Picking The Right University

Hi everyone, hope you've all had a great week!



I know you'll appreciate this post as you're all going through exam period at the moment and are probably stressed about everything education related. Everyone gets so worried about whether they're picking the right university for some reason (me included), but really is there a right university?
Your choice should be right for you, this won't necessarily be the right choice for your friends. I've made a list of all the things I think everyone should consider when they're choosing their potential universities:

1. Does it have the course you want? This is THE most crucial thing, for me anyway. If the course isn't right, then nothing else will be. You need to realise that you're going to university, you're paying all this money to study a degree and eventually graduate. You cannot pick a university because of where it is and skimp on the course itself. At the end of the day you're there for three-five years on average, you need to enjoy what you're studying more than anything else because essentially this is what you're expecting to get a job in one day.
2. Does it have the facilities you require? Look around the town/city you're visiting, don't just scour the uni, you need to know you can feel comfortable living in its surroundings. 
3. Does it make you excited to start university? There would be nothing worse than turning up at your university choice in September/October and feeling glum. Make sure the university gives you that buzz and happy feeling.
4. Are your potential lecturers friendly and welcoming? Get to know the tutors, find out more about them, ask current students maybe. Just get as much inside information as you possibly can, you're going to want to know the truth.
5. Is the location right for you? Is it close to home or far from home, this is obviously your personal preference, not your parents or partner. Choose what's right for you. 
6. Accommodation. Is it going to be comfortable to live in? Can you spend a year there before moving into a house with your friends, it's a long time to spend somewhere you can't stand. 
7. Money. Can you afford to live in the area? This shouldn't matter too much if you've got the right course as I'm sure if the course is that important you'll work your bum off over summer to pay for a room. BUT, if you don't think you can save money or afford it then simply, rethink. 

My main reasons for picking Bedfordshire were first and foremost, the course. I knew this was the course I wanted to study and luckily for me it is a course that most universities offer. Location was second, I wanted to be close to home, I just wasn't ready to live 100 miles away from my family. This was 100% the right decision for me, I didn't hesitate at all and that's mainly because I gave myself the opportunity by studying close enough to home to commute but far enough to live there at the same time. I lived there for my first year, loved it and then moved home for my last two years. I still have my friends, I still go out on student nights, I'm not missing out at all. In fact I much prefer the way I'm doing university right now. 

However, I will say that I think if I hadn't lived in for the first year I'd probably be lonely. Purely because everyone would have had the time to socialize on student nights and I wouldn't have. I still think I would have friends but I do think I'd miss out on the nights out.

Hope this post gives you some inspiration! 

Until next time,

M

Completing Second Year..

Hi everyone,

So this weeks post is going to be exactly as it states in the title, all about how it feels to have completed another year of university, plans for what's to come (i.e. dissertation thoughts) and placements.

I'll start with my thoughts and feelings on finishing the year....

.... and in a nutshell, that picture sums up how it feels.
I didn't really pay much attention to the fact that I have in fact completed my second year of my three year degree, I am over halfway through my degree, I have one year left before I go out into the big wide world of work and I honestly don't know if I'm ready for it all. One thing I do know is how proud I am of myself for actually making it through this past year, it's been difficult and I had a very big knock back in January when I lost someone extremely close to me and had a heart operation, I ended up needing extensions on my assignments etc, which I never thought I'd have to do. I did feel behind at one point but as soon as I was through the worst of it I picked myself with the help of friends, family and my understanding lecturers and got back on track. You can never plan for things like those to happen and it was my luck that I had a double whammy all in the same week, but it's all down to motivation (self and from peers) to get back into the swing of things and I was and still am so determined to do well at university that nothing will stop me. Sorry, I know this went off on a tangent but basically what I'm trying to say it that despite having those hiccups, I made it through the year and I couldn't be happier with how far I've come since starting this university journey.

Now onto plans, now none of these are set in stone, I haven't completely decided on my dissertation title but I do know that I want it to be something to do with university level education, disability and technology. That's about as far as I've got with dissertation planning, I have done a research proposal already for my final Research methods assignment but I'm not completely happy with it. I may end up using it and tweaking it to make sure its suitable and better quality but who knows! There are SO many options for it and it's quite overwhelming, I do know that I will have decided on a title by July, I'll seek approval from my personal tutor and then I'll make sure I've done at least 1,000 words of my dissertation by the time I start my third year (watch this space). I do not want to be going back to uni with no clue of how I'm going to do my biggest assignment of my university career, I want to and will be planned ahead and feeling ready to tackle it. So, yeah that's what next for me education wise.

Placements are at the top of my mind at the moment, I am currently attending one on Friday's with years 5 and 6 and I love it, however because I'm only doing Friday's I'll have only had a weeks worth of experience with this age before I go away in June and I'd like to have more.So, I'll hopefully be able to return to the school in September and rack up a good couple more weeks there before starting back at uni in October. I already have key stage 1 and 2, but it would be nice to have more when it comes to applying for teacher training. I enjoy placement so much, I know all the kids really well considering I only go one day a week. I can truly see myself working in a key stage 1 or 2 environment one day, I guess that's when you know you've picked the right career path!

