[EloiseStar]

The website says:

Winning a Scholarship at Aberystwyth University gives you the following benefits:

• Up to £1,200 a year for EVERY YEAR of your studies
• The security of an UNCONDITIONAL offer to study with us
• GUARANTEED accommodation in a University residence for the duration of your course

Students who do not receive a Scholarship, but whose performance in these examinations is deserving of recognition, are offered Merit Awards which comprise: £1,000, payable in your first year of study, together with an Unconditional offer.

But when would we find out that we have passed and have achieved a scholarship? The exams are in early February.

So confused!

[Ddraig Goch]

http://www.aber.ac.uk/en/scholarship...rship-holders/ - Scholarhip holders 2012

http://www.aber.ac.uk/en/scholarship...-holders-2012/ - Merit holders 2012

[The Optimistic Ram]

(Original post by EloiseStar)
-

Did you enter for the Entrance Scholarship exam and take the exams in February?
If you took the exams this February look at the links that Ddraig Goch has supplied in the post above.
The 'winners' of the full scholarships and merit awards are in the tables so look for you name in it.

However you should/would have got a letter in the post addressed to your home address (that you put in the initial application) to say if you have achieved an award. Your school principal would have also had a letter sent to him/her detailing all of the applicants from your school. Winning applicants had to send a letter accepting their award to the university admissions/bursary department. The deadline for accepting an award has now passed.

If you think you have won an award and are unsure of things please email Kylie Evans who is Aberystwyth's academic awards officer, her email address is; kyh@aber.ac.uk

Hope the above helps!

[EloiseStar]

(Original post by The Optimistic Ram)
Did you enter for the Entrance Scholarship exam and take the exams in February?
If you took the exams this February look at the links that Ddraig Goch has supplied in the post above.
The 'winners' of the full scholarships and merit awards are in the tables so look for you name in it.

However you should/would have got a letter in the post addressed to your home address (that you put in the initial application) to say if you have achieved an award. Your school principal would have also had a letter sent to him/her detailing all of the applicants from your school. Winning applicants had to send a letter accepting their award to the university admissions/bursary department. The deadline for accepting an award has now passed.

If you think you have won an award and are unsure of things please email Kylie Evans who is Aberystwyth's academic awards officer, her email address is; kyh@aber.ac.uk

Hope the above helps!

I'm a 2013 applicant meaning I would take the exams this coming February. I'm unsure of how the cycle works :/

[The Optimistic Ram]

(Original post by EloiseStar)
I'm a 2013 applicant meaning I would take the exams this coming February. I'm unsure of how the cycle works :/

The Entrance Exam cycle:

2nd week of January - deadline for applying for exams.

1st/2nd week of February - two 2 hour exams in your chosen subjects.

4th week in March - results published on website, letters sent to you (no grades sent, just pass or fail) and your school (grades sent, ask to see if you like).

2nd week of April - deadline to accept award. Handwritten letter to Kylie Evans.

Obviously the exact dates will be confirmed by the university nearer the time but that is the general outline for timescales.

I most definitely recommend doing the exams, I won/earned a merit award, and the unconditional was very much welcomed (and obviously the £1000 grant!). I am/was not a super duper clever applicant and took the exam as a "what if" thing. Lots of people I know who entered the exams got something out of it including myself. You have nothing to lose with entering so go for it!!!

Hope that helps again.


This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App

[Aek-94]

(Original post by EloiseStar)
The website says:

...

But when would we find out that we have passed and have achieved a scholarship? The exams are in early February.

So confused!

The results get posted on the Aber website.

Definitely try the scholarship exams, I didn't think I'd get anything from it and I got a Merit Award. It takes a lot of stress off you during the exam season.

[megan.c]

Most people who take the exams get at least a merit award. Not many people take them assuming that only really intelligent people go for it meaning that there are plenty to go around for those who do.

[nursestacey]

I took the exams when I first went to uni back in 2008 ( I'm old haha) they told me in PLENTY of time that I had got a merit award...before I sat my a levels Deffo worth doing , a few hours of writing got me guaranteed accommodation in the first year, an unconditional offer to uni and £3000 !! ( £1000 a term ) GOOD LUCK x


This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App

[The Optimistic Ram]

(Original post by nursestacey)
and £3000 !! ( £1000 a term ) GOOD LUCK x

This years winners of a Merit Award 'only' got £1000, and thats for the whole year. £3000!!!!!! My you had it easy 'back in the day', lower fees, higher grants. What a life to be a student!

