Throughout the UCAS process I was as indecisive as ever and
thought about doing many subjects. My personal statement wasn’t difficult to
write as I’d done and was doing so many things with my time, the difficult part
was choosing the course. Eventually, I thought of a way to aid my decisions –
order as many university prospectuses as the post man would deliver and go
through them crossing out which courses I DEFINITELY didn’t want to do or my
subject choice wasn’t quite qualified for. I hoped that this way my interests
would come out and I would narrow down the bazillions of choices I had in front
of me.
I visited many universities on open days and made an opinion
about them almost straight away. I had a kind of university snobbery and I only wanted to attend the elite to get my
degree. I wanted people and future
employers to look at me and my CV, raise an eyebrow and be surprised as to
where I graduated from. I finally decided on my course, after a long narrowing
down process and many online quizzes, I decided what my favourite subjects
were and combined them to decide my degree - Economics. I was not at the
time interested in what I considered to be Economics – ie. The 2008 Financial
Crisis that flooded the media, in fact I turned it off or changed the
conversation when Economics was even slightly involved but nevertheless I
continued with my decision.
I also had found the
institutions I wanted to study, two of them were old polytechnic universities
of which I had no intention of going to but I chose them as I was told to ‘pick
some for safety’.
I really, really, really wanted to go to University One, when
I visited I loved the city, the university and the way it was laid out, I loved
how pretty it was and I knew that I would do well there. Unfortunately they
didn’t make me an offer and so I had to become more excited about another
University on my list.
The next was University Two , the day I visited, I
stepped out of the car, turned to my then boyfriend who was next to me and said
‘this is it, I love it’. And I did, I loved it more than University One, I
loved the people, the setting, the countryside, the layout, I loved everything
about the place and University campus and I knew it was the place I wanted to
be for the next 3 years of my life and my degree.
I visited University
Three and loved the course and the academia of it all.
I visited University
Four (one of my safety choices) and discarded it almost instantly as it felt to
me like a sixth form college as opposed to a University.
Finally, I visited
University Five (my other safety choice) and I hated it, as soon as I arrived I
could see why it would appeal to some people but not me, no way. I had to keep
it as a backup though. I visited more times to see if my mind would change but
it just didn’t, I didn’t like the feel of the place, nor the people that I met,
nor the reputation the institution had (cue university snobbery), and I
certainly didn’t like how close it was to home.
When it came to choosing my top two universities ( firm and
insurance choices) I had to ponder over it a lot and I changed my mind many times
(Surprise surprise!). I guess the reputation of the two institutions played a
big part in my decision. I soon decided that I wouldn’t get the grades needed
to attend University One and I changed my choices to having just University Two
as my firm choice. I didn’t want an insurance choice as by this point I thought
‘if I don’t get the grades to go to University Two, I don’t want to go
anywhere’. Also, the only other institutions I had to choose from were ones I
knew from the very pit of my stomach I definitely did not want to attend, just
the thought of going to University Four or Five to read Economics made me feel
nauseous.
The story ends where I had to go through clearing, I am
still studying Economics but I had to reapply to University Five. The thing is
I didn’t intend to study here but I’ve had a wonderful first year, I’ve met
many people and I love my course.
My advice would be to follow your heart, when
you find a course you’re interested in, read around the subject a little find
out what parts of it you’re interested in, seek advice from past students and
don’t be scared to email the university! They’re there to help you! Go to all
of the open days, get a feel for the place and ASK THE STUDENT AMBASSADORS,
they know more than anybody what it’s like to study at their university and
they will be totally and completely honest – they know how hard the decision is
and they don’t care about admissions numbers, they’re just there to add a few
quid to their drinking pot and help everybody out along the way!
I hope reading my journey has helped, leave a comment if you have any questions!
It's student sense.
Love, Miss Indecisive xx
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