Time flies when you're having fun!

Sat here writing this now it's hard to believe that freshers' was over two months ago, time's flying by which is both good and bad, it's good because it means that things are going well, and it's bad because I don't want this term to finish and have to go home for a month!

So far it's been the strangest experience of my life, my friends and I spend most of the time moaning about how little money we have, how cold it is, how much work we have to do and how cooking for ourselves is really really annoying.... but we all (well, most of us) love it! 

So far there has been a lot of laughter and a few tears too, mostly prior to essay deadlines when it suddenly hits you that 2000 words is actually quite a lot of words and they all need to be intelligently put together so that your essay makes sense. It's hard. And then you remember that you chose to put yourself through this and therefore 'just get on with it'. It's all good. Then there's the joys of MHRA referencing - nightmare - but it's worth it, honestly! And because, as much as some of us hate to admit it, not having your family around can be tough at times.

If I remember rightly, this time last year I was waiting anxiously for offers, or was just about to send off my personal statement. You've therefore probably already made your choices about where you want to go and what you want to study - huge step, well done! But just know, and I'm talking from experience, that if you end up somewhere completely different and studying another course, it's still amazing. Looking back I was far too set in my ideas of what I wanted and I hadn't given other things a chance, I'm so happy that I got into Kent through clearing because it suits me quite nicely... oh, and I managed to change onto American Studies once I was here anyway! 

Anyway, next on my list of things to do is start looking for accommodation for next year, which sounds like an odious task and I'm really not looking forward to it but it needs to be done. My main criteria is good central heating... Did I mention that we moan about the cold a lot?

If you have any questions about my time at uni so far or about the application process please comment below and I'll get back to you ASAP!

India x

Tomorrow's the day!

Hi everyone! As promised, I'm taking the blog with me to uni! I've moved in to my (amazing) off-campus accommodation so I'm sat in my room right now, tapping away at my laptop - à la Carrie Bradshaw... and am going up to the campus tomorrow morning to enroll - meep! 

I have a housemate moving in upstairs as I'm typing this and another who's already moved in. The last two will be arriving at some point over the weekend as far as I know: so exciting.

I had a meeting with the DDSS today to have a chat about what they could do for me with my physical and mental health problems. They were so incredibly helpful and we have an amazing plan set in place and all I need to do is go to see my new GP to get the plan set in place. I would truly recommend telling the staff in advance if you have any issues because they'll make your life so much easier.

I'm feeling SO exhausted after moving around so much in this past couple of weeks that I have no idea what I'm going to do this week other than catch up on sleep and stop eating so much junk food... So partying isn't at the top of my priority list except for two events I'm not missing out on, including the MTV Freshers' Ball - yuhuh!

Picture of me and my trolley full of food - and an ironing board...

Anywaaaay - I shall probably post some photos from tomorrow's enrollment, sounds like the entire campus will be super busy, I'm really looking forward to meeting everyone!!

As usual, let me know how you're all getting on, or if you have any questions about applying for next year: drop a comment bellow!

I xx

I'm in the UK

Hey everyone! So, I arrived in England a couple of days ago and I've been busy buying all of my stuff for uni... So much fun :D 

Anyway, I'll be living off campus this year so I'm going to go and drop my stuff off at the house tomorrow and I'll move in properly next thursday. I can't get over how much I'm looking forward to it...

Anyway, at some point I will get round to writing a little guide for this next year's applicants, but I'll probably take a little while to get round to it.

Are you all ready for uni? Or are you applying to start in 2014?

PLOT TWIST!

Having promised myself that I wouldn't put myself through the supposed "hell" that is clearing, I decided to live life dangerously and go for it. On results day the newspapers were covered in A level news and clearing details as were all the news channels and so on.... I decided to take the plunge at that I'd really regret it if I didn't. 

So I grasped my courage with both hands and set out gathering phone numbers, course codes, email addresses and so on and set to work on trying my hardest to get myself a place starting in September. After a handful of negative responses, I decided that I'd wait to hear back from Kent who operate their clearing system via an online form. 

After a little while, I received an email from Kent, saying that they unfortunately couldn't offer me a place on law, but that they would happily accept me on Comparative Literature. Ok. Now what? So I took a minute to calm myself down and logged onto the Kent website to have a look at the course content, which looks super interesting, and there's still a decent link with my love for America and all things USA and there are study abroad opportunities which I'm really excited about.

I gave the head of Comparative Literature a call - she was so nice - and asked her if she could change my offer to Comparative Literature with a year abroad, which she happily did. I've gladly accepted this offer and am just waiting to get my UCAS track notification once the university have processed my decision.