Well, that's it for this week!

Until next time,

M

Third Year Expectations...

Hi everyone, hope you're all well.

Seeing as I've finished uni and am not quite sure what sort of things you'll be interested in I thought I'd write a bit of an expectations post. So, what I think third year is going to be like and how it will pan out from listening to peers who have gone through it, my own judgement and what my lecturers have been saying...

My first and probably biggest expectation is that it's going to get very real and very serious. I have heard a lot of people say before that first and sometimes second year are complete walks in the park compared to the final year of university and this seems to be a recurring theme no matter what course you're studying. I personally don't think anyone is ever fully prepared for what to expect for the whole dissertation aspect of final year. Me included, I think it's definitely a huge shock to our systems from what I've heard and I wish I could know what to expect fully but obviously I never will because it's definitely one of those things that if you don't ever experience it, you'll never really understand what it's like. So, yeah dissertation is most probably going to shock me into wanting to be a complete uni nerd and do everything by the book, having said that I don't think anyone ever does every little thing we're supposed to.

I thought this image represented expectations brilliantly. 

Secondly, I definitely think the social side of uni will die down completely, especially in those crucial 'diss' months. This is another reason I know third years going to be the biggest struggle of my uni career, because third year students are barely out on student nights throughout those key dissertation writing months and then all of a sudden they all start appearing again when they've submitted and finished them. I don't think this will affect me as much as others because I'm commuting again and that means less nights out anyway because the thought of a home cooked meal and a bath often outweighs the thought of going out in the freezing cold and waking up feeling horrendous, this makes me sound like I don't like going out, I DO! I have just learnt over the years I have been going out that it doesn't need to be every night because I found myself getting bored of the same old thing every week.

Another big change I think I'll notice is my personal time spent in the library. I thought this year I'd spend more time in the library but I actually barely did, apart from when I had a massive three hour break between lectures. I find it so hard to concentrate in there but I know it will be essential for dissertation work next year so I think I'll be forcing myself to spend many hours in there. I work so well from home, I have my own office and everything gets done so much quicker, eBooks are literally my savior. Although, I much prefer having a book in print as I find it so much easier to find what I'm looking for, so library books are going to have to be my new thing.

Other than these three main things, I don't think much else will change. I mean obviously my lecturers, timetable and all of those things will but the way second year has gone, I really want to keep the approach to uni I have as it's very positive at the moment and just get through this final year of my degree.

It's so weird to think I'm so close to graduating and that massive step closer to my dream job. University was honestly the best decision I ever made. I think my current placement has made me realise how much teaching will suit me and I know I'll be good at it. I have had cold feet about teaching as my career path but my love for it has been restored, all I needed was to get into a setting and remember everything I love about it!

Graduation can't come quick enough! 

Until next time,

M.

Finshed... Already?

Hi everyone,

So, I know by the sounds of last weeks post it seems I had a full term left of university... well I think I judged that wrong because I've basically finished for the WHOLE year! Yes I said whole year.

Let me explain...

1. Both of the essays I spoke abut last week have been handed in which therefore means no more lectures for those two particular units.
2. My Lifelong unit there is just a poster presentation to be handed in which needs working on today and tomorrow ready to be printed on Monday for handing in on Wednesday next week, the presentation of the poster will be the Wednesday after for an hour... pretty much finished that unit.
3. Finally, Digital Age is the one I have the most work left for, including an audio presentation and the rest of my webfolio to finish off for handing in on the 25th May, this unit can all be prepared from home and if necessary I can attend drop-in sessions on Thursday's between my normal lecture slots of 10am-12pm, however, I feel well prepped for this unit and probably will not feel this is necessary to my webfolio.

I am pretty much telling you that I won't be at uni after the 6th May until October when I begin my third and final year of my Education Studies degree. This certainly does not mean I won't have things to talk about as I already have some exciting news to fill you all in on.

I don't know if I mentioned in any previous posts, but I was stressing a couple of weeks back about redoing my Science GCSE. Mainly because I really do not have the focus to redo a GCSE subject seeing as I'm not working at degree level education and it just really seemed ridiculous. It was also mega expensive to do. I dug out my old GCSE certificates and realised that I did in fact get a C at GCSE Additional Science and a D at core Science. Now additional is actually harder than core so it is bizarre how I managed these grades but that's what happened, I spoke to my personal tutor who also happens to know his stuff when it comes to education, teaching and applying for PGCE's and he enlightened me by telling me that it is of course an accepted Science GCSE qualification which I really did know but I had just worked myself up about redoing it and forgot about the simple answer to this problem. So, all is good in the world, I do not have to think about my GCSE's again and I can focus on finding the perfect teacher training course for me over the summer months, ready to apply before Christmas this year.



