Month: August 2009

Free EBook – Fresher Success

In the next few weeks, universities around the country will welcome a new intake of students.  Freshers’ Weeks will kick off and a whole new chapter in life will start for many thousands of people.  Maybe you’re one of them.

So what does a full-time student, living away from home (probably for the first time), expect from uni life?  Many of you won’t have a clue.  Why would you?

That’s why I spent last week putting together a free ebook for new students.

Fresher Success is my new guide to help students get to grips with university life before even setting foot on campus.  The book talks about some of my experiences as a Fresher and offers advice on preparation for the big day and settling down socially.  There are tips on lots of Fresher-related topics, including:

  • Packing;
  • Relationships;
  • Organisation;
  • Money;
  • Homesickness;
  • Getting to know others;
  • and more.

Fresher Success has 34 pages of goodness, split into three main sections:

  1. Tips for before you start university;
  2. Tips for when you start university;
  3. More than 90 tips from past Freshers who have been through it all before.

I’m giving this ebook away for free.  Feel free to pass it on to others who may find it useful.  And let me know what you think in the comments!

Fresher Success

Fresher Success [PDF file: 1.6Mb]

To save the ebook, right-click and choose to ‘save link as…’

I wish you all good luck for the future.  You’re gonna love it!

Don’t let Clearing fill you with dread

Yesterday’s A-Level results mean that most people know whether or not they have their place at university.  For those who do, there’s about a month or so before it’s time to hit campus and feel the reality of a whole new adventure.  For those who want/need to go through clearing, I wish you a successful search.

On the subject of clearing, you may have heard that lots of universities are full and that there are roughly six people chasing every available place in clearing.  But that isn’t a reason to give up.

photo by Perfidiousgoddess

photo by Perfidiousgoddess

If you really want to go to university, don’t let the doom and gloom mongers put you off.  And keep planning ahead for all eventualities.

Here are some thoughts:

  • Were you set on your main choice and don’t want to even consider your insurance? – When you’ve built up a relationship with a particular uni, it’s difficult to imagine anywhere else is worth bothering with.  Even your insurance choice.  But the whole point of an insurance place is to go somewhere that should work out fine for you.  If you picked an insurance place more randomly than that and don’t know enough about it, do some research into the uni and course to seriously consider the suitability.  Comparing anything to the uni you’ve been thinking about for months is always going to end up negatively.  So put your original university choice to one side and look at the new place on its own merits.
  • Do you have no insurance place, but still have an intense desire to be at uni this year? – It’s not the end of the world.  You’ll have to spend more time ringing around and looking into different unis, but it’s worth the effort if you’re set on starting a degree this year.  Don’t be half-hearted about the clearing process and don’t skim on looking into the unis that still have places.  The more legwork you put in now, the more likely you are to enjoy the place and the less likely you are to drop out later.
  • Are you considering a year out? – However much you had your heart set on uni life, there’s nothing wrong with taking a year out.  I did it.  Just make sure you have a purpose, or the year can slip away with nothing coming from it.  Your purpose could be to improve your grades to make sure you get to the uni you want next year.  You may decide to get some work under your belt to help pay for uni life (so you’re not under so much pressure to get a part-time job when you’re actually studying!).  Perhaps you had a particular course in mind for your future career…in which case, you could start getting involved in work surrounding your chosen career.  From blogging about it to volunteering somewhere, there are lots of things you can do to help make you stand out when it comes to a place at uni next year.  And with some experience in your field, you’ll be better placed to tell if that career is for you and you’ll also look more tempting to future employers.  Who knows, you may even find a way of being sponsored so you don’t need to worry about those expensive student loans!  It’s all to play for, so look at a year out in a positive light and come back with even more energy for next year.
  • What about an alternative to university? – While I’m all for uni life and the opportunities it brings, I know that opinions can dramatically change if you haven’t been given a guaranteed place on the course you applied for.  If you’re having second thoughts about uni, or if you don’t want to bother if it means waiting another year, there are other options out there.  I recently mentioned the site notgoingtouni.com, which was set up by a 19 year old, Tom Mursell, who wanted to explore the many other choices out there.  University isn’t for everyone.  So for a lowdown on what’s available to you and how you can get the most from your current position, notgoingtouni is a pretty good place to start.  They even have a dedicated exam results survival page.

For more thoughts on life after A-Levels, the BBC have also put together some good advice.

However things go for you, be as positive as you can.  What seems like the most crucial and limited point in your life is actually a huge opening.  There’s scope to do so much, whether you get a place at uni this year, next year, or not at all.

My main piece of advice for all those who haven’t got their place yet is this:

Don’t make your main focus finding a degree course…focus on you and your personal future.

Life is all about YOU.  It may currently involve trying to find a course, yes, but it’s not the end of the world if you don’t.  Your future isn’t determined by a university, or a particular course, or taking a year out, or exam results, or anything in isolation.  Anything you consider a failure is actually a step closer to finding success.  Don’t forget that and don’t let anyone else tell you otherwise.

Never Underestimate Time

We’re notoriously bad at ‘doing time’. Memory plays tricks on us.  We remember several years ago like it was yesterday. Yet it’s hard to remember what dinner was four days ago. The last time you saw a good friend felt like months ago, but it was less than two weeks back according to your diary.  Then, when you meet up again, it’s like you’d hardly been apart!

Yes, time is weird.

photo by TW Collins

photo by TW Collins

How much time do you think is available?

Whatever the event, whatever the deadline, it’ll feel like a long way away at first. Say you’ve got a month to complete some coursework. You don’t think it’s worth starting so soon. Anyway, it shouldn’t take more than a few hours of your time.

