It’s that stressful time of year when you have to start on your university/college applications. I have currently been down this road as the entirety of last month for me was all about university applications and picking universities that were suitable towards me and that I liked the look of. I live in the UK, so applying for university might be different to how people apply in different countries, I know in some states in America that you have to write an essay about a certain topic, which sounds dreadful. In the UK, some universities do make you write an essay that relates to the course you are taking, such as journalism, they might want you to write a piece as apart of your application as it can show your writing style.
Most universities in the UK contact you through a site named UCAS, where you submit your application in. The process of this is very tedious as you had to put in all of your information such as educational history, like your grades, the schools that you have been to, etc. For me, one of the trickiest things was my personal statement, which is basically an essay all about yourself and what you do and why you want to do the course you have picked, basically you’re trying to sell yourself to the universities. I have never thought writing about myself and my ambitions could be hard. My advice would be if you live in the UK and going through UCAS applications is write your personal statement in a separate word document and plan everything you want to add in your statement, afterwards, start writing the real thing with what you have planned as guidance. If you want to know if you’re personal statement is good enough to copy and paste on the actual application page, go to your teacher, they can tell you if you need to rewrite it or add more information to it. Your teacher should know a lot about university applications as they probably have been through it with many students.
Picking the universities was also hard and overwhelming and you have to pick 5 or less, I would advise researching the university to see if it’s suitable for you, you can also go on open days where it gives you the chance to look around the school and where your classes are going to be. Different universities also do their courses differently too so know what topics the course touches on and see if they are what you’re looking for.
Waiting for a response can take time and it can cause that stress of whether you have been accepted or not but do not be disheartened if you do get rejected because it happens to the most of us, plus you will get a chance to choose another university as a quick backup when all of your universities have made their decision. If you got your choice then congratulations, I would recommend going to see the university if it’s your first choice and you haven’t seen it yet.
There is a lot of editing to make your application look great and appealing to universities and it can get tiresome, I know, I’ve been there but it’s all for a great cause, so if you have to start your university application or even finish it go and do it, if you have an essay that you need to hand it with the application (like I do) go start it, don’t leave it until last minute because you will probably cry.
I wish you luck with your application journey!