What a roller coaster of a year, huh? I hope you're all doing ok following results day, and as I've said time and time before: everything happens for a reason.

If there's anyone who'll be at Kent (Canterbury campus) in September, don't hesitate to comment bellow and I really look forward to meeting you!!

Not this year

Hi everyone, sorry I haven't posted for so long! I just got my answer from Sussex yesterday, it's a no for more reasons than one, part grades, part other stuff that I won't go into, but basically they're cool for me to reapply next year which is great.

So now I'm just working out what I'm going to do academics-wise next year and planning out some traveling to make this 'blip' worth it. I'm feeling really positive and I have a vague idea of what I'll be doing but I need to make sure it's the right thing before plunging into it head first!

I'll keep on posting here anyway, so if you want to keep up with the blog, make sure you bookmark it or something.

Have a great summer everyone and all the best with your results!

3, 2, 1... GO!

I had my first exam this morning and it went really well. In fairness there were no reasons for it not to because it was an English oral that was being graded as a foreign language (with my sitting my exams France...) I have the exact same exam but in Spanish on Friday which I know full well won't go as well but I'm feeling quietly confident about it having learnt my 'scripts' off by heart. We shall see! 

Then it all kicks off big time next monday with philosophy, followed by history and geography on tuesday, English (written) on thursday, Spanish (written) on friday and Sociology/Economics on saturday. Yes, saturday - it's a long story. And that'll be it. Three years of work for two weeks of exams, it's weird isn't it?!

Anyway, I was just dropping by to give you a little update. How are all of your exams going? Let me know in the comments box bellow. I'm off to carry on with yet more revision now!

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To do lists!

Revision planning has turned me into the most obsessive planner I have ever come across. I'm not joking.

Really not joking.

Basically I've got everything planned out so that I finish a week ahead of schedule, which is when my orals start: English on Monday the 10th of June and Spanish on Friday the 14th. It'll give me time to do a few mock papers in the spare time I have around those two exams before the "Big Week".

In case I'm not the only one having a slight "what happens if I don't meet the conditions of my offer, I won't be able to go to uni, I won't be able to ever become anything, therefore I need to revise 20hrs/day and OMG I'm so stressed" kind of time, I've put together a list of tips to help keep a lid on exam stress:

• Have a look at Andrew Johnson's "Exam Support" app (here). I use it most nights before going to sleep and it basically talks you through a relaxation exercise and teaches you coping mechanisms for exam stress. It's not free, but I bought it for my exams last year and found it to be a great help then too and I'm pretty sure I'll need it once I'm at uni too. 

• Get yourself organised: if you're stressed about not being prepared then do something about it. Get together with a group of friends (who'll actually get work done!) and set about putting in as much last minute effort as you can. It'll make you walk into the exam room with more confidence and we all know that confidence is key.

• Make sure you talk to your friends and family, they may not understand exactly how stressed you are but having a good support network around you is really important if you're struggling with exam pressure.

• Always keep in mind that the exams only last a few days. A few days out of your entire life and tose days will be out of the way before you know it and you'll be able to get on with your summer holiday.

Let me know how you're all getting on with revision and how you're coping with exam pressure. Are you worried about your exams? Do you think you have it all under control? Let me know in the comments bellow! 

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Review: Sussex Uni Admissions Day

Jubilee Building - Sussex Campus on Admissions Day

As you can see from the picture, we were lucky enough to experience the campus at it's finest and were reminded at various points throughout the day that Sussex had won the award for "Sunniest Campus in the UK" (although there was some debate amongst current students about the accuracy of that factoid). Anyway, the aim of the day for me had nothing to do with deciding whether or not Sussex was the place for me, but I was there with the intention of finding out more about the course I had already firmed and getting more of a feel for the campus. 

The day was pretty hectic, arriving at 9.30 to 'sign in' and receive a full schedule for the day which started off with a presentation of the School of Law, Politics and Sociology. After that the politics and sociology students were taken off for their subject-specific courses whilst future Law students stayed on for our talk.  

After that I had a look around the campus again, and went to look around the student accommodation because I didn't bother to that during the Open Day in September because I didn't think I'd actually get any offers from them...

Then, I went to a talk about American Studies which was great and made me really look forward to starting that too. There was lots of talk about the year abroad that comes with the course which made me certain that it's the right course for me. 

All in all it was a really great day, but again like I said, I didn't need convincing. If you did though, you were more than welcome to ask any of the students/staff about whatever you needed to know about and everyone was really approachable. 

