Destination Education
00:03:35 · Barbara Lestak, Ruth Benny
[00:03:35] S1: No, I think it's actually a very good thing because A) we have a limited number of spaces within UK universities. What we don't want to do is sort of muddy the system almost and over complicate it. It also can, you know, too much choice can drown a student. So they, it does help them in their research in deciding about what course and what module, you know, what course and what sort of module systems are best for them and the type of teaching as well. So really five universities tend to sort of do it. I know that in The US, you know, you apply to each university individually. Sure, that's The US system. But if you imagine that student has to go through that process every single time. Here you do one application, you pick five. If of course you decide that you want to do something else or you were slightly wrong, there is a clearing system. There are other ways of going into perhaps a different university choice. If you were like, oh gosh, I made the wrong choice, what have I done? So there are ways out of it, but I think it really does help the students define exactly what they want to do. Cause it's a life changing decision. [00:04:45] S0: Okay. Okay. So you said that it opens relatively soon. I'm very familiar with the closing dates, but when does it actually open? [00:04:54] S1: Let me, I can't remember off the top of my head. [00:04:57] S0: Oh, don't worry, don't worry. But in reality, like in practice, the students are [00:05:03] S1: in
00:05:03 · Barbara Lestak, Ruth Benny
[00:05:03] S1: in [00:05:03] S0: their, and they're entering the upper sixth year or their last year of school, they're going to get quite busy with these applications quite quickly, aren't they? In the September, October?
00:05:15 · Barbara Lestak
[00:05:15] S1: Correct. Yes, absolutely. They will. And they need to really, really prepare. So if you imagine these students come in, they have their summer break, they come back to school in early September, some of them a little bit earlier, and they literally have a month to do their personal statement, to also get on top of their final year curriculum, which is even harder than the previous year, know, to take stock of all of that, get used to going back to school and making a life changing decision and writing the personal statement. So there's a lot to do, which is why we always highly recommend that your run up is at least before the summer holidays, particularly if you're just writing personal statement and you're just making your five choices. A lot of the universities do their open days at the beginning of the summer, so between sort of June and July time. Go to them if you can, they do have virtual ones. That should really be the beginning of the end of your decision making process, if that makes sense. You should have already looked at prospectuses before then and going to these open days virtual or in person is the sort of, is your final decision making. So, you're not going to go to twenty open days, but you'll probably go to three or four of the universities that you really like the look and sound of. And that should really just solidify your decision. Do you think that open days are really, I'm sure they're useful, also in
00:06:51 · Ruth Benny
[00:06:51] S0: my experience in my sort of circles, the courses speak for themselves. The brand names of the university speak for themselves. Peer pressure is the most important factor in a teenager's life in my experience. I mean, do think that, do the majority of students go to open days, do you think?
00:07:08 · Barbara Lestak
[00:07:08] S1: I think there is a solid mixture of them. Every time I've been to them, they have been always very, very busy. They are always packed, including sort of the taster seminars and the taster lectures. They are always, you know, full to the brim. So they are well received. My biggest advice to students is look if you can attend them, go to them. I wouldn't suggest going to you know all five of the universities that you've selected but maybe the ones that you're thinking about your last two choices because out of your five you have to make two. Go to them if you can because you get a lot of information from the website, you get a lot of information from the videos and YouTube clips, etcetera, etcetera. But what you don't get is the feel for the place. And don't forget, you have to live and breathe and potentially work depending on your student visa, in that location for three, four plus years of your life. And that's quite a long time. You'll live, breathe, eat, socialize. That's where your bubble will be. And if you go into that city and you think, oh my gosh, you know, I love it or I hate it, it's Marmite, at least you have had that experience. Yes, it's a little bit artificial because it's an open day and there's a lot of energy and feeling, but you walk around the city centre, you can go into the student accommodation, you can see it for real and talk to the students that live there and study there and get a good idea if it's, if it is actually for you.
00:08:37 · Ruth Benny
[00:08:37] S0: Yeah, I agree. It's very sensible advice, but got you to convince your teenager. We've probably just jumped one step ahead because we're talking about visiting the top two to three choices. How before that, how do we actually get to the choice? How do you choose the right university, the right course within that university? Are the ways that, you know, as parents we can guide them?