And as I posted above, (post 5), winners of Merit Awards and full Scholarships find out in late March! Now that is better than waiting around stressing your hair out that you "have got in/haven't got in". I recommend everyone who is applying to Aber (and placing them as firm to get the £1000 grant) to take the exams. It costs nothing, I did literally a day of basic revision towards it and ended up with a Merit Award. £1000 for 4 hours, that's probably the best pay I will ever earn for the time!

[NAV1SS]

I had my student finance through and I also had the scholarship. When and how do I receive the money from the scholarships?

[megan.c]

(Original post by NAV1SS)
I had my student finance through and I also had the scholarship. When and how do I receive the money from the scholarships?

You won't get it until December and then around easter (half and half) - they give it out quite late to stop people from turning up, getting the money and going

[The Optimistic Ram]

(Original post by NAV1SS)
When and how do I receive the money from the scholarships?

Firstly are you a full scholarship holder or a merit award holder?

If you are a merit award holder, I seem to recall that exact dates has been given to winners in correspondence. Check your emails/letters and look at the dates as I have definitely seen it simewhere! Like the above poster gas said the grant is paid in two instalments.

Please do not think you will get £1000 on your first day, you won't. So it's not a good idea to include the amount in your budgeting, just see it as a bonus when it comes!


This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App

[Reffariiii]

(Original post by NAV1SS)
I had my student finance through and I also had the scholarship. When and how do I receive the money from the scholarships?

I got a letter saying the dates that the money would be paid.

Don't quite remember exactly, but I believe it was around December and March.

Out of interest, how long did it take them to proccess your student finance? and when do you get your first installment?

[NAV1SS]

Took ages for me.... First installment is on the 24th of September


This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App

[Reffariiii]

(Original post by NAV1SS)
Took ages for me.... First installment is on the 24th of September


This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App

Nice! Just in time for the first week piss up!

I only got my passport and birth cert back yesterday!

[megan.c]

Don't pay much attention to the first date on SF - you have to have been to your department and registered before you get anything, you'll take your SF letter with you and they scan it to confirm you turned up and then it's a few days wait for the payment!

After that the dates are pretty accurate though

[al0]

Can we apply for the scholarship even if Aber isn't our firm?

[The Optimistic Ram]

(Original post by al0)
Can we apply for the scholarship even if Aber isn't our firm?

To quote from the terms and conditions found in the Scholarships/Bursaries brochure:

"A candidate who is awarded a scholarship must, as a condition of his/her acceptance of the Award, accept the University as his/her‘firm’
choice through UCAS. The University reserves the right to withdraw the Scholarship and the unconditional offer should the candidate
place the University as his/her‘insurance’ choice. The exception to this will be for candidates holding offers from the Universities of Oxford
or Cambridge, or who have applied for a Veterinary Science course, where Aberystwyth can be held as the Insurance choice."

You cannot be awarded with a entrance scholarship or merit award if you do not place Aberystwyth as you firm choice.

[naomicutler]

Hi! I know this is an old thread so I'm not sure if anyone will see this, but if you do; I'm taking the scholarship exams in February 2013 and was wondering if anybody had any advice?

[The Optimistic Ram]

(Original post by naomicutler)
Hi! I know this is an old thread so I'm not sure if anyone will see this, but if you do; I'm taking the scholarship exams in February 2013 and was wondering if anybody had any advice?

I've moved this to a much more recent thread regarding the Aberystywth entrance scholarship exams.

Advice?

Firstly definitely take them, not many people do so the chance of gaining something from it is higher than you would think. I've heard that last year there were around 1000 people who took the exams, Aber gave out nearly 500 awards. Any competition with a 1 in 2 chance of winning something is definitely worth doing.

Secondly choose two subjects that you know different things on, and ones that you have your own opinions on. The examiners are more interested in your opinion that a copied text book definition. I'm not saying not to have the definitions in of whatever subjects you choose, just to remember to show your interest in the subject. For example, one of the subjects I did was the Film & TV studies paper. I had recently read one of Alan Sugar's books and use a few ideas from that to form self opinion on the topics asked, also giving examples is a very good thing to do.

Thirdly, once you've chosen your two subjects download the past papers and study them. Aber do not have a large bank of questions that they could ask you. If you go back over the last few years you will notice that the exact same questions keep recurring. If you prepare answers for a few of the most recurring then you will have a good chance of writing some great stuff. Planning is important with these essay type questions. If you know what the questions are likely to be before the exam, and you've planned your answer you're got a very good chance of doing well.