But it’s bound to take longer than you imagine.  Maybe a few extra hours tidying up and formatting, maybe a couple of extra days researching.  The deadline of one month slips away without you realising and it’s hard to recover without a solid plan of action.  What seemed like long into the future is now a race against time.

Don’t underestimate how long you’ve got. Life has a tendency to get overcrowded. A lack of clear goals will only make matters worse.  Get timetabling, Get organised, and start early.

Time shifts.  When is your time?

The 24 hours in each day are not equal in terms of your productivity. For a start, you probably sleep between 5 and 10 hours of every 24.

What about the remaining hours?  Well, it’s a simple goal, but crucial…find the right time of day for you.

It might sound like common sense, but another thing we’re bad at is listening to our bodies. If you’re a night owl, your body will hold you back if you try making an early morning start on your work. So try to get the work done in the evening. While you may prefer to have fun at the times you’re most awake, you must devote some of your most alert moments on work too. Having fun doesn’t usually need as much brainpower as hard work and research.  Depends on what the ‘having fun’ involves!

Got a lot of time on your hands? Is that actually a good thing?

Having too much time is just as bad as not having enough.  The combination of too much time on your hands and a low willpower (which can often go together) leads to a damp squib.

Fill some of that time up.  Do some volunteering in your field, join a society, make some cash with a part-time job, do something you’re interested in.

Don’t fill the time up with pointless exercises or just act busy.  The secret is having a select number of focused goals and interests.  They don’t have to be full-on passions, so feel free to experiment!  You’ll know when the right thing hits you.

With less free time on your hands and a greater focus, you’ll feel more energised than if you were just bumming around half the time.  The renewed energy should have a knock-on effect with everything else you do.  What have you got to lose?

Why can’t time be simple?

While we’re on Earth, we live through every second of every day of every week of every year.  We use time everywhere.  We look at the time.  We wait for the right time.  We set timers and alarms and reminders.  Yet time controls us.  It just has to be a strange relationship.

Every second counts.  That’s why the better we work with time, the more we get out of it.  Plan your time in advance, know when the time is right, and use the time wisely.

When you do this, you respect time.  And time may well nod in your direction and respect you back.

Hidden costs, heavy debts…at least there may be happy hearts!

In amongst the usual reports of Mickey Mouse degrees (which I’ve covered in the past), student costs and debts are now also in the spotlight.

photo by austinevan

photo by austinevan

One survey, for the NUS, has revealed that some degree courses involve massive hidden costs.

Maths and Computer Science students have been found to spend the most ‘hidden’ money.  They spend, on average, £1,430 a year on books, trips, equipment, extra coursework/exam fees and so on.  Least hit are those studying a degree in Education, whose average yearly spend is said to be £432.48.

It’s no surprise that some outlay is needed to buy books and fund the odd trip, but would prospective students realise just how much money was involved in order to earmark for study-related purchases?

There is no way students can currently tell how much they need to spend on these extras.  This doesn’t help when many students are only just getting to grips with financial planning and may not have enough funds to cover the cost of these necessary purchases.

Better mechanism needs to be in place to ensure students are aware of various costs, so they don’t receive surprises further down the line.

Worse still, the NUS survey also found that, as students became more strapped for cash as time went on, half of all final year students needed paid employment or a different source of loans in order to cope.  All this at a time when study is so crucial, not just at that moment, but also for the future.  If a student cannot put their full attention to their degree, how can they get the most from it?  And how upsetting must that be when it’s costing a great deal to them in the first place?

Talking of this massive cost, another survey has revealed that student debts are rising fast.  So fast, that the average rise is over 10% higher on last year, with students reaching an average £6,626 debt during the year.

The Push Debt Survey found that by the end of a degree, the average student would have a debt of around £23,500.

This morning, Radio 4’s Today programme spoke to Nick Barr from LSE (who helped design the student loans system), and NUS President, Wes Streeting, to discuss the debt report.

Barr compared credit card debt with student loan debt, arguing that “£23,000 of credit card debt would give parents sleepless nights.  This shouldn’t.”

Streeting went on to say that in the forthcoming tuition fees review:

“[Barr] and others may well be arguing for a higher rate of interest for some or all students on their student loans.  There is a push at the moment…for commercial rates of interest or real rates of interest on student loans and I’m glad he fully supports the current system at present.”

Barr brushed aside this comment, saying that nobody in their right mind would suggest credit card levels of interest.

Two things on my mind:

  1. Commercial/real rates of interest may not be as scary as credit card rates, but they’re a scary enough prospect.  With the tuition fees review, they have the potential to be as scary as personal loan interest rates.  And if rates do increase to reflect something higher than inflation, I imagine the loans may start to be taken into account as a true source of debt.  At least in the current system, student debts are generally kept to one side.  If this changes, loan applications such as taking out a mortgage could become even more difficult for new graduates.
  2. Massive student debts may or may not give parents sleepless nights.  But isn’t this about the people who actually HAVE the debt!?

Nick Barr later said on Radio 5 Live, “this debate about student debt is very largely a red herring.”

I totally disagree.  Yes, people still go to uni. Yes, applications are still rife. Yes, National Student Survey results are mainly positive. But…

No, that doesn’t mean fees are way forward.  Especially if the fees could soon increase.

If the cap on student fees is raised or, worse, completely removed, it will cause more debt woes.  Let’s get behind a different method of funding Higher Education!

—

After this bad news, there is a bit of light relief.  I laughed at the news that one in five students will find love after meeting someone at university.  Aww, bless!

I met the love of my life in a year out before uni.  But you know what?  Most of my year out was spent hanging around…a university.  And I took a liking to one of the students there.  So, in a way, I still found love after meeting someone at university.  It just wasn’t at the uni I attended!