Another amazing piece of news is that I GOT A PLACEMENT. I have been ringing round different schools trying to get a placement for a good month now and I have managed to bag myself a placement with years 5&6 at a brilliant little primary school where I have actually worked with younger years before. I am so excited about this, I start today and can't wait to tell you all about it in next weeks post so be sure to look out for that one!

Other than that, I had a hilarious night on Monday with so many of my lovely friends and am completely buzzed about heading to London tomorrow to watch the London marathon. London is one of my favourite places in the world, I love how the city never sleeps and there's always something to do there. I can't wait to live and work there one day, but for now home is where I want to be.



Until next time,

M.

First Week of Final Term..

Hi everyone, as you may have guessed from the title of this post.. it's basically one of my 'week overviews'.

It's been all go this week on assignments, I handed my second to last essay in yesterday which was my 3,000 word Research Proposal for my dissertation. It took me a long time that's for certain. Over Easter my aims were to do both of the essays I have due in, one for this week and one for next. I did the one for next week which was 2,000 words for my Comparative Education unit all about Japan's history and current education system. I managed this essay in about two days which was impressive for me because I thought this would be the one I'd find the hardest, turns out I was wrong. I did this essay first purely for the reason I thought I'd find it a struggle and would take me a long time, I thought I would find my Research Proposal easier as its on a topic I'm interested in.

However, it turns out the Research Proposal took me a lot longer, I think because the structure of the assignment was very different to a normal university style essay and I was overall more worried about getting a good grade in this one in particular. Having said this, I managed to finish it in time and it's finally submitted and awaiting feedback and a grade. The Japan essay I found a breeze, I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing, but hey ho its done and dusted and just needs to be handed in now.

It's so interesting to learn and research about other countries education systems, everyone does it so differently and I'd highly recommend doing some research even if you aren't doing a particular assignment just to get your knowledge up about different countries.

As for un-uni related things this week, it's been an expensive one. I've booked a holiday to Rome with my cousin, bought a new laptop that isn't arriving for another four to six weeks (depressing) and a few holiday clothing bits. It's less than two months untill my summer holidays start (as in go on a plane, abroad) and I'm healthy eating and gymming crazily at the moment. I've got a running programme that finishes in two weeks when I'll be up to five k and a resistance training app which finishes the week before I go to Turkey! This may not be interesting to some of you but I'm really into fitness at the moment and I'm feeling really good about myself (for once)!

So, yeah that's an overview... I've got a more chilled week next week with a night out back at uni, a poster presentation to complete and my Comparative Education essay due which I need to read over and add a conclusion too.

Look out for another update like this one next week!

Until next time,

M.

Making the jump..

Hi everyone, hope you're all doing well.

This weeks post is going to be all about making that big jump from school or college to university and trust me it is a big one!

It can either be extremely daunting for some people or others can brush it off thinking it "won't be that hard" but actually from experience I can tell you that the jump is actually massive. Some of you probably think, "oh, it's just essays like school" well yes it is, but the whole way you write completely changes, you will not be writing essays you did at school, the structure, length and pretty much everything about them changes.

The main things I found most difficult to adjust to are, time keeping, referencing and self motivation. When you go to university you are usually (unless you're a commuter) all by yourself, and it's up to you to make friends, get yourself to lectures and generally live. So for me, moving away from home and having to get myself to lectures, seminars, meetings etc on time and be prepared for each was very hard at first. Throughout most sixth forms and colleges we are constantly being reminded and motivated by our teachers, parents and fellow learners, yet coming to university that completely changes; and so self motivation is definitely a key skill to obtain. Lecturers are quite relaxed, but it's up to you to turn up to classes, and is your problem if you don't, as you're the one paying all the tuition fees, so it's up to you to turn up. And that's the same with deadlines too. You have to be aware of them and you cannot rely on your tutors telling you what to do and what to write, much like the teachers at school do. It is all down to you and you only. If you are not self motivated, you are not going to succeed and it really is as simple as that.

Another thing I struggled with was referencing, and even now I am still getting my head around this and still have to follow the referencing guidelines for every essay I write. Referencing is hard to explain so I'm not going to try, but basically EVERYTHING you write at university level HAS to be backed up with some literature and therefore you must highlight who backs up your point - hence referencing. I think every other first year struggles with this to begin with, as most of us have absolutely no clue of the referencing concept or what it entails, so it took me pretty much a whole year to understand the full reasons and regulations behind referencing, and even now I use the referencing guidelines as I'm not 100 percent on what full stop goes where (yes, it is that strict)! This concept is where you can probably tell how university writing is completely different to school/college writing, you have to be all round more sophisticated with the way you write and really show a developed and academic form and structure in your essays and all university work.

Getting to grips with Harvard referencing!

