going to university post-pandemic

The deadlines have passed for your decisions on your university offers so I hope you managed to get your research sorted and were confident and comfortable in your final decision.
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Of course, this particular year, the decision was even bigger than usual. The pandemic has meant that we aren’t completely sure what form university will take in September and so it may feel like there’s a bigger risk of committing to an undergraduate degree.

It’s expected that in September universities will offer a blended approach with some in-person learning and some online. Cambridge have already said that they expect all lectures to be held online for the entire year with Manchester, Reading and Queen’s Belfast are expected to have online lectures for the Autumn term with decisions on later learning to be decided at the time.

If you have indeed accepted a place at a university to start in September, first of all, congratulations! but secondly do make sure you’re keeping up to date with the updates that the university are posting on their official channels regarding their plans for teaching in the academic year.​

Despite the fact that some teaching is expected to be online, the government is still expecting students to pay their full tuition fees for their studies. Something which, as you can imagine, has been met with frustration from a number of students.

One thing to consider carefully, if you have accepted a place at University, is your accommodation situation.

Make sure you’re asking questions about your contract before signing. Things that wouldn’t usually be an issue under normal circumstances will have to be thought about. If you’re planning on living in Halls, ask your university about what happens if there’s further complications to your learning due to the pandemic. Are you entitled to any money back if you don’t have to be at University for a term or if your learning is mostly online? See how these kind of things are going to be dealt with going forward. You don’t want to sign away a lot of money to only realise you’re hardly going to be there.

Push has a lot of tips on going to university and the things that may come up in a normal year but make sure you’re thinking of all the unusual pandemic related questions as well. Some of which, you might not be able to get an answer to right now, but over the summer make sure you’re keeping in touch and up to date with the policies that the government outlines as well as the ways that your chosen university are reacting to the pandemic and how it’s going to affect you starting university in September.

Going to university is an exciting and quite scary time in normal circumstances so make sure you’re asking the questions you need to know, now that you’ve decided on where it is you’re going to end up, but don’t be put off by the situation. University is a place to grow, improve yourself and have fun and that won't be changing anytime soon.

Preparation is key here so just think what’s important to you and find out how these things are going to be affected come September.

Have a look at our video from our friend Deb Somerset about online apps to keep us calm during this strange time.

If you want more advice and tips on living in the Covid age have a look at our daily minute motivations here that are uploaded to our Instagram account and subscribe to our youtube channel advice videos, and our monthly newsletter.

Author

ARON TENNANT is the Talks and Editorial manager and designated GDPR Data Controller for Push. He is originally from South Yorkshire and has a BA in English Language and Literature from the University of Sheffield. He also has a MA degree in Creative Play and Screenwriting from City, University of London and came runner up in Nickelodeon's international screenwriting competition in 2018 and his short film ''Donkey Tooth'  was screened at the London Raindance Film Festival in 2018. He is IMDB credited and alongside Push he does screenplay work for independent production companies and is working on his own independent film and theatre projects and writes articles for JumpcutOnline.com.