Monday 2 February 2015

UCAS UCAS AND MORE UCAS! (PART 2)




The moment I received my first " Something has changed on your UCAS application" I was so excited and amped up after hours and hours of continuously checking and waiting for the emails to start coming through. I finally opened up track and it said " Unsuccessful" , I was absolutely gutted especially as it was from my first choice. It was shocking how fast they replied and rejected me as it was only the day before that I had submitted my application. At that point I was feeling very disheartened however I knew I had 4 more choices left. 2 days later I received another unsuccessful , once again feeling disappointed. Both of the Universities gave me a very short and vague explanation as too why I was unsuccessful. At this point self doubt started to creep up on me and the thoughts of the teachers that said I wouldn't get in was constantly at the back of my mind. Having said that I still new there was hope and that I must stay positive.


Weeks later I received 2 emails within two hours of each other. I avoided opening them for about a couple of hours but couldn't resist the temptation, whether the outcome would be good or bad. To my surprise I finally got invited to an interview by both universities. You can imagine how elated I was !!!. Anyway I started to prepare for the interviews by  doing loads of research and past maths papers (I will do a separate Blog post on how I prepared for my interviews soon). Long story short both interviews were fairly similar with the day consisting of mini interviews, group interviews, tests and one to one interviews. The first university interview I attended I was very composed and confident on the outside but a nervous wreck on the inside. Overall I would say they made me feel as though I did very well until they took me to a room with other candidates and confirmed that we were unsuccessful and told us to leave. Their approach could have been much better with regards to the way they told us but hey ho! the decision was made. The second university was much better and more welcoming, I believed I did really well throughout the whole process of the day. I received an email from them a week later and it seemed like they also wanted to jump on the bandwagon of unsuccessfuls, SURPRISE SURPRISE!. 4 unsuccessful's in a short  space of time, what were my chances of actually getting a place?. It became evident to me that Midwifery was tougher to get into than I thought and the chances of me getting a place were slim.


Throughout the start of the process I was getting general letters and postcards from my last choice, which I had not looked into whatsoever until it became my last option. The university started to grow on me and I really liked what they had to offer. Two months  later they invited me to an interview!!! I was so relieved, excited and anxious at the same time!!. I worked extremely hard for this interview and knew I had to give it my all if I wanted to get a place. The interview day finally came and I was shockingly calm and confident. I am not going to go into detail of the day but I will say that I left the interview smiling and confident. It was the most welcoming and warm interview I have had and I just felt so at ease. Why didn't I look into this university sooner?? lol.

It took a loooong while for the university to get back to me but it was worth the wait as I finally received an offer!. Like they say save the best till last ha ha!, I was so ecstatic and couldn't believe my luck. I was given a conditional offer on the basis that I passed my exams and BTECS. Which I did and as a result my conditional offer turned to an unconditional offer to start the following April. Even although I applied for the  September intake I was still happy that I even got a place, and here I am 2 more months and I will be a STUDENT MIDWIFE!!





Feedback in my comments and email will be much appreciated xx . I hope you are all enjoying my journey so far and continue to read on :) .



S x




Tuesday 27 January 2015

UCAS UCAS AND MORE UCAS! (PART 1)


I remember when UCAS first opened for my year and the flood of emotions that came with it such as excitement, fear, doubt and many more random feelings. Knowing I had to complete 3 years of college and not 2 made me more determined and eager to apply for university. The thought of which universities to pick became really daunting because I had no idea where I wanted to go or which universities would be the best for my course. However after doing my research I came up with the 5 I thought I would like, bearing in mind I had only been to one open day (which I was sold on as soon as I got there). We had to show our tutors/teachers our choices before it would be approved, not that they had the final say but just to advise us. I had a few teachers who blatantly had their doubts about my choices but one in particular voiced their opinions out quite clearly, insisting that with the grades I had I should apply for universities which were not as good as the ones I had imagined for myself. The suggestion of changing the career path of becoming a midwife to a healthcare assistant was brought up (now I am not saying there is anything wrong with a HCA) but that was not the career I wanted to do. At the time it was very disheartening as you can imagine to hear a teacher doubting your abilities, however I came to the conclusion that some people are going to see your potential and others are going to miss it. If it wasn't for the Continuous support from God,family and friends then my positive attitude will be non existent. I strongly advise that if you believe you can do it then go for it, there is no harm in trying!.


My personal statement was a whole heap of stress, I felt like I did 100 drafts. Time after the time it got sent back to me from the mere fact that I wasn't  selling myself enough. I found it quite hard to write down all my skills and abilities , my mind just went blank and the thought of bigging myself up made me feel uncomfortable ( silly right?). If you are writing your personal statement it is so important that you squeeze in every skill, ability, experience and aspirations into that small amount of 4000 characters because what you think may be no good could be unique to the university you are applying for. Anyway after many attempts I was happy with the end result of my personal statement and finally submitted it. To be honest even if the tutors were not I was going to submit it anyway. I do have to say that the careers department were very supportive and encouraging when it came to making sure that my personal statement was the best it could be.



 A few tips for writing your personal statement :

  • BE ORIGINAL: Its so important for you to show the university who you are and what your capable of in the small amount of 4000 characters. stay true to yourself, after all they are only going to be sold on what they read so its vital that you give them the real deal before they meet you. 

  • BE POSITIVE: This is pretty much self explanatory, DO NOT include anything negative about yourself ( you still have a while to perfect yourself if needed, they don't need to know that ha-ha). You want the university to believe your exceptional so they can accept you and adding negative things will not go in your favour. 

  • SPEND TIME: Spending time to make sure you personal statement is unique and exceptional is so vital. You want to be proud of what you have achieved and that will only come if you have have taken the time to include all you have to offer.




Any questions or suggestions feel free to comment or email me .


S x

Monday 26 January 2015

Welcome


Hello all, Welcome to my Blog. 

For a long time now I have wanted to start blogging, however I literally had nothing to write about which I had a true passion for. Now I do .. YAY!!. So I have decided to to share my journey on becoming a student midwife throughout the 3 years of my degree. 


I have less that 3 months until I start my Midwifery degree , can you imagine my excitement?. 

Within that time I will be sharing my experiences so far such as UCAS, interviews etc... 
So bear with me as I am new to this blogging life and I hope you enjoy reading. 

P.S


I am open to all suggestions and tips you may have to help me improve!



S x