The web is full of dodgy types and one that students in particular should avoid are the essay cheats – or, as they’re sometimes called, ‘essay mills’.

The situation they prey on is common enough. An essay is due next week and you’re finding it too hard or you haven’t done the reading or there’s some thing else more important right now – your job, your boy/girlfriend, a different essay or even just a party. For a few quid (in fact, often quite a bit of money), you can make the problem go away. You can buy a ready-written essay, dissertation or even PhD thesis online and pass it off as your own.
​
Of course, the shysters offering this service don’t advertise that they’re there to help you cheat. They describe them as “sample essays” to “inspire” or “inform” your own work. However, they also describe them as “plagiarism-free” (so that, in theory, unis won’t spot it’s not the student’s own work). Why would they say that unless everyone knows the real score?

You know perfectly well this isn’t ethical and you shouldn’t do it. But, if morality isn’t enough to convince you to do the right thing, here are six reasons why you should never cheat. 

​Wherever you are, whether that’s applying for post-18 options or just starting to think about them, we want you to remember that it’s all about what’s right for you.
 
Maybe you like the idea of getting in some more learning on a subject area that interests you, but the academic life really just doesn’t float your boat. No problem, after all, everyone learns in different ways.
 
It’s never too early to start thinking about your future. That may seem like a scary idea, but think of it in baby steps. 

Summer is well underway – we’ve broken into August now. You’ve had a heatwave (or six), you’ve had a long time to relax with the long academic year behind you now. Now’s the time to wipe the Mr. Whippy from your mouth and get yourself back into gear.
 
With not much more than a month left before schools and colleges start up again, you’re running out of time to make the most of your remaining freedom.
 
Take it from us: if you’re thinking of heading to uni, the best investment of your time is  to visit as many as you can in the upcoming weeks. These can be local unis if that’s the area you want to stay in, or they can be further afield. 

Once results are in on Thursday, you have four options — two if you got the grades you wanted, and two if you didn't:
 
If you got the grades you wanted:
 
Thumbs up, round of applause, pat on the back, etc. Your two options are:

Some of you who were in year 12 did exams last term, and this week may well be when you get your results.
 
Okay. Exhale. It will be okay. Push is here to help whether you hit above your weight, hit your target or got hit with a dead haddock on results day 2018.

We speak to hundreds, if not thousands of young people every year who start off thinking  they have nothing exciting to write about themselves. No excitement factor that might make them stand out from the crowd in a CV for a job, or a uni personal statement.
 
How wrong they are.
 
Even if you’re not an Olympic medallist, a young Einstein, or the world-record holder for number of bubbles blown with a tarantula in your mouth, you can paint your years of experience in a way to make sure anyone hearing about them is left wanting more.
 
A great place to start? A part-time job.

​You might have heard in the news lately that lots of people are talking about a thing called “unconditional offers”. In terms of UCAS applications, this means a university you have applied for has read your application and decided they like you enough to offer you a place right away, no matter the grades you get at the end of the year.
 
Beware though, the word “unconditional” might be misleading. 

​In this sense, an unconditional offer might be (ironically) on the condition that you make the university in question your firm choice, essentially ditching all of your other options. If you’re the type to like a sure-bet, who maybe doesn’t perform their best under exam stress and who would really be happier all-round to know they have a guaranteed university place waiting for them, this could be a really great thing.
 
But it is absolutely not the best option for everyone. Listen to us when we say: do not feel pressured into making a university your firm choice. By anyone.

Do you know your bops from your balls? Or your CATS from your CUKAS?

Heading into the world of higher education can be like learning a new language – there's more jargon than you can shake a soc at. ​That's why we've created this handy glossary of all the weird and wonderful terms academics like to use. Let Push be your guide.

You'll need us. Honestly, it's a jungle out there. ​

If your plans don't involve uni visits and UCAS forms, there's still loads to do over the Summer to make yourself more employable.
 
If you don't have any work experience, it can be tough to get your first permanent job. But summer jobs, well, they're easier to get and then, ta-da, you've banked some experience and some cash for later. 

We’re an addicted generation, we know. Where would we be without Scottish Twitter, or Facebook’s Love Island memes? Doesn’t bear thinking about.
 
Even so, social media and the devices we access it through aren’t always good for us. For one, they may be harming the quality of our sleep. The cold, blue light that smartphones, tablets and laptops emit is conducive to keeping the brain engaged and awake, so scrolling for an hour before bed to wind down might not be such a good idea. 

Think you’ve missed the boat if you don’t head straight from college to uni? These days, that can’t be any further from the case. The stereotypical student may be late teens, early 20s, but the world of higher education is opening up more and more to mature students from all ages. 

​While university applications are on the rise (even with the huge rise in tuition fees), you might feel that higher education at a traditional university or college isn't the right experience for you at this stage in your life.
 
Many choose to study a degree later in life, or not at all, and you should never feel less than others just because you aren't choosing to go to university right now.
 
Not everyone should go to university, because no two people are the same. It’s about getting the right fit for you and an employer, so that you can become as desirable as possible for the industry you want to get into. 

If you're heading to uni, in just about two months’ time, you'll be packing up your life to continue it somewhere else for the next three, four or more years.
 
