July 25, 2015, by Olivia
UoN and I
It was early 2011 when I began deciding on the universities I should attend. To some of you this may seem a little early considering I only started university in the September of 2012, however the universities I was interested in were actually of the Australian kind with a start date of February 2012. It is a long story as to how got here especially since I already had a conditional offer from one of their universities.
However as I was anticipating to attend an Australian university, I did the Australian equivalent of A-levels. Therefore applying to UK universities through UCAS was no easy feat. Not only did most universities want a really high score for my A-level equivalent, some universities wouldn’t even accept my qualification entirely.
On the bright side, I had already had my final results it wasn’t too difficult to pick universities; I would look at rankings, course content, overall student satisfaction and entry qualifications. It was a simple enough process; if I met the requirements I would apply and if I did not, I would move on. So I went along with this strategy until I had come to 4 out of 5 of my choices.
I had a little trouble filling in the last spot, not because I couldn’t find a university I liked but because I was torn when my results had missed their entry requirements by less than 2%. This university was Nottingham. Being an international student I wanted my UCAS application to give me my best shot at going to university, so although I loved UoN I did not want to apply as I thought I did not have a chance.
Despite that, at the suggestion of my parents and advisors I went against my initial thoughts and I applied to UoN anyway because deep down I really wanted to go to Nottingham but I just couldn’t admit it out loud and get my hopes up. So I sat with my fingers crossed and waited..
A few agonising weeks later, I received an email from UCAS and this happened:
Not only was UoN the first to respond to my application, they did so with an unconditional offer. As you can imagine I was overjoyed and I was so excited that I could only wait another month for my other replies before I withdrew my application from 3 other universities and put down Nottingham as my first choice.
There is a lesson to be learnt here: Don’t doubt yourself, if you aren’t sure if your results will be accepted always email the course department to check, do not assume they won’t take you!
Although it took me a long way to get here (and almost not get here at all), I still think that it was and still is one of the best decisions I have ever made. If my parents had not made me take that leap of faith to apply who knows of the many friends I would have missed out on meeting, the great memories I have made and even this job where I blog about my life at the university I almost did not attend! It is crazy how multiple decisions lead me to one of the most important and memorable parts of my life.
You know, it seems like fate and there’s no other way to put it than to say that UoN and I, it was definitely #MeantToBe.
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