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

Career talks..

Hello everyone!

Hope you've all had a great week, I certainly have.

So, this post is finally going to give you all an insight into my future plans.. because for some reason just before Christmas I panicked that I had changed my mind and no longer had set in stone plans, and I know plans don't always work out but I just like to have some sort of idea of where I'll be this time in five years.

First of all, I would like to clarify that it does not matter if you haven't decided what you want as a career path both before, during and after university. Personally I think it's silly to expect every 17/18 year old to know what they want in their educational/working life but we are expected to choose such specified degrees nowadays that it really can be scary for some if they are not 100% sure on a career path.

Degree's like mine are extremely versatile, 'Education Studies' has so may branches coming off it when you look into it. There's the obvious teaching, social work and anything is possible as you can head off to do a conversion course after your degree if you truly change your mind or even if you slightly go off course. I have decided that after I finish my final year I will be heading off to another university(probably not Bedford purely for experience of going elsewhere) to do a Psychology conversion course.

I want to be an Educational Psychologist, I have done thorough research on this job and I just know it will suit me perfectly! I was always interested in psychology at school and I even chose it for one of my A levels but sadly had to drop it as I had too much on my plate and couldn't even put my focus from subject to subject. I do really wish I had been able to carry it on as it was my favourite but unfortunately failed the first mock exam and I was achieving higher in my other subjects.

I had a meeting yesterday with the careers adviser at university because I have been trying to get round to doing it for ages and now I hope you understand that I couldn't tell you all about this until I had spoken to her for fear of getting my hopes up and telling everyone to then be told it's not possible, but it IS possible which is the best news ever.

I'll do my conversion course and then work my way up through a job setting, it is so exciting knowing that this is the right path for me. Don't get me wrong I am interested in teaching and education I just think using psychology is much more suited towards me and my personal preferences

An example of the type of situations I'd like to be faced with, helping children to reach goals, overcome fears etc.

I chose my degree partly for this reason... I didn't know if I'd always want to be a teacher but I knew I'd never lose my passion for education as a whole. There are so many courses similar to mine in all fields of careers and I would highly recommend a more broad course for someone who does not have a clue what they want to be.

There are hundreds of courses available on the University of Bedfordshire website I urge you to take a browse and have a read of some of the courses!

That's it for today.

Until next time,

M x