UCAS Focus Week
Monday 24th June 2019: UOB day
On Monday 24th June, all of the students in year 12 attended a day at the University of Birmingham. After making our own way there, and a prompt 9.30 meet at the Clock Tower, the day began with an informative presentation about the UCAS process and university life. The university had many student ambassadors to take us around the campus and answer any questions we had regarding university life. They also gave a lot of personal advice for budding applicants. For many, including myself, getting the opportunity to speak with students in the same city as us, who had been so successful in their academic studies was both informative and inspirational. After meeting the ambassadors, we were given a presentation by the university’s head of student communications, Ansar, who provided us with a motivational talk about our current academic state in the year. For me, the most notable question he asked us, was if we were all working at 100% of our potential. Surprisingly, no one raised their hands. This made us realise that we could all be working a lot harder!
Meeting the student ambassadors who had done so well and seeing a potential future university really helped put things into perspective and inspired me for my university application.
Tuesday 25th June 2019: UCAS Convention, NEC
On the following day, we attended the NEC for a UCAS convention. With over 13,000 pupils and over 150 universities there, it was definitely a packed and busy environment. I found having the visit to the University of Birmingham the day before was extremely helpful, as we went into the convention with ideas of both potential courses and what they were looking for in their applicants.
There were also other stands at the convention, such as a Microsoft stand, showing us new technology like the Surface Pro, and degree apprenticeships. Companies like Microsoft and Rolls Royce were there to enlighten us more on the concept of doing a degree apprenticeship. Our recommended time in the convention was from 9am till 11.30am, and during that time, I was able to speak to experts from over 20 different universities ranging from the University of Bristol to Durham. Having experts from several universities there to answer our personal questions was extremely beneficial, especially where they may be from universities further away, which are harder to visit. I was able to ask lecturers for my exact courses of interest, what they look for in applicants, and what the course entails. This face to face interaction was a great chance for many of us to ask specific questions that we could not find the answer to online. Although the temptation to take every brochure and freebie available was high, I can speak for the vast majority of the year in that the day was extremely informative in regard to both the academic and student aspect of University life. The free pens and water bottles were an added bonus too!
Friday 28th June: UCAS Introduction, Enrichment
To conclude our UCAS focused week, our enrichment day was led by Mr Duck, who began to introduce to and help us apply our experiences to our UCAS profiles. Once we had spoken to so many universities in the week, and had even visited the campus of the University of Birmingham, we had the opportunity to begin applying our newly obtained knowledge from the week to our UCAS application. In addition to this, having the guidance of Mr Duck and other staff alike also made the whole process a lot more understandable. We feel in a strong position as we move towards Year 13 in September.
Overall, this week was full of extremely beneficial and informative events. I and a lot of my peers now feel a lot more confident regarding the overwhelming process that can be applying to university, and would like to thank Mr Conway, Mr Duck and all the other staff that helped organise and provide us with these events. Bring it on UCAS!
Eshwar Sond 12SCH
