks like i have re-sits and a gap year to look and re-applying for 2007.

 

[Tom]

No i didn't get it looked over Adj, to be honest they wanna know what YOU want to get out of the course, not to show amazing knowledge about the industry already. Essentially they want all the interest ****, but they want to "see" that you're really enthusiastic about the course and the uni. Say what you'd like to do in the future with it, say what you'd like to learn on the course, and say what you think you coulld do in your free time with what you've learnt on the course.

Obviously medicine is harder to... "bullcrap" about than applying for Media is, but essentially it's the same manner of principle. You're applying for a course you want to do, so think WHY you want to do it, and tell them

 

[Payaah]

I got my PS checked, by my parent, form tutor, genius friends ( ) and "Ask a Helper" forum at Student room. I didnt start until later in September so no need to worry much. I had same deadline as you, since I applied for Oxbridge.

I wouldnt recommend applying to Durham (I guess you live in London?). They offered me an interview but train ticket cost £85 and about 5 hours long from Oxford . So I gave up on Durham...waste of UCAS choice.

Good Luck.

 

[adj137]

Yep i live in London, if i did apply to Durham it would be out of the two optional places outside medicine - you only get four spaces. So it's really just giving it a shot. Actually i might change it to Bristol and Warwick for History or History of Art, yeh maybe i might drop Durham.

@ Tom; yeh its quite hard to find this balance between telling the uni how much i want to go there and how good i am and looking like a nob. Really what i found hard in my first draft was that i was too desperate to put everything i do on the statement, so i didnt really talk enough about - why i want to do medicine and why what i do helps towards it. It turned out as more of a list of things i do.

 

[Tom]

its fine to be ambitious, just say it about stuff you wanna do, not "i am the worlds best doctor" or whatever Remember you're there to learn, so they wanna know that you have the aptitutde for learning (your grades) and the enthusiasm (your PS), it aint a CV, you arent banging on about how bloody good you are.