thinking about going uni...

When I was first looking at going to University the hardest thing for me was knowing what course I wanted to do, I knew I wanted to do business but there isn't just one business course the all uni's do there are hundreds there's business economics, business marketing with English  business tourism, business management, American business and the list goes on and on, my number one tip if your college or sixth for offer it is to go to a prospectus day where uni's from across the country come and hand out their prospectus' and will talk to you about their courses but don't be dragged in by the super pretty and bright prospectus' cause believe me they are not the best for you always my original first choice uni was Lincoln which was a simple gloss white booklet with a silver Venus head on nothing fancy, it always made me think that if they needed fancy booklets to sell themselves they probably need the help!

Finally I chose my first (and now current) university based on potential to actually get in due to not having the best grades as well as how close to home it was so it wasn't to close that I didn't have any freedom but near enough it wasn't expensive to get home when I wanted to.

Now don't make the stupid mistake that I made and I think my best friend made before she went off 4 years ago and find a uni and go;

'oh that's not too far away'

or 'oh that's near so and so, so I know someone'

or even 'oh that's only just near Edinburgh'

ALWAYS LOOK AT A MAP because Aberystwyth is no were near the England boarder or Chester where your mums partners parents live and Edinburgh is a long way from Northampton and remember to look at where your actually university is in the place it says because Suffolk uni is actually a far bit away from Suffolk and there is no night-life.

I think the final thing that really made my mind up about my final choice was going to the open days and not just listening to the teachers because at the end of the day they want you to go there but listening to the students who show you around and listening to their experiences and whether they actually enjoyed it and also finding out about class sizes, my uni only has between 15 and 40 students per lectures that are held in smaller more personal environment where your lecturer knows who you are whereas some uni's have lecture theatres full to the brim of 200 odd students and the lecturer doesn't have a clue any of your names this is fine if you like being in big groups but i think its better to be know so that if you need help they know how to and who they are helping!

The final point i would make on the subject is make sure you are 100% sure before you send off your UCAS payment because else its a waste of £22 and you still don't have a clue what you want to do, look at all angles;

• Uni
• Apprenticeships
• Jobs
• Gap years
• Volunteering

they are all good options, which ones best for you?

Laura xo