 Some students might think, with the news that exams are being cancelled that summer is here now. Should you put your feet up?
Absolutely not, amigo. This is the most important time to keep a regular routine, as things might kick back into action in the coming months. Don't treat this as your summer holiday (and you can't anyway due to the lack of collective gatherings allowed like cinemas, concerts, festivals and pubs). Here's our 5 top tips for keeping yourself productive...
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 We can't imagine what you're going through right now, with news of your exams being called off this summer, but we can try and understand. Our presenter team have all been through the stresses of school, sixth form and college and have tried to place ourselves in this situation, and think of the questions we'd most want answered
 By now, you're probably hearing from most – if not all – of the unis you applied to. If not, don’t worry, they're supposed to let you know by 31st March, but if you if you just can’t wait until then, it won't hurt to give them a call. You have to make sure you've responded by the 5th May if you have heard back from them all by the end of March so keep that in mind.
Now while we’re sure that you made an effort to go and see all 5 of your choices before applying, we also understand that sometimes life and viruses can get in the way and you might not have had time to go and see them all (err... or any of them). We understand, these things happen.  Location, location, location
Now is as good a time as any to start contemplating the path you are going to take come September 2020. Assuming you have already taken some time to weigh up your options and decided on uni, we hate to be the bearer of bad news, but that’s the easy bit over. If you, like many others, are considering university it can be a pretty daunting task figuring out which uni to go to. A good way to start is figuring out your preferred location and what better time to start doing so if we're all self isolating. Although probably hold off on going to see the place for a few weeks...  The ball is finally in your court
This month you’ll probably be getting some offers from universities. You may have some already. It can be exciting — like getting several Valentine cards all at once. It can also be unnerving: frantically hitting refresh on the UCAS website for hours on end and feeling like the only Valentine you’ll get might be from your mum. It doesn’t have to be stressful. If you haven’t heard back yet, from your uni OR your valentine then calm down. Unis are supposed to let you know by March 31st, though they may take a little bit longer in some cases. Delay is not necessarily a bad sign. Especially with the response to your valentine message you sent on Friday. You don’t have to tell UCAS what you want to do until May 5th, so if you've got offers, don’t rush.  What course is the course for you?
You go to uni to do a degree. But which one? There’s over 17,000 different subjects you can study and more than 70,000 individual courses. You can start with what you want to do as a career. To be a doctor, you have to study medicine, for instance — which most people would agree is better than having people doing surgery just because they studied needlework.  The UCAS deadline has now passed. Hopefully you can breathe a sigh of relief, knowing yours was submitted ages ago. If that's the case, here are the four possible responses you could be receiving in the next few months:
 You may have nearly a year until your uni application deadline for 2021, but if you're clever (and we’re sure you are), you’ll want to be as on-the-ball as Cinderella’s godmother and get your application right at the front of the queue.
That means getting it submitted by around half term in the Autumn.  If you've decided you want to go to uni, then we're going to go ahead and assume you're feeling pretty smug and have already submitted your application. If you haven't, then you've got till the January 15th deadline and, don’t forget, your school has to add a reference too before you application is complete and they’ll need at leat a few days for that.
So between now and then, stop dreaming of a White Christmas and dream instead about where your chosen degree might take you. Your application is how you make it happen. Check out the careers prospects from the course (they should be on the uni's website).  You've probably started thinking about your options after school already, even if by mistake, but soon your teachers are going to start pushing you for a plan. So when the family's getting on your wick over Christmas, what better excuse is there for finding some time, than that you want to get ahead of the game?
 If your plan for next year is university then you’re already submitted your application, right? If not, then get a move on. The UCAS deadline (January 15th) may be the official cut-off, but a lot of places will have been filled already. We know how fab you are, but that doesn’t mean the unis are holding a space specially for you. Get your application in before the end of this month.
 Your mates in the year above might be able to breathe a sigh of relief having submitted their final UCAS applications, and rightly so. But for you, the process is quickly becoming a reality. So now is as good a time to get your options after school ready.
 Been there. Done that. Every student can say this when it comes to meeting assignment deadlines that just come up too fast.
Maybe you have procrastinated a bit too much; maybe you have spent too much time working that part-time job or partying; maybe you are just that dis-organized person who is not a master of calendaring. All of a sudden it hits you. You’ve got a deadline for an essay, a paper, a project – whatever – and you are now facing the prospect of either getting it done or taking that poor/failing score.  So, you're settled into the swing of sixth form. In the not so distant future is Christmas and your next proper break. Sadly, that’s not all the future holds: the future’s creeping up on you like a scary clown. The difference is your future's not a goofy fourteen-year-old in Joker face paint.
