Destination Education
00:12:11 · Barbara Lestak, Ruth Benny
[00:12:11] S1: Yeah, yeah, really good question. So I always recommend, and I'm not affiliated to them in any way, I always recommend Times Higher Education. Why do I do that? Because yes, they are linked to the Times as in the newspaper, but actually they are an entirely independent source and they I think actually provide the most rounded amount of information. So they do look at the student happiness level, the individual departments and what they're doing, what their research funding looks like, what the universities are doing for postgrad and undergrad. And I think that's kind of one of the best places to go to. A lot of the newspapers, so Guardian for example will also do one. [00:12:58] S0: Right. And do they break it? Does the Times Higher Education, do they break it down by course within university? Is each course ranked within the university which is ranked as a whole like you mentioned?
00:12:58 · Ruth Benny, Barbara Lestak
[00:12:58] S0: Right. And do they break it? Does the Times Higher Education, do they break it down by course within university? Is each course ranked within the university which is ranked as a whole like you mentioned? [00:13:09] S1: Yes, think they do from my memory. I know it changes each time a little bit every year. But last time I looked, you know, I can have a good look at the department. I can have a good look at student testimonials from all their different subject areas and you know I can have a look at key changes or elements that they've done. They won't go sort of into the very nitty gritty of for example who's teaching there and what are they teaching and what's their level of teaching because they're not an offstead body, they can look at all of the other components. So for definite, I would go there first and take a look. The other element as well, which I know a lot of schools and students use is UniFrog. So UniFrog [00:13:53] S0: is a [00:13:54] S1: great source. It's a fantastic platform. And also I think you get to speak to students there as well. So you can quiz them. There's lots of kind of different like components that you can utilise. So if your school has a UniFrog account, I'd certainly use that as well.
00:13:54 · Barbara Lestak, Ruth Benny
[00:13:54] S1: great source. It's a fantastic platform. And also I think you get to speak to students there as well. So you can quiz them. There's lots of kind of different like components that you can utilise. So if your school has a UniFrog account, I'd certainly use that as well. [00:14:09] S0: Yeah, I think for certain, if your child is attending boarding school in The UK with a view to using that as a stepping stone to UK university, almost certainly they will have UniFrog, which is a subscription service that the students have access to that the school will provide. And maybe that's a good segue into, you know, how much support do students genuinely get in school? As opposed to, and I know that you offer, you know, guidance over and above what they get in school. Therefore I guess the question is, why is that necessary?
00:14:47 · Barbara Lestak, Ruth Benny
[00:14:47] S1: Yeah, good question. So the level of support that students receive from their individual schools really does vary. And it doesn't, it's sort of almost irrelevant whether it's grammar school, an independent school or a state school, at least here in The UK. With international students, I know that does vary, that variation can be a little bit more kind of wider on the scale. But it also depends on, you know, the funding that the school has and the facilities and the faculty that are there at the time that you're applying. So I think you're a very lucky student if you have an Oxbridge graduate, for example, who's teaching in your school that you can utilise. Majority of schools will help with basic university decision making and with basic personal statement support. Beyond that, there are schools that will bring external providers and also consider sort of, okay, great, I have an Oxbridge graduate teacher, but that teacher may have applied and read history at Oxford, but you want to apply to computer science in Cambridge. It's a very different sort of process. [00:16:00] S0: And it may [00:16:01] S1: have been [00:16:01] S0: twenty years ago as well. [00:16:04] S1: Yeah, exactly. And it was twenty years ago and you very quickly, unfortunately forget these things once you kind of go into your career ladder and graduate and you leave the education system. So, you you're teaching that you do forget what it was like. I forget what it was like. So it's very difficult. It's too painful, [00:16:25] S0: need to forget.
00:16:25 · Ruth Benny, Barbara Lestak
[00:16:25] S0: need to forget. [00:16:27] S1: I still have dreams that I've forgotten like my final essay submission and I've flunked a module. I still have dreams. Nightmares, let's call. And in addition to that, that teaches additional time. So they might not, they might physically not have the time to do that if they have additional responsibilities in and around the school. So bringing in external support and finding that external support is and can be an absolute game changer in your application process, especially if you are applying to those uber competitive universities and uber competitive courses. The importance here is to get the edge. You know, for students who are going to apply for higher academia, if you imagine you're probably the top of your class right now. You know, you're acing everything or expected to ace a lot of things, which is fantastic, but you're going to suddenly place yourself, you're big fish in a small pond now, but you're about to become a small fish in a very big pond because you're going to join all the other high achievers all around the world who are vying for that one place that you want as well. So how do you gain that competitive edge? What do you do? And that's kind of where a lot of that external support comes in. [00:17:45] S0: So how do you gain that competitive edge? And I know that I'm sure that's a trite question because of course the answer varies from student to student. Can you just give us a couple of maybe cases that you've done recently?
00:18:00 · Barbara Lestak
[00:18:00] S1: Yeah, absolutely. So competitive edge, what do we mean by that? So what I mean by that and when I work with students is you are academically bright. You should be meeting the minimum requirements of the subjects that you want to apply to. That's not your problem, if that makes sense. So that's not the challenge. The challenge is That's the basics. That's the basics. You've got that, fantastic. We're not gonna worry about that foundation. What we do need to worry about is what are you doing to show your love for that subject? So what you done that's relevant in shadowing or work experience, in reading, in discussions, in finding out or researching even yourself, writing an EPQ or an EPQ based research paper? What have you done that A) kind of tests your love, your passion for that subject and B) expands your learning for it. So as an example, I'll give two examples actually. One I will do as myself. So I studied archaeology and ancient history, so I actually did a dual undergraduate. But it's a very niche subject, right? And you have to know whether or not you will fall in love with that if that is the path that you want to go down. And so what I did is classically I started to watch Time Team. I absolutely fell in love with it. It was my jam every Sunday evening I would watch that. But also I signed up for a Bronze Age archaeological dig and they accepted me. And I went back for two, three years in a row because it was an international project. And I was very, very proud of that. But it also gave me a chance to support in writing a paper on it. So I actually helped in writing some of the papers on it and I translated a book on it. And this is all whilst I'm a student. You know, continuously doing reading and writing, going to lectures and things like that. So the Royal Society, for example, I went to a lot of them. I highly advise students to go to them. They're free in person and online. And it really solidified my love for archaeology and ancient history. And so I knew that, okay, I'm going to love this no matter what. And I could then tie that into my personal statement and my interview and, you know, and everything else that I kind of did. And obviously, you know, that really helped because they could see that was shining through me and my willingness to then learn even more.