As the deadline for university applications gets closer, a year 13 student writes about what it's like to be applying to university and the experience they have had since starting college. 

When I started year 12 in September of 2023, I didn't think I wanted to go to university and had no idea what career I wanted to do in the future. 

After a few months at college I decided that I might want to go to university, still not knowing for what degree. 

I asked my tutor for some advice, in which she told me to book an appointment with the career counselor so that I can get an idea of what I might want to do. 

This appointment changed everything, she showed me the ucas website for the first time and guided me when choosing what degrees might intrigue me. 

The method she used was asking if any subject within my A levels interested me and then putting them in the UCAS website so that the subject and related degrees would appear, I would then be able to see what caught my eye. 

I went home after that appointment and decided to do more research into it as I was still unsure. 

I spent that whole weekend looking into degrees that interested me, there were so many factors to consider like what universities do the course? What are the entry requirements? Do they have good facilities? Are the modules what I want to learn? 

After finally settling on a degree within media, I started looking into my top five university open days. 


The open days were so inciteful and helped me decide what universities were going on my shortlist and the ones that I decided weren't for me, whether that's because the facilities aren't good enough, the city didn't feel right for me, or the modules didn't sound like something I wanted to do. 

Before I knew it, I was starting year 13 which meant I had to start my application on UCAS. 

Most of it is easy, like selecting the five universities I want to apply to and what course, then putting in my personal information which didn't take long. 

And then there's the personal statement, which I hadn't started and had no idea what I needed to write about. 

I searched online for examples of personal statements to give me an idea of how to lay mine out, this is when I found out that extra curriculars are a big part of a personal statement. 

What have I done that proves I'm interested in this degree? 

I only figured out what degree I wanted to do halfway through year 12, and I had never really participated in extracurricular activities growing up. 

I was so stressed and thought I was never going to be accepted into a university. 

But then I started looking online for people that were in the same position as me and found out that there are still many things I can do such as talk about a book I have read that relates the subject or join a scheme that helps show my interest in the degree I want to do. 

After I finished my statement I sent in the application, now all I can do is wait for offers.