August 15, 2012, by Fraser Wilson

A level results: sunshine after the rain

Shane Chard, a second year English and American studies student at The University of Nottingham, relives the highs and lows of his two A level results days. Look out for more from Shane next month in our rebooted student life blog.

Double trouble:

Unlike most students I had two results days: one where I thought the world had ended, and one, which hopefully most of you will experience, of celebration and nervous anticipation for what comes next.

Take one…

The first time around I arrived later than most people at my sixth form and collected up my brown envelope, avoiding eye contact with any teachers who taught me – just in case their faces gave away my impending fate.  A couple of my mates and I wandered off to open our results away from the “Hey, what’d you get”s and the “ahhh well done!”s.

For some reason I ended up going last in opening my results, after all my mates had done theirs and happily got their grades.

Unfortunately it was not to be a clean sweep as I missed one of my grades. So while the majority of my friends were celebrating that night, I was drowning my sorrows. It was highly anticlimactic because it came as a shock and after two years of hard work I took it for granted that I would get in.

But after a couple of weeks of feeling sorry for myself I realised all was not lost and decided to make up my bad grade by doing a whole other A level in one year. The silver lining was I got to travel and save up for hopefully starting university the following year.

Take two…

Fast forward 12 months to my second results day and my nerves are shredded.

I’m awake at an hour I don’t experience very often, grab my laptop and join the results rush hour of eager students attempting to login to UCAS to see if their offers have been confirmed.

An hour later UCAS is still crashing, so I bite the bullet and head into sixth form.

Envelope in hand, I’m experiencing déjà vu and praying for a different outcome, and … I’m happy to say the risk paid off!

After experiencing the down side of missing your grades, I was ecstatic that I got what I needed. And I would not only be going to university, but a university as good as The University of Nottingham.

Time to get excited!

This time I could enjoy researching the 400 societies on offer, the joining of fresher facebook groups and stalking your soon-to-be classmates, and all the excitement that comes with the lead up to higher education.

As I write this a year later with fond fresher memories, I know it was worth the wait.

Further information

If you don’t get the grades you need and are interested in apply to Nottingham through Clearing, visit the University’s Clearing and Adjustment page for more information.

The number for the admissions hotline is +44 (0)115 951 6565. Or, if you’re applying to study Nursing and Midwifery, call +44 (0)115 748 4500.

 

Posted in Before you start