Sunny Man’s Blog

September 29th 2007

(1) Life: Part 3 (University)

Blogging, Educational, Life

University is something that wouldn’t have even crossed my mind a couple years ago. I was concentrating on GCSEs and having a good time too much to think that far into the future. I know it’s a cliché but time does fly. By the end of this calendar year, I will have a good idea of which Universities I have been accepted into, conditionally or not. It kind of scares me how fast we’re all thrown into this higher education business. It scares me even more because I’m the first in my family to actually finish school, let alone go to University.

Going into higher education isn’t something you shouldn’t, and I don’t, take lightly. It’s an expensive and hard experience but one that has the potential to reward you with the best three or four years of your life so far. Going into University is something many people have questions about and no matter how many UCAS conferences your school take you to or how many open days you attend, I guarantee there are some questions that can never be answered until you experience it first hand.

Making Choices

You’ve had a minimum of eleven years to decide what you want to pursue (and spend a considerable amount of money on) at University. My own experience has been somewhat tumultuous. For many years I wanted to pursue a career in IT and it seems that fate has made sure I’ve the experience to do so. About a year ago, my attention was grabbed and has since been held by the realm of physics. I love it. Physics has excited me ever since I was taught the ‘good stuff’, as it were. I got full marks on most of my Science modules at GCSE and made sure I achieved a top A* in it as I was only doing Double Science and not Triple Science, something I do regret (but am glad I got an A*, so was worth it).

I’m lucky to go to a school that provides opportunities for students such as myself to expand their knowledge and experience in the field of Science and such opportunities have really fascinated me. I don’t think I find any area of Physics boring (although University may prove me wrong, who knows :P). I’m also lucky to have friends that give me opportunities that they themselves have found. There are a few things I would not have done if it were not for them.

What you study should be something you like, something you want to study and make a career out of. You’ve had subjects pushed on you for most of your educational life, this time it’s your choice and your choice only.

There are two choices you have to make; the first is what course you want to study and the other is where you want to study it. In all honesty, the impression I have is this is probably one of the most important decisions you’ll make. This decision can be made much easier by visiting the University and the surrounding towns and cities. You must also consider the reputation and raking of the University for the subject you wish to take. If you like the area, facilities and people - it’s up your street basically - then you can seriously consider it.

My school kindly took me to a UCAS convention as well as an Oxbridge conference where I swagged more prospectuses and freebies than I care to admit as well as find out about what Oxford and Cambridge have to offer. I’d had my heart set on doing a Natural Sciences course at Cambridge because it offered a slice of about everything I wanted to do. My hopes where extinguished after talking to the representative who said the courses I was taking weren’t sufficient. I think that students should seriously research courses before entering Sixth Form so they can make their choices and open a few more doors there and then - at least, that is what I should have done.

Making my decision was made slightly easier when I went to visit universities such as Oxford, Exeter, Imperial College and Queen Mary. Ever since visiting Oxford, I knew I wanted to study Physics there. Their course has a lot more IT in it than others and means I can be taught by the best, learn with the best and have one of the best chances for a good career. A bad, but unfortunately expected, result in my Maths AS means those dreams are also on hold. I was only six marks off the top grade and I don’t trust myself to do exceptionally well in my A2 exams so I’m retaking the two modules I lost those six marks on. Hopefully I can keep the dream alive - god knows I’m trying my hardest.

So, I want to study Physics. After much deliberation between myself and the redwood forest in my UCAS convention carrier bag, I decided on my lucky Universities. Since two weeks ago, this has been the final list although I’m still not sure:

• University of Bristol
• University of Nottingham
• University of Exeter
• Imperial College London
• Oxford University
• University of Warwick

You only get five choices and although that may seem a lot, when it comes to deciding which ones to fill those spaces, it becomes hard - at least, it has been for me.

Counting Down

As I said earlier, time has flown incredibly fast. It seems just yesterday I was receiving my Young Scientist badge at Primary School or that I was in the front row as a year seven in my first whole school assembly. I’m an extremely nostalgic person but I fear that wanting the past back or spending too much time pouring over it makes me miss out on experiences that I could do to have. I haven’t got long until I’m meeting some more new people and living up the first major event of student life, fresher’s week, but I can’t stop hoping for time to rewind. There’s that part of me that wants time to reverse and let me repeat the last eleven years.

A couple years ago, University wasn’t on my mind at all and now it’s all I can think off. I can’t wait to meet new people, maybe start or join a crazy society or two and delve into things that I’ve only scratched the surface of at the moment. I know I want to learn Physics - every part of it fascinates me and although I may not understand it at first, I always make it my priority to get as deep as I can and quench my thirst for knowledge.

When writing this post, I worried that putting my thoughts on my application would damage my chances in some way but I feel that I need my thoughts out there. I need to know other people are thinking the same and hopefully give others confirmation of that as well. I want to study Physics with the best and be taught it by the best and I think any of the Universities I’ve listed will offer me this. I suspect it’s the hope of many students to go to Oxford (or Cambridge) though, above all others. It is my hope. I’m determined to get my Maths up to an A and have the three-of-a-kind hand to put down on the table. If I don’t, I know I’ll have tried my best and that’s all I could have done.

Less than a year. I hope to make more friends than I lose time.