No your future is very real but it doesn't have to be scary. As long as you start to think about exactly what it is YOU WANT from your future, you can start planning now on how you can achieve that.  The deadline for applications to Oxbridge, medicine, dentistry and veterinary science courses is October 15th, so, get a shift on if you’ve not got your application in already! If Oxbridge isn’t your bag you can check other upcoming deadlines or application requirements click here to click here to go to the UCAS website.
 If you’re thinking of going to uni in September 2020 and you haven’t thought about which unis you're going to apply to yet, you’d better level up and get a move on.
You’ve got until mid-January to complete your application for most courses, but Oxbridge, medicine and veterinary courses have deadlines that are less than a month away (October 15th). Even if you’re not planning on applying for those courses, all unis have already started accepting applications. Leaving it until the January deadline is like joining a long queue for a small cake.  We know that making real-life decisions and the whole UCAS commotion is basically a year away, but before you know it these choices will be getting all up in your face and demanding attention.
Then there's all the exams, revision, coursework, birthdays/bar mitzvahs/weddings and the highly repostable memes... so it's never too soon to get focused. Besides, what's sixth form all about anyway? If you can work out where it's heading, it gives the next two years more purpose, more focus — maybe even more fun and success. What we're saying is that, however early it seems, now's a great time to be thinking about two of the big questions; what do you want to do and where do you want to do it?  Procrastination can be a serious productivity killer. It can get you into all sorts of deadline troubles, leading to frantic keyboard tapping and energy drink fuelled all-nighters.
It’s not just you – besides the most diligent and proactive of us, we’re pretty much all in this together. Picture the High School Musical number, except none of us want to dance right now. Maybe later. So when the Independent reported on a uni student who blitzed through her dissertation project in a single night, mere hours before her deadline, we can’t say we weren’t a bit awe-struck. And incredibly stressed on her behalf. But still. Impressive.  You’ve done it. You made it through two years of intensive studies, coursework, endless revision, and one hell of an exam period. Go you!
This week, it’s finally time to reap the rewards. If everything goes to plan, you’ll wind up with the grades you were hoping for and everything will be hunky dory. Party time. On with the plan, whether that be heading to uni, taking an apprenticeship, heading out on a gap year or going into work.  So the weather might not still be living up to the full promise of Summer, but the freedom must still be tasting sweet.
We’re not suggesting you bog yourself down worrying about the waning August days and the darkening evenings, but it’s a good idea to start getting serious about what year 13 holds for you. It might still seem far off, but if you’re planning on going to uni in 2020, things are going to start moving at light speed. We’re talking open days and summer schools, personal statements, UCAS applications, student finance, interviews, offers, accommodation…  This third and final part starts with the end: my concluding message to young people: listen to others openly and impartially about their varying experiences after school - of higher education routes and non-higher education routes. Understand you have a choice, more than you realise, and that all anyone else can do is offer you advice and never tell you which choice is 'best', because best is something only you can decide...because no one is inside your own head and feels the way you feel when placed in different environments with different people doing different activities (place and people will affect your choices more than you know).
 So, you want to go to uni next year? Great, exams are out of the way and there’s nothing more you can do on that front.
And sure, you should be out enjoying your last summer of pure, unadulterated freedom. But now you’ve got a prime opportunity to give yourself a head-start by prepping for the year ahead. Maybe think about thinking about creating a budget. It doesn’t matter if you have no idea what you’re doing. It doesn’t matter if you’d rather have your teeth pulled than check your bank statement. The important thing is to know where you stand so that you can plan ahead. And that means no nasty surprises, you savvy, forward-thinker, you.  Wherever you are, school’s pretty much out for Summer now. You might have another week or so, but no one really does anything with that time anyway. You’re on the home stretch.
So, how are you going to max out your time off? First thing’s first: relax. Yeah, you heard us. You won’t get many more opportunities in life to bliss out quite like this. Sure, there are some big decisions looming, and maybe some important exams in the not so distant future, but that’s tomorrow’s problem. Today’s for chilling. Tomorrow though… it might be a good time to start looking for some part-time work to keep yourself busy.  Here at Push, we’re real advocates for mental health awareness and support. Just check out our website for bundles of content on everything from looking after yourself at uni to understanding the science behind mental wellness, and the benefits of taking the reins and knowing what you want from life.
We’re even here to help when it comes to what you should look for at uni, college, or work in terms of inclusive environments and mental health support. Might sound like we’re banging on a bit, but this stuff really does matter.  I was always passionate about scuba diving and even considered joining the Royal Navy (my dad and granddad used to do a lot of UK scallop diving in Dorset), but this idea was talked down quickly in my school not by words, but through a lack of them: if I mentioned them, no one really knew how to respond to it so just politely smiled and nodded. It was the same when I had the idea of applying to drama school. I ended up choosing from a choice that wasn't mine: filling out my UCAS form and narrowing the choices down to Nottingham University and Queen Mary University of London. I at least chose London because of the wider pull of the city.
More on that in part 3. Coming up next month.. |
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