The weeks between getting your results and starting term scoot by and unis start allocating their housing the moment the grades are out. There are four basic housing choices for students – living at home, living in, living out or private halls.

With this year's exams behind you, you'll be pleased to know that uni isn't all about books, lectures and exams. We all know students get up to other stuff, right? And this other stuff is important when it comes to getting the most out of the whole university experience.

Are you heading down the uni highway?
 
Uni applications have now officially opened for 2019 entry. The virtual floodgates were raised on May 22nd, but don’t worry, it always starts with a trickle. The deadline is still a while away. But the dogs are now off the leash, the horses are out of the gates and the, erm, hamsters are out of the hutch.
​
Hopefully, your thoughts about what you might want to study have, like chewing gum on the pavement, been getting firmer.

​We all know there's a variety of ways to get things to stick in your head: texts books, spider diagrams, post-it notes, mind-palaces, reading out loud, singing your revision and even sleeping with your notes under your pillow (note: we have no proof of the last one...).
 
If you have a basic understanding of how memory works you can incorporate this into the way you revise. 

​So, it’s getting to the time of year where everyone’s asking the same, awful question: what are you going to do with your life?
 
Yuck. What a quick way to ruin the annual family barbecue.
 
If you’re panicking about the answer, or really just don’t know what you want, you’re not alone. Just remember that it’s your life, and your choices, so be certain that whatever you decide comes from a well-researched place. This is not the time to make a last minute panic decision, or just go along with whatever everyone else is doing or telling you to do. 

​Studying abroad isn’t for everyone.
 
For one? It ain’t cheap. There are lots of options to help with the cost, but one way or another you’ll have to be saving your pennies in the summer up to your time away. You’ll really regret it if you don’t.
 
It’s also not easy, and requires a lot of dedication. The process is a little smoother if you want to study in Europe, but places like North America and Asia have strict visa regulations, and that almost certainly means making the trek to London to visit an embassy. Not much fun, there. 

​Did you know that all of your senses can be helpful when you revise for exams?
 
Some studies have found that if you always suck on Polos while revising the ins and outs of Biology, or wear the same perfume when thinking about French sentence structure, it can help encode what you're memorising. This is because all our senses are linked and they all make pathways into the process of remembering.

​This, however, should only be used alongside your regular excellent study skills otherwise you'll be sat in your exam popping Polos and praying to a confectionery god. Not a good look for anyone.

If you’re anything like the rest of us, it’s not a stretch to say you’ve probably sat around at some point thinking – what makes me unique? How do I stand out from the crowd? These existential questions particularly rear their ugly heads when you’re faced with a personal statement for college or uni, or a cover letter for a job.
 
And it’s tough. Everyone’s their own biggest critic, but when it comes to singing your own praises, especially as to why you’re a better choice than anyone else, it can feel like an impossible task.
 
Yeah, we know you’re all pretty amazing. But to really stand out from the crowd of other applicants for a job or course, you need to have something else on offer besides the same GCSEs, A-Levels or degree as everyone else you’re up against.

For year 12s

Are you heading down the uni highway?

This month you can officially start applying to uni for 2019 entry. UCAS opens its website for people to register on 22nd May.

Don’t worry, the deadline is still a while away, but the dogs are now off the leash.

Hopefully, your thoughts about what you might want to study have, like chewing gum on the pavement, been getting firmer.

The next question is where to study? Sometimes this isn’t just about where it is in the country, but about what the place is
really like – the atmosphere.

No two unis are the same. The surroundings and building affect how it feels, but so too do the people, the students. Some
unis are posh, some are full of students from the area, some are ethnic melting pots, some are arty, sciency or businessy. Some are none of those things.

​Now that we’ve talked all about how essay mills are out  it would be pretty unfair of us to leave you high and dry when it comes to getting down to the nitty gritty of essay writing.
 
Before we start, have a look at Edinburgh Uni’s PhD student Tim Squirrell’s blog – it’s full of great insider tips on writing a top-class essay. He even has a handy TL;DR version:
 
For the terminally lazy:

1. Find 10-20 relevant books and articles from the reading list and/or Google Scholar searches. Well referenced Wikipedia or Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy articles are your friends for both understanding and writing about a topic (read and cite the references, not the articles themselves. Obviously.).
2. Skim the relevant sections for relevant quotes.
3. Write down those relevant quotes.
4. Have a think, put the argument and essay together.
5. Your essay is done.

For the full version, which is jam-packed with fab first-hand tips, head to Tim’s blog.

​School is no walk in the park. Neither is college, or uni for that matter. Things can be even harder for a lot of us who focus, learn, and engage in different ways. Disorders such as dyslexia, dyspraxia and ADHD are treated far more seriously in the classroom now than they ever have been, but that doesn’t mean that the education system is perfect. Finding things difficult? Not only can you ask your parents, teachers and tutors for extra support, but there are loads of online resources available to you to help you understand your best learning style and how to adapt your studies. 

​Are you a budding musician, singer or songwriter?  Thinking the uni route is the one for you, but you’re not sure how useful an academic course would be in such a hands on, experience-based industry?
 
Well, Manchester Met might have the dream course for you.