► How I chose the Universities for my UCAS Application  

I didn’t really have any idea where I wanted to go at first. I ordered loads of prospectuses and checked which universities did the course I wanted and had rowing clubs; from those I chose quite randomly! I just picked cities that I liked, like Edinburgh, Manchester and York. I visited all of my choices, Edinburgh, Manchester, York, Oxford (Brookes) and Newcastle. 

► The Application Process  

The application process wasn’t always straight forward for me. It took me ages to decide what course I actually wanted to do and where I wanted to go, and when I did eventually decide that I quite fancied going to Edinburgh, they rejected me!  This left me right back where I started. At the very last minute………. after thinking that I would probably accept Manchester as my firm choice, I decided to accept York University Linguistics Course instead, for a reason that I don’t even know myself.

► Confirming my place  

When results day came, I was nervous, but also fairly confident that I would get the grades that I needed. When I opened the envelope, I was relieved to have got the A and two B’s that I needed, but also slightly disappointed that I hadn’t done slightly better.  I confirmed my place at York.

► Planning for the Move   

Like every other decision I had made about university, the way I chose my accommodation was quite random. I wasn’t really bothered about the expensive en-suite halls, so decided just to go for an average one. Again I left it until the last minute, and just put the different colleges down in any order. I can’t even remember what I put down as my first choice, it just didn’t matter that much to me. Before I left for York, I had to go shopping for all sorts of things like knifes and forks, pans, bedding, washing baskets etc. I took nearly everything I had to York, like DVD’s and books and teddies.

► Funding my Studies   

Filling in the form for my student loan as so complicated and it seemed to take ages, but I got it sorted eventually. I did have to ask my parents a lot of things though, and even they weren’t sure of some of the things it was asking. The thing that shocked me the most was how expensive food was, and how quickly I ran out of it! I seemed to be running out of food in less than a week and was forever at the shop buying more.

Other than that, I didn’t have too many problems until having to pay the rent for my 2nd year accommodation at the end of my first year. I had to pay a £300 and rent for the summer which was about £900. Even with my parents help I ended up in my over draft and spent the whole summer trying to get out of it again.

► Moving in!   

When the time actually came to move to York and into halls, I was nervous about not knowing anyone, but the thing that was worrying me most was sharing a bathroom with people I didn’t know. However, when I got there, I realised everyone was in the same boat as me, and made loads of friends really quickly. And the bathroom situation didn’t bother me at all.

► What was ‘Freshers Week’ like?   

Fresher’s week was a lot of fun. On the Sunday we moved in, our STYCs (Second and Third Year Contacts), who look after the students in a certain house or block, came and ordered us pizza and then took us out into town. There was also a casino night, Bar ‘FTSE’, then the Fresher’s Ball, and a beach party. It was a great week and everyone got to know each other really well.

► What was student life like?   

Soon after arriving in York, I joined the rowing club where I made so many good friends.  I spend a lot of time with them, rowing and socialising. I am having so much fun at York, so whatever the reason was that suddenly made me choose York, I am glad I did. 
I have never been homesick, and in the first term I didn’t go home at all. My parents did come to visit once or twice though. In my second and third terms I went home a few times and again my parents came down to visit.

So far my course hasn’t really been what I expected, it was quite dull for the first year but I think it will be a lot better this year. I can’t wait to get back for the start of second year; I am really looking forward to seeing everyone again!