Time keeping is the final thing I found difficult; to understand what time I needed to be up to make it to a lecture was fairly easy for me as my halls were on campus, however I know it was hard for my friends who didn't live on campus. Relying on university buses instead of cars etc, it's all very scary being pushed into an 'adult world'. To walk into a lecture or seminar late is the worst too! In terms of writing essays in time, I think this was the worst part of time keeping for me. Understanding that I cannot do an essay the night before and gain a good grade was learnt the hard way for me. I pretty much worked my way through first year doing this, constantly battling with that 11.59pm deadline on the day it was due. I realised towards the end of first year that if I wanted a decent grade at the end of my degree I needed to put the work in, weeks and months before my deadlines, which is exactly what I have done this year and it feels so much better. I'm getting much better grades and feeling so much better about myself.

Learning the hard way - keeping to time

So, yeah that's pretty much it. I struggled with those main things when I was thrown into university life.

I hope this post doesn't scare you and motivates you to try your best to make sure these things don't happen to you as extreme as they did to me. It's definitely a learning curve.

Until next week,

M.

University Open Days

Hi everyone!

Hope you're all well and enjoying the Easter break, I definitely am!

I thought I would talk about open days in this post as I'm sure some if not all of you are well on your way into visiting universities and finding the ones that you like best, but if not then this post can offer you some advice about choosing a university and what to look for when researching your potential choices.

Visiting a uni is the best way to find
out more

Open days really are the BEST way of getting a genuine feel for a university, the only way you'll ever know what a university is going to be like is by walking round and looking in every nook and cranny there is possible whilst you're there. Bedford was the only university I visited, partly because I had a Saturday job at the time and couldn't afford not to take time off as most of the open days were on Saturdays when I was looking and partly because I didn't have much choice when it came to university as I wanted to stay relatively close to home so that I could have the option to commute if needs be. Don't get me wrong I could have looked at a couple more but I just didn't and luckily for me it worked out ok, however if I were choosing a university far from home I would 100 percent only put it as one of my choices if I'd seen it.

Living away from home for three or four years may not seem like much at time because you're still doing a-levels and its a 'long time coming' but really it is only round the corner and before you know it you could be being shipped off to a part of the country you really no nothing about. So, my first piece of advice is VISIT UNIVERSITIES no matter what you think of their websites of brochures, everything is different in person and I would advise all of you to visit as many as you can because you never know, one you weren't so keen on from the pictures might actually be everything you want and more, so basically I'm using the cliche 'don't judge a book by its cover'.

One thing that made me feel more sure about Bedford than my other choices was because I'd seen it, I knew the distance it was from home which is perfect, I knew where I'd be studying down to the exact rooms almost, I'd visited the town centre and I'd even looked at potential job opportunities, everything about it felt right and that really is only down to the fact that I was familiar with the town and everything in it, not familiar enough to miss out on the initial exploring when you arrive but just enough to feel extra comfortable with my choice of university.

Here's a link to the universities open day page of their website in case any of you want to have a look and come along to one.

And take a look on YouTube to watch some videos all about their open days:

I study at the Bedford campus

If you really cannot gain access to a particular university you are interested in and really think it would be great for one of your choices I would consider scouring their website, google and any online forums for reviews of everything from the accommodation you are applying for to the best place for a cooked breakfast. It might be an idea to contact the university direct and ask for any extra information or even if they can help you in any way to learn any more information if you don't ask you don't get and all that.

I hope this post helps you on the path to finding your university and offers advice in the ways to do so.

Hope you have a good week, I'll speak to you next Friday when my Easter break will nearly be up :-(

Until next week,

M

Last Week Before Easter!

Hi everyone!

As you can all tell by the title of this post, it is in fact my last week of term two! It has absolutely flown by, I can't quite believe I'm heading into my final semester of second year.. kinda scary!

It's all third year discussions at the minute, like what choices are you picking, are you on track for a decent grade, personal tutor meetings, assignments due, beginning our dissertations, work experience.. you name it we have been talking about it.

My lecturers are all trying to stress how vital this last semester is and that during and after Easter things need to be on the ball. So, I have several assignments due in after the Easter holidays, all around the same date so it is crucial for me to get going throughout the holidays and complete as much if not all of them for before I start back. That's my goal anyway, I hate being behind on work.

I had a meeting with my new personal tutor too about where I am in terms of final grade which is about a 2.1 at the moment which I am very happy about. Ideally I'd love a first as everyone would, but my main reason for that is because the University offers a free masters course to those who graduate with first class degrees. I'd be personally extremely happy if I achieved a 2.1.

I went out for student night this week, as it was a big night because everyone's heading home(Well those that don't commute) for Easter break. We have three weeks off this year which is more than some universities but I guess that's just the way our terms have fallen, I'm not complaining!