I'm pretty sure you will all have finished pre-decision visits by now, but if not, I would advise you to:

• Go with a plan in mind: work out what matters to you (accommodation, location within a city...) and work out what you're going to do during your day with that in mind.
• Don't be afraid to ask questions: whether they're questions that have been bugging you for ages or that you come up with during your visit just ask someone, it's what they're there for. 
• Have a look around the town as well as the campus: you won't be staying on campus 24/7 and chances are you'll have to move off campus after the first year so get a feel for the local town whilst you're there.

Let me know about your experiences of admissions days and how they influenced you're final decision below!

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Revision, revision... revision.

Okay, so as the (un)official Queen of Procrastination, I always find this last minute  (it's not really last minute yet, is it?) exam preparation time super important. I have therefore spent some, scheduled, time putting together - drum roll please:

The Queen of Procrastination's  Guide to Getting Things Done

• Numero uno, if all your coursework and notes are on your laptop or you need to do lots of online research, I would recommend installing stayfocusd. The name says it all, it's an app for Google Chrome which enables you to block sites entirely or just limit the amount of time you can spend on them per day. You can set the restrictions so that they're only applicable on certain days or at certain times. I actually swappeed from Safari to Chrome just to be able to use this, but I'm sure there are other browser add-ons that do a similar job. It's great if, like me, you think "I'm just going to flick my laptop on to research macroeconomics a bit more" and then spend three hours scrolling through hundreds of cat gifs Buzzfeed... 
• Again on the subject of internet goings on (I'm such a geek, sorry!) I have set up an auto-reply from all of my email accounts stating very politely that I won't be getting back to people as promptly as usual because I'm in the process of getting ready for my exams and therefore am not online as much as usual. It means that I don't have to worry about doing what comes next:
• Try as best as you can to stay away from - and turn off - all items which have screens or have the capacity to play music. Calculators however are allowed to be used... yay! Therefore I am referring to phones, laptops, TVs, you name it: if it's interesting: turn it off. And I really mean turn it off, no standby allowed, this will (in theory) make you think twice before turning things back on again.
• Now that all distractions have been dealt with nicely, set aside a couple of hours to sort out your schedule. I do mine weekly because there's no point planning any further ahead than that when things change, new appointments come along and some revision sessions may over-run and so on. I take a couple of hours out each Sunday afternoon and plan out my week. The key is to put everything that's set in stone in first (ie. school hours, meetings...) then play around with the time you have left over to get the most done. Here's the key though: don't imagine that you're genuinely going to sit down for 4 hours straight and learn your maths by heart in that time. It won't happen. You have to play your brain at it's own games and plan for plenty of breaks during which you're allowed to - wait for it - use items with screens and/or play music! But sadly then you have to turn them off again. 

This week's schedule. Yes, the cat does look about as scared as I do.

• And finally, all hard work should be rewarded. Tell yourself that if you complete your schedule as planned you'll treat yourself. It can be by going out with friends on Saturday or staying in and watching that DVD you haven't got round to watching yet. Make sure you take this time out because if not you'll burn out faster than anything, which is entirely pointless. So work hard when the schedule says work hard and relax when the schedule says relax! 

This guide actually makes it sound really easy but it's not, I know it's not. I spent twenty minutes this afternoon looking out of my window and not realizing that I wasn't doing anything until I nearly fell asleep. Economy revision is that boring. It'll all be worth it though! I went to admissions day at Sussex last week and it's really spurred me on to get this last struggle out of the way so that I can finally start studying law! 

I'll post properly about the admissions day at some point soon. Probably at the weekend as I have some free time then... In the mean while, let me know your tips for staying on schedule and your anti-procrastination remedies! 

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Sorry I've neglected you!

Hi everyone! You know how I often moan about nothing ever happening? Well, this past month definitely bucked that trend... I had to rush back to England because my uncle fell ill, and by rush I mean "India, pack your stuff we're leaving now" kind of speed. So that was an interesting one! My uncle is - thanking my lucky stars - okay now but it was touch and go for a while. We stayed in Brighton for a long while. Which explains my lack of blogging/schoolwork. 

Anyway, I'm back now and have been working really really hard to catch up with what I missed during that little interlude and I'm also getting ready to come back to Brighton - again - for admissions day at Sussex next week. During the open day I was looking round in a I'll-never-get-here kind of way which was my way of trying not to get my hopes up. That failed miserably because my hopes were so high that once my application was sent off, I nearly had heart failure every time I got an email in case it was a Track Notification...

Moving forward I really need to start looking at the student finance paperwork that I printed off quite a long time ago and haven't done anything about... In all seriousness though, I have set aside a couple of hours tomorrow evening to get it all sorted so that'll be that done. The actual problem is that it's not as simple as I was expecting it to be: I'm in this weird no man's land because I'm a British citizen, but I haven't lived in the UK for over 10 years and therefore am classified as an EU student as far as the finance is concerned. It's all really complicated, hence me putting it off, because it's really going to get simpler by me doing that, isn't it! 

