Cognitive reframing is a powerful and simple tool that each of us can use in every aspect of our daily lives – whether in education, the workplace, or our personal life. Cognitive reframing simply means changing our thoughts so that we are able to look at a situation in a slightly different way. Doing this, we’re able to make negative things become positive and gain more control over our lives. 

The Roman philosopher Cicero wrote about reframing over two thousand years ago, using a metaphor of an archer. 
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“One’s ultimate aim is to do all in one’s power to shoot straight, and the same applies with our ultimate goal. In this kind of example, it is to shoot straight that one must do all one can; none the less, it is to do all one can to accomplish the task that is really the ultimate aim. It is just the same with what we call the supreme good in life. To actually hit the target is, as we say, to be selected but not sought.”
[Cicero, De Finibus 3.6]

Have you ever wanted to be a bat? 

We’re not talking batman here – I have no advice about how to deliver vigilante justice. No, we’re talking about proper bats – cute little things with wings that scream until they find food. 
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Whilst I also scream until I get fed, I don’t find myself thinking about bats all that often. And when I do, I don’t think I have too much in common with them. 

It seems like I was wrong. Humans and bats have more in common than I suspected. 

It’s June, which is a horrifying thought – the longest day of the year is less than a week away! But other than existential angst, June also means that Universities are opening for applications. And they want applications. Your application. 
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There’s over 150 Higher Education Institutes in the UK and they offer around 100,000 courses. The choice is absolutely staggering and it’s very easy to get overwhelmed when choosing a uni. 

The resources that exist to help you choose are often just as bad – league tables with dozens of categories; you might in interested in knowing a university’s research quality but what does a research quality of 3.34 mean? 

Inspirational posters. 

You know the type I mean; an ultra-high definition picture of some mist-wreathed mountain peaks, or suspiciously attractive people laughing on a golden beach that’s just out of focus. The text is overlaid in a nice soft font; something like “Happiness comes from within.” 

It’s easy to look at such a poster, dismiss it as cliched nonsense, and go about your day. 

But often there’s some truth in these bland sayings. 
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Happiness, or better - satisfaction and contentment - does come from within, and we’re in danger of forgetting that. 

The 18th May is when you’re able to register and start your application to begin your undergraduate degree in 2022 ready to submit it from September 2021.

Now while the actual date you’d be starting seems like a lifetime away - If you could call 16 months a lifetime (and a quick internet search tells me that only some rodents can). It is never too early to start taking a look at two things.

​What you want to study and where you want to study it.

The two things are equally as important in your decision-making process so let’s take a look at each and what kind of questions you should be asking yourself as you begin to put together your UCAS application for next year.

The purpose of this article is to try and present learning in a new light – to show that learning can be a powerful and enjoyable tool for life. I’m not talking about any specific area of learning – this isn’t an argument that you should become an expert on the mating cycles of sea-slugs. 

​This may well seem like a strange concept – you might ask “why on earth would I want to love learning?” Learning is, after all, school and university, endless classes, exams and stress.  Isn’t it? 

No. 

Schools are once again open. Dust is being scraped from desks, mice are finding themselves evicted from projectors and teachers are trying to remember how to write. 

You’re going back to school, after maybe a year of learning from home (or in bubbles), separated from your teacher and your friends by a screen and the whims of the Wi-Fi. So, how on earth are you expected to concentrate? 
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You’re not alone if it appears overwhelming. A key point to remember is that everyone is in the same situation as you. Even your teachers will be a little stunned by so much human contact. 

University is not the right route for everyone. Push knows that, you know that.

Luckily the rest of the country is beginning to know that too and that is expanding the other options that you have available. With that, apprenticeships are getting more attention and variety.

University admissions are something that the majority of us would agree should be a straightforward and fair process but it isn’t always clear (and is a topic up for debate) on how fair that process is currently.
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What should be considered in a university application? Well the most obvious is the grades of the applicant, a clear indication of academic ability, but is that all admissions should be judged on? After all, everyone has their own barriers to face in life. At Push we love talking about building resilience from your setbacks and using these as a positive element to your self development. The argument is that these barriers are something that should be considered by universities during admissions. 

A report by the Nuffield foundation found that, selective universities are increasingly taking into account  socioeconomic and educational contexts in which applicants achieved their grades but Vikki Boliver of Durham university argues that universities must be even bolder in their admissions process to ensure that students from disadvantaged and under-represented backgrounds are able to access higher education.

Hopefully the past month has given you a bit more clarity as to how your school/ college is assessing grades. You may have been getting more essays or homework set, maybe a new set of mocks have been announced or are even happening now. Either way, it’s safe to say that it’s best to complete each piece of work to the best of your ability. In this blog I’ll be talking about some tips and tricks you can use to keep working through a school of twenty back-crunching zoom calls whilst trying to prep for upcoming exams.

So, firstly for general revision and keeping focus: we have to remember that this doesn’t last forever. A-levels/ BTECs/ GCSEs will end, and so will all this work you're doing… I promise! Yes, we don’t know when or how we’re getting assessed exactly, but when school finishes in 5 or so months this will all be over and a new chapter awaits. The likelihood is these academic grades will be finally determined around May/June time, so summer and sunshine is only a few more months away!