I am looking forward to not having to drive backwards and forwards to Bedford for three weeks though, sometimes it does get a bit draining I must admit, especially if I have to drive back after a Wednesday night out! Other than that I can't really complain about my choice to commute this year as it really was the right decision, it's not a pain until the very end of each term as university is for most people(lecturers included). I really do love being able to go back to the comfort of my own home and family after a day at university rather than going back to a room in a house, it just isn't for me! I haven't missed out on the social life as my friends are kind enough to let me stay with them and I rarely get to uni and find my lectures are cancelled, it's quite an efficient university in terms of getting information across which is vital for commuters as it would be a massive pain to turn up to uni to find your lectures cancelled! I know some of my friends have this problem at other universities.

I had to reapply for student finance today too, I really don't get the point in having to reapply if your details are the exact same, they should just carry if over but of course they don't. So now my parents have to fill out all their details again and I have to wait for ages to find out what I'm getting even though I know it will be the exact same as my circumstances are the same as last year.
Oh well, I couldn't do university without student finance so I'll do what it takes haha!

I thought this picture was brilliant as it represents student finance! 

For those of you applying for uni's now I'd sort out your student finance as quickly as possible as it's a long old process and takes a bit of getting used to on your first go!

I'll have updates about my work progress next week so keep your eyes peeled!

Oh and I forgot to add, it was varsity this week! Which means a big sporting event that every university takes part in each year! I watched the badminton and the rugby which were really good, rugby won by a mile and badminton lost. Our university is against hertfordshire university.
But it was such a brilliant vibe and if you're into sport definitely look into joining a team!

Until next week,

M!

Second Year Progression

Hi Everyone, hope you all had a lovely week!

This week for me was very general and actually quite productive, which is always good. So, what happened? 

Well the weekend was work work work at my part time job, Monday was a day of joining the gym and not much university related. Tuesday, my first lecture of the week! We, watched a documentary of a man lecturing about Finland's education system, I made a few notes however, I did not go into too much detail as this lecture was not supportive of my assignment but even so it's always interesting to know about other countries education systems and it is not an excuse to miss a lecture.

Tuesday also saw my Comparative Education assignment two guidance being introduced which is an essay, 2000 words, due 21st April(which sounds far away but really isn't). 

" Is education different for girls? Critically explore the cultural or religious tensions underpinning gender inequality with regard to education in Japan OR Afghanistan?" 

This is the question I have chosen, we got to choose from five questions all supporting the past few

months lectures and I chose this one because the Japanese education interested me the most and therefore (in my case) will allow me the best possible chance of doing well on this assignment. I always do better if I am interested and engaged with the topic or essay question. 

Wednesday was Lifelong, which was all about the the value of Higher Education, which I obviously am aware of but it actually made me realise how much HE(higher education) can do for you, there are so many different doors that it opens and I really believe that without some form of extra studying or training after school no matter how long or short it may be, if you do not have it you are at a disadvantage, which all of you reading this will agree with because otherwise why would you be reading a university student's blog. 

Thursday, so far you might all be thinking "she said it was productive, it doesn't sound it" or  something along those lines, well that's because Thursday was the day where it all happened. 9.30am I had a meeting with my new personal tutor, who discussed aims and targets etc and I found out I'm on track for a 2.1 at the moment which was fabulous news! He also said he didn't need to worry about me and also pointed me in the direction of another lecturer who helped me out with finding a career within education and psychology which was helpful and I hope I have found the perfect place for some work experience too, I need to ring up next week! 10-12am Digital age lecture took place, which was where I started another tab of my webfolio the 'Risk' tab and until around 2.30pm I managed to sit in the library after the lecture and complete this section which is such a weight off my shoulders as the deadline is on Monday, I only have one more tab to do as well, yay! 

I used a website called 'Powtoon' for my Digital Age assignment which is brilliant and creates interesting and engaging presentations, I really recommend them to anyone, they're very unique! 

3pm I had my Research Methods lecture which was very useful as it was all about ethics when carrying out research and how to carry out research on children without breaking the rules which was extremely helpful! 

4pm was supposed to be my Research Methods seminar but I didn't have to go because it wasn't relevant to Education Studies, just Early Years. 

I then finished the day off by going out for a lovely meal with my family and a long hot bath! 

Here's a couple of snaps of my meal to make you mouth water! It was so delicious! 
Until next week! 

M

Undergraduate Year 2! First Blog Post(kind of)

Hello Everyone,


I'm Megan and I have been lucky enough to have been given the role of Education and Teaching blogger for the second year running.. YAY!


So I thought it would be best to start with an introductory post for those of you who need refreshing and those who are just starting to read.
A bit about me...


I am half way through my second year at The University of Bedfordshire and I am studying Education Studies. It is a three year long degree, which in my first year began with a huge spread of what Education Studies entails; history of education, inclusion in education, social constructions of education and finally, the young child in education. These units were fine, broad but fine for year one, however moving into year two I have seen a huge difference between being a first year and being a second year.


