Admissions

I make myself a cup of tea, I clear my desk and I get comfortable in my chair.
I’m ready. It’s time. 
It’s the National Student Survey.

Student vlogger Ryhan Hussain turned his life around to get a place studying medicine at Newcastle University, gained me a few scholarships and grants.”

Watch his top tips below:

Adam Bradford, now 23, achieved 27 GCSEs. Astounding as that is, perhaps even more surprising is that, for all his academic credentials, he decided not to go to university.

Encouraged by his school in Sheffield – nicknamed ‘The Exam Factory” – and his parents, Adam completed his A levels in just one year, applied for business and IT degrees, and received offers from universities in Sheffield, Lincoln and Bradford.

Ironically, it was the universities’ attempts to sell themselves that put him off.

Applying for medical school is like starting a new relationship. There’s the all-encompassing love, the enthusiasm, the feeling that finally life is slotting into place; and also the terror, the second-guessing yourself, the endless waiting for something dramatic to happen. Suddenly everything you do comes under the microscope – is this good enough to go on my personal statement? How can I spin this to my advantage? Do I know enough about this to mention it and then potentially discuss it at interview?

It might seem like all the deadlines to apply to a top university in the United States are clustered at the beginning of February, but fortunately, it’s not too late to get in an application.

Many leading colleges you may not have heard of continue to accept applications on a rolling basis, and others set their deadlines between March and September 2016.

Straight after I finished my psychology undergraduate degree, I knew exactly what I wanted to do: travel and work. As much as I enjoyed full-time study, I had reached what psychologists might term “saturation” and I couldn’t wait to have the independence associated with exploring the world and earning my own pay packet. Ten years on, I’m back in full-time education as a PhD student and discovering the cheapest brands of dried noodles and baked beans again. So…what happened?

One of the most popular questions that secondary school students get asked is “what do you want to be?”. But the thing is, in a world where the types of jobs are endless, choosing is tough.

Some of your teachers may be giving the wrong advice about how to write personal statements for UK universities.

In some cases, teachers said that a personal statement did or did not increase the chances of the applicant getting accepted to university, while the admissions tutor responsible for those kinds of decisions took the opposite stance.

Using examples from the research, the following teachers’ tips are ones that you might want to take with a pinch of salt:

Ucas applications are (finally) over – for this year. While early birds may have seen their offers rolling in already, the rest of you have some waiting ahead.

If you’ve been so wrapped up in the application that you haven’t even thought about the next steps, this breakdown of what to expect will add a little structure to your next few months.

Katie blogs in response to 'British student criticises competitive UK medical courses after securing university place in Italy':

I'm not going to lie, getting into medical school is difficult. It consumes your life and, even then, it seems like a bit of a lottery with every step. Will you get an interview? Will you get a place? Will you get the grades?