As usual, I'd be thrilled to find out how you're all doing with regards to offers, admissions days, student finance.... Comment bellow to let me know!

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The wait after THE wait...

Now that the initial ohmygosh-am-I-going-to-get-any-offers wait is over, I feel a bit lost... Don't get me wrong, I don't miss the anxiously refreshing my inbox every three minutes side of it, I just feel like now I'm just sitting around waiting for exam results which, although I can study as hard as possible for them, ultimately I can't control. 

Right now I'm channelling all my energy into my maths and sociology lessons which are the highest point-earners for my course, basically if I get really good grades in those two subjects I'll be fine. I have an update and realistic plan set out so I just need to do hundreds of mock exam papers (literally) to make sure I'll excel in those two subjects and get the grades I need in the others. Basically unless I have a meltdown on the exam days (which is a possibility given my track record that I won't go into) I'll be just fine. And if said meltdown does happen I should be able to get a note from my doctor so that either those grades will be forgotten or I can sit the exam again. So I'm pretty much covered, she says...

With regards to the application process, there isn't much going on because all offers have been answered. I'm going to fill out my student finance forms once I've done the necessary paperwork with a UK bank and that'll be that sorted (ha ha!). I'm sure it won't be quite that simple, but stranger things have happened! I was honestly expecting the whole UCAS thing to be a lot more traumatic than it has been for me, I know I've been lucky. I would say the hardest part was clicking the submit button and knowing that there was no going back, then spending night after night going over my personal statement over and over again giving myself reasons as to why I wouldn't offer myself a place at university... 

I'm sure you're all getting answers from unis left write and center, let me know how you're all getting on by commenting bellow! 

Like what you've read? Vote for me (India Bottomley) as the UCAS Connect blogger of the month -> here <- Thanks!

Only a few more months...

So, the next few moths are looking really busy, with exams coming up in June but before that I have a trip to New York in March and I'm coming over to England for the admissions day at Sussex and a couple of days in London to catch up with some friends.

I'm really feeling positive about my exams at the moment, which makes a change. I've got a maths tutor who's helping me get through the minefield that are arithmetico-geometric sequences and the likes and I'm desperately looking for a Spanish tutor although my local town seems to be lacking in that area, so it looks like I'll be having to invest in some kind of CD/DVD Spanish course.

I'm really looking forward to visiting the campus again, when I was there on the Open Day I didn't bother going to look at the accommodation because I didn't honestly think I'd ever make it there anyway, so I need to have a look at that on admissions day. Then there will be themed seminar-type meetings about Law and American Studies which I'm really looking forward to, although I know roughly what we'll be learning about it'll be nice to get a clearer idea. Then I'll need to have another meeting with the student support office about my back and depression whilst I'm there.

Also - it's student finance week! I have downloaded and printed the 34 page long document to fill out, because I can't do it online as I haven't lived in the UK for the past three years - even though I'm a British citizen.... Oh well! So I have that unenviable task that I will get round to doing at some point very soon and I also need to sort out a bank account in England. Dealing with the money side of university has made it feel a lot more real than it was before, in a good way (I think)...

Before I go, good luck to everyone who's got interviews coming up soon. There's loads of great information about how to prepare on the UCAS Adviser's Blog.

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Meeting Conditions

Hello! I've been really busy recently with schoolwork, after the (not so) sudden realisation that there are actually exams to be taken before I can pack up my belongings and move back to England...

As you may or may not have read, both my firm and insurance offers are conditional, therefore my exam results will determine my fate. No pressure. I keep on going through phases of thinking 'it's fine, I can meet the requirements' and 'oh my God I'm never going to be able to do it, what am I going to do with my life if I don't get the grades'. If anyone out there is going through the same cycle, please let me know! I guess with me being home schooled I can't share these worries with friends who are going through the same thing so it makes it really hard to know if I'm being paranoid or if everyone's going through it too. 

So, you all should be receiving answers from your choices at the moment, let me know how you're getting on. If you're like I was, you'll be maniacally refreshing your inbox waiting for track updates. Even though my choices are all sorted, I still had a nightmare last night about receiving an inbox full of rejection emails, it really does take over your life. That being said, it's a huge step and it's not surprising it does.

As per usual, comment bellow if you have any questions, and in the meanwhile, I'll get back to my history coursework!

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Happy New Year!

I'm ever so slightly late to the party, sorry! I took some time out to sort everything out for the start of term (today), it took a lot longer than planned, but at least I was being productive....