About my course...
I LOVE my course and I really enjoy studying at the uni, my second year has been so much better than my first for so many reasons.
Some of you may know the situation I was in first year, I didn't get on with my flatmates due to being singled out, I was so poor and just in general homesick. So now in my second year, I have moved back home and I commute to university three days of the week(which is when my lectures/seminars fall), I still socialise at uni as my friends are kind enough to let me crash at theirs for student nights and I am just overall enjoying the experience a whole lot more.


Why I chose Bedford?


I chose Bedfordshire for one main reason, it was close to home and after everything that happened I am so glad I did. I really liked the university itself but I probably wasn't ready to move away and that's why all I had in mind was being close to home.
Now that I'm settled at home I can appreciate the actual university so much more, the campus is great and so nice to study in. We've just had a new building open which is incredible, I can't wait to study in there in my breaks, and Bedfordshire is just a really nice place to study.


What I like most?


The people I've met and am still meeting. I have got a really great bunch of friends, most people chat on my course which is lovely. The choices I made this year. I got to choose two options myself this year and I chose Children and Young People in the Digital Age, which is SO interesting and the lecturers are so interesting. I really enjoy those lectures and am definitely going to take it again next year.
I also chose Lifelong Learning because I read it was the best option if you want to do a PGCE course after your degree finishes. This would have been ideal as that's what I thought I wanted to do but recently I have been researching and I think I've changed my mind(I mean recent, literally last and this week)! I won't reveal anything yet as I still need to meet with the careers team to make sure it's definitely possible. But, if you want to take a PGCE I would definitely recommend this unit.


What I'm looking forward to?


I got an A+ in my last exam which I am SOOOO proud of myself for, I was so over the moon. So as geeky as it sounds I think I'm looking forward to getting more grades back so I can see what I am on track to end the year on... I am also looking forward to a few nights out I have planned as I've had a long time off partying due to illness.


So, yeah there's a good update for you all. The posts will be EVERY Friday until the end of July!


M

Last Blog Post :(

Hello Everyone,

Yes, this is my last blog post of the year which is actually quite sad. I have enjoyed posting and reflecting back on the weeks gone by.
I do have some exciting news which is that I will hopefully be back next year! I'm over the moon about the fact that I could be carrying on my blog as I think it's such a benefit to both you all reading it, but also for myself too.

Readers are able to get a real inside scoop on what their university life will bring for them and even better if you're hoping to study teaching at the University of Bedfordshire! Those of you who are have been given a real good head start in a way as you know in some respects what to expect from your first year and I would love to be able to carry on and tell you all about how you second years will pan out.

I'd like to thank everyone who read any of my posts throughout the past year and also the people who gave me the opportunity to start this blog. It's been a great experience and I will hopefully get to speak to you all soon!

Good luck to everyone getting their results this month, I hope you all get what you achieve and maybe see those of you hoping to attend UoB next year!

Video blog of my year at the University of Bedfordshire

This post is going to be a video presentation showing an overview of my first year of university. I hope you all enjoy it!

Review of First Year from meganloveys1234

Birthday Celebrations and Another Holiday on the Cards?!

As you may have already guessed it was my birthday on Thursday! I had a wonderful day and got spoilt rotten! I have been celebrating, I went out last weekend and last night I went to BBQ with some uni friends which was nice to catch up and see them, it ended up to be a really good night!
I turned 19 which is a boring age I suppose, I had my big 18 last year which was a very big celebration and to be quite honest I didn't want to stop being 18 ha never mind!

Some more exciting summer news, my cousin and I might be booking a last minute holiday at the end of August. We had always planned to go away together and we both really want to go on holiday so fingers crossed that all comes together and we actually go!

I've started my reading for next year, and by started I mean very briefly, but still it's not just sitting there! I can't really give you an insight into what I'm going to be learning about be the books are about a lot of things. However, if I do get to study the two options I've picked I can tell you that I will not have any exams next year, well none that involve sitting in a cold hall for two hours writing non-stop and coming out with a cramped hand and a rumbling stomach... Yeah, none of that kind!
As you all know I've done that deliberately because I am the world's biggest exam hater and I can't bear to sit another endless exam next year, I'd much prefer to have coursework and assignments as it means I can work on them for a long period of time and don't have to use my useless memory to do well!

I hope all of your summers are going well, I bet you're all off on party holidays(I was in Magaluf this time last year) celebrating the end of A-Levels before you all separate and head to university for your new adventures!

Well, have fun doing whatever you're doing and I shall speak to you next week in my video blog... Exciting!!!

I can't wait for you all to see it, I've worked hard on it and hope you all enjoy watching something a bit different on my blog!

Speak to you next week!

I got a puppy!!

Yep, this is a picture of my new puppy, bit of a different way to start the blog this week! She is the cutest thing I think I have ever seen! Four days before my birthday as well, is there anything better?!

