• Question: What criteria did you use when selecting which University to attend as an undergraduate and what advice would you give to potential students today?

    Asked by 927catf42 to John, Laura, Luke, Rob, Ruth on 20 Jun 2016.
    • Photo: Laura Finney

      Laura Finney answered on 20 Jun 2016:

      For me it was about the course and how I felt on the open day. I had always wanted to go to Durham university but came to Nottingham on an open day. I felt very at home, I could see myself here and I loved the course. Suddenly I changed my mind and I knew where I wanted to go – Nottingham.

      The best advice I can give is to go to lots of open days and see how you feel at the uni. Most people enjoy their course regardless (although obviously choosing the best course for you is important) but there are stats that say the most important thing to keep you at uni so you don’t quit is liking where you are! 🙂

    • Photo: Ruth Patchett

      Ruth Patchett answered on 20 Jun 2016:

      I wanted to pick somewhere that has a good reputation for studying my subject which was good at initially narrowing down my choices. The next step was to decide what kind of environment i wanted to live and work in (there is so much more to time at university than formal study in my opinion). This made my interview days very useful (I didn’t go to any open days-which I regret). For me campus life was not appealing as I am a country kid so wanted to get out into the big cities. My brother however was keen for a campus and loved living on one-so very much different strokes for different folks. I also wanted to move quite far from where I grew up to get a snese of independence but if you think you’ll want to visit home more often it might be worth living closer! I would reccommend going to plenty of open days. I think after a few you will get a feel for what kind of place feels right for you so you can make a good choice. Good luck!

    • Photo: Robert Williams

      Robert Williams answered on 20 Jun 2016:

      That the course was the only one available that contained some indutrial training which was a big help to me for it gave me some money whilst I was studying and I got an insight into potential jobs before I graduated.
      I would always recommend a course that had some industrial training placement as part of it.

    • Photo: Luke Williams

      Luke Williams answered on 21 Jun 2016:

      Ha, oh boy. Ok my route was a touch unorthodox, and I would sincerely not recommend doing what I did, but here goes.

      I had no idea what I wanted to do for undergraduate study. I therefore picked six courses for my UCAS form based on what seemed like a good idea at the time. They all had a loose theme of biological sciences, more or less, but they were incredibly varied.

      I ended up putting down the degree I ended up taking as my sixth choice. I had never heard of it before, but received a flyer through the post as they had sent one to every student in the country ( I think) who put down interest in science or engineering. This degree was Biochemical Engineering at UCL.

      After attending a joint Chemistry/Psychology trip to the University of Bath with my sixth form, my tutor remembered me talking about Biochemical Engineering but misremembered it as Chemical Engineering. She then dragged out the admissions tutor for Chemical Engineering from his office to give us a presentation on the subject. On the basis of a presentation IN THE WRONG SUBJECT I then decided to go for Biochemical Engineering.

      One of my six choices was removed because the course was cancelled, another was Cambridge and I failed to get through the interview. That left, I believe, four choices. Was a while ago, but I think I got four offers, two without interview I believe. At UCL though, my offer came after spending 45 minutes being told by the interviewer I probably should go do something else instead of that course, because I’m clearly an idiot who doesn’t know what he’s doing…

      I decided to put UCL down as my first choice, with Bristol as my second choice, and I think it was Biochemistry there, but I wouldn’t swear to it now. However as UCL asked for BBB, and Bristol for AAA, I decided to go with UCL alone and no reserve offer.

      Two amusing points from all this: I now attend the University of Bath. The admissions tutor who pushed me towards my undergraduate degree is the deputy director of my current research centre. Secondly, UCL has the first (and still only I believe) department of Biochemical Engineering. Bath happens to be the only other place in the UK where you can get a degree in Biochemical Engineering I think. Small world.

      One positive thing I would say – strongly consider a year in industry. UCL didn’t really push that at the time, and I know Bath do – the vast majority of students work in industry for a year. It will really help.

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