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At this point I am waiting on a lot of things. Timetable for next year, whether or not I've been given the choices I like and just an insight into what second year is going to bring!
I've got an update for you all this week;

• I am going to be posting my last ever blog post for the year on the 4th August 2014 so look out for that one.

I can't believe I've already finished my first year of university. It has gone so so quickly it's untrue I feel as though it's flown by and I can barely remember back to my moving in day...scary! 

Everyone always said uni goes quick but I guess you never really know exactly what somethings like until you try it! 

I'd like to encourage all of you to start your own blogs just for your own benefit as I have spent the day reading over all of my posts and it's so interesting to read back on, it's like a diary of my whole first year which is so interesting! 

If you enjoy writing and using your imaginations definitely give it a go and maybe this time next year you'll all be in my shoes reminiscing over your first years at university! 

Need to get motivated!!!

I have got plans to do some university work soon as I am feeling like I have neglected it a little up until now, so I shall tell you all about those!

Now, I don't want you all to think that I'm being lazy and not doing anything...I just haven't had time. We got our reading lists through for second year a couple of weeks back but I've barely had the time to even look at it I've been working so much! However, it's not as though I've left it months and months to start planning for my second year, I'm very dedicated to university and that is why I am working so much, so that I can save my money for petrol as I am commuting next year.

I got a new job about a month ago and even though it's only a small contract I have been given hours nearly every day which is great, I can't complain about extra money especially as I would hate to be sitting around at home all summer.

My plan is to get all of my reading done before I go back to university because we have been given the reading list for next year so I definitely think I should get a good head start and be ready for university this time. I honestly did not feel ready for uni last year and I don't know whether that's something that all freshers feel but anyway.. I did!
So, I'm going to get my head into the books and hopefully then I will feel ready to start my second year and as I have most probably mentioned before do better than I did last year, because although I was happy with my results last year I do still think if I hadn't been as wrapped up in nights out I would have done that bit better, even though they weren't every night I admit I got talked into going out sometimes when I really didn't want to!

I doubt you'll get to hear about what I'm going to by studying next year as I'm not sure if the blogging will be carrying on. I will let you all know as I would love to carry on posting as much for you guys as for myself.
At first I didn't think doing this blog would benefit me that much however, I was very wrong. As much as I hope it gives you all a good idea of university life and studying teaching etc, it allows me to reflect back on my weeks at university and I am really excited to finish my blogs for the year and then read back over them all, I have stopped myself from doing so and I have mainly been posting and not looking back because I want to leave it all for afterwards so I can look back and remember my first year.

I will let you know before I finish blogging if I will be carrying on next year, fingers crossed!

That's all for now, next week you will have my video post so look out for that!

An insight into my Second Year!

Today myself and everyone else carrying on through to their second year of studying education studies received emails telling us about our reading lists for next year. This may sound uninteresting but actually it's an opportunity for us all to get a head start on what we are all going to be studying.

I am sure I have mentioned in a previous post that we all had to choose two options of our own choices to study next year which I have now had a chance to look at in more depth. However, some of the books are not available as ebooks which means I have to buy them.  

I don't remember ever talking to you all about how important university books actually are... don't think I'm boring because trust me I used to think they were useless but they are soooo not! They were my saviors when writing my essays. I am so not a book person but now I've had to learn to be because there is no surviving university or passing university without opening some books. 

Yep, this is what I felt like my desk looked like a lot of the time...BOOK OVERLOAD! 

But, in all seriousness I am genuinely excited to find out more about what I will be studying in my second year and I think this is mainly down to the fact that I have grown up and learnt a lot throughout my first year and I am now in the complete right mind set to focus solely on my studies and achieve my goals. 

Going to university taught me a whole lot from living by myself to how to write a proper essay, and mainly how important my degree is to me.

What's right for me?

After getting my results and knowing that I am going through to my second year of university I have been thinking a lot about my future career. Back when I chose my UCAS choices and got my acceptance letter through for Education Studies at the University of Bedfordshire a year seemed a long time and now... that year is up!

So, I am kind of weighing up my options at the moment and one of those BIG choices is whether to specialise in Primary or Secondary education. This has always been so unclear in my mind for a number of reasons..

1. I work so well with young children from my past experiences at Primary schools, however I have never had work experience at a secondary school so perhaps I should look into gaining myself a bit more experience in secondary education before I make that decision.
2. I like the idea of specialising in one subject and teaching it in many different ways and forms to secondary ages.. I think this would be so interesting especially because I would get to teach my favourite subject and wouldn't have to worry about those I don't like so much. I love the idea of teaching English/media studies which are similar subjects.

I have a while to decide.. well really I don't have to decide until I study my PGCE after my degree however I would like to have an idea of what I am going to be doing in the near future before then. 

DECISIONS DECISIONS DECISIONS!!!

I thought this picture was extremely fitting for this post, so I shall leave you all with this.. until next time!

Through to second year!

Hello there!

So I got some extremely exciting and weightlifting news yesterday....

I PASSED MY FIRST YEAR!!!

I got the results back for my two exams, they were average results , which means I have now passed all four of my modules for my first year of university and I can continue into second year. 

I am so thankful I passed, realistically I think I probably could have done better than I have during my first year, although I'm not disappointed with my results I know if I had been just that bit more focused I would have done better. Not that it matters overall at the end of my degree. First year only counts to get into second year and has no input into the score of my full degree. I think this may have been a factor in why I decided to rush a couple of assignments that were due in for the next day and go out when I had finished. 

I'm not saying I was a party animal or anything...cause I am so not one of those...I just probably could have planned my time better so that I didn't have to decide whether to go out or finish my assignment. 

However, saying all of this, I do think that freshers should allow themselves to have the 'fresher experience', all be it I decided not to go crazy and get drunk every single night but I certainly allowed myself to go out and have a good time when I felt like it. I was never the person that went out even if I didn't feel like I wanted to. University for me was never and is never going to be about the party. My mindset is that I'm there to get my degree and achieve the career that I desire, but there's nothing wrong with a night out every week or two(that is part of being a fresher at the end of the day). 

Evidence of a good fresher night out!

I am now waiting for the conformation of whether I get the choices I picked for next year and fingers crossed I do because passing my first year has given me such a buzz about my second year. I am so ready to knuckle down and get my head stuck into some placements at some schools. 

This year has gone so quickly in some ways but in others it has dragged on, it dragged because I had to move flats as my first flat mates were all girls and I am sure you all know how nasty girls can get especially if you don't 'fit' into their crowd, and in others it flew by because after moving flats I had a much better experience living at uni.

It's all a learning curve is all I can say! 

Exam advice!

I've decided to write this post to try and give you all some advice on how to prepare yourself for you exams, and what to expect. I think this is important for you all to know because I went into one of my exams this week thinking I knew everything about the topics that were going to come up and ended up panicking slightly when the question wasn't as straight forward as I'd expected it to be.

First of all, and this is the ONE piece of advice I stress you all to take in if you take in at least one thing from this post, and it's to expect the unexpected. The only problem I found when I opened up that question paper was that the question was so difficult to understand and I struggled to read between the lines as to what it wanted me to answer. Luckily, when I came out of the exam I spoke to some friends and it seems as though we all got the same thing from the question and therefore wrote about similar things, but in all honesty I was not one hundred percent sure when writing it that I had chosen the right theories and topics to discuss. 

So here's my advice and tips for you all:

- read the question, and I know what you're all going to think, everyone tells you this and it's obvious, but trust me I panicked and confused myself even more. Everyone was expecting that a significant name of a theory would be written within the question and it turns out it wasn't and therefore we all worried ourselves. What the question actually wanted from us was to think outside the box a little bit and understand what theory the question was actually talking about. 

- plan your time, this is vital. This particular piece of advice was a godsend to me when I was writing my exam answers. As soon as I opened my exam papers and read over the questions until I understood them completely(or as much as I possibly could), I then wrote down every last piece of information that I knew about the topic in question and then went from there and began to write whichever question I had decided to write first. 

-re-read your answer as you write, most people tel you to read over your answer at the end of your exam, however I think it is a much more beneficial idea to read as you write. I think this solves a lot of babbling and going off of topic which is unfixable when you have five minutes left of your exam. 

So, I hope this post gives you all some confidence in how to prepare and plan yourselves for your exams now and in the future, I will certainly be sticking to these rules from now on. 

Exams are next week!!!

I have just realised that my exams are next week, and that has given me a lot to think about...for a quite a few reasons.




1. I feel like I need more time to prepare even though I am all revised out I still want more time, but I suppose that's always how it goes. I cannot believe I have turned my whole revising attitude around, all those years at school I had such a laid back attitude towards revision and generally always decided that going out for lunch or anything other than revision was more worth my time.. But from doing a-levels and now am at university level I have realised that achieving a first does not come without some hard work.




2. I will no longer be a fresher. This I'm not so scared about because I realise that I'm only two years away from gaining a degree and that's the one and only reason I am at university, to get my all important degree to put me in the right direction to having my dream job and career. So I guess I'm glad I wont be a fresher anymore, and to be honest I don't think I could cope with another fresher's fortnight again..non-stop partying takes it out of you!




3. My summer holiday is less than five weeks away! This time in five weeks I will be laying by the pool in the sun, without any kind of exam thought in my head.. BLISS!




4. My birthday is soon...ish! That's always a good thing.




5. I have the whole summer of no uni work, this is such a nice feeling. Summer is my absolute favourite time of the year, I am so excited to catch up with friends and just have a brilliant summer with everyone I love!



Those are all of the current thoughts that are going through my mind right now, first and foremost revision but after next week it will be the thought of a relaxed and enjoyable summer at home.