English Applicants 2014

No as I'm an international student. I did go and visit the campus on my own and loved it. The only reason I'm hesitant is that I don't think I can do a lot of creative writing in the course.

Got a rejection from Warwick. I'm absolutely devastated as it was my first choice. I have offers from York, Nottingham, Birmingham and Kent. I don't know if I should take one of those offers or reapply next year.

Got a rejection from Warwick. I'm absolutely devastated as it was my first choice. I have offers from York, Nottingham, Birmingham and Kent. I don't know if I should take one of those offers or reapply next year.

I applied to both RG and non RG unis : I have offers from Warwick, Loughborough, Birmingham and UEA. I love the course at Birmingham even though Warwick is higher in the league tables for English - I'm excited at the prospect of expanding on my love for Anglo-Saxon literature and Beowulf, something the course at Warwick doesn't seem to allow. Warwick was initially my favourite but when I went there for interview the lack of breadth of the course put me off. I would have been content to go to UEA but their funding and preference for students from Norwich made me feel unimportant and unvalued. For me it's a combination of location, atmosphere, funding and course structure that has led me to choose Birmingham with the course taking precedent when I had to choose between Warwick and Birmingham

I just firmed UEA and insured Leicester, has anyone else firmed UEA?

Are we the same person? I've just firmed UEA but was very very closely considering Leicester. I had unconditionals from both (did my A-levels last year) and I had my heart set on Leicester, but upon visiting and reading up on UEA I realised the course has more prestige and reputation attached to it and that it's a very good English university.
Personally I think Leicester is an incredibly lovely city, and coupled with the fact that the university is within short walking distance of the city centre I loved the place. However, Norwich is a fantastic city too. I was particularly impressed by the amount of music and art shops around, and there were plenty of nice bookshops, too.

What made you pick UEA over Leicester?

i am judging you. why should it all be decided on grades? the students you describe sound like people i'd much rather employ than you.

but i'm not sure i agree that not doing essays shows a bad attitude. if someone doesn't feel a homework is helpful to them and therefore doesn't do it, that's insightful.

Gosh, I'm so bitter.

Me - works super hard and is incredibly passionate and excited to go to UCL. Gets A* equivs at AS in both English subjects. Is consistently getting full marks and A*s this year. Isn't a good public speaker/does not interview well, probably due to the intense bullying I used to receive at my old school for answering questions or speaking out loud. Something I can work on in the future. Gets rejected post-interview. Obviously heartbroken.

Someone else - gets high every day, deals drugs, barely turns up to lessons, didn't turn up to mocks, does not revise - gets ABBB at AS - gets an offer for medicine at UCL because he effectively interviewed well.

Another girl applying for English - didn't turn up to her mock (except English in which she got a B), does not do homework ever/never writes essays - but is charming and friendly. Gets in to Oxford and doesn't even want to go.

Girl applying for engineering - took 6 AS levels, got 6 As including 4 A* equivs, does ****loads of extra curricular - didn't even get an interview at Oxford.

I hate this system and I hate the way amazing students (not really referring to myself, but other people on this thread & others from school) get rejected.

Rant over. Don't judge me.

To be frightfully honest, I'd like to think that it is not only the grades that the admissions consider when they should accept the student or not, but rather also their sensibilities to the degree that they are going to take and the strength of their actual opinions, and this particularly becomes highlighted, stressed and emphasised during interviews, in which you always need to bend the conversation to your own liking.

As a disclaimer, I must also profess that I am rather a bad student but a good learner, and this is probably because at a certain period I was bullied so much at school and with the teachers turning a blind eye with this bullying, I resorted to kind of teaching myself. After a sabbatical of two years, travelling throughout 2 countries without even planning to do so, and now finishing my A-levels at 20, the certain kind of 'sense' that I acquired is what aided me to get accepted. To remind you, I am quite a bad student. Not only once have I spent time in the principal's office for tardiness (it's actually really crazy. I only have 3 hours per day, and I still get late.). Thing is, you need to have the sensibilities, because if you are hard-working but pedantic in your approach, any kind of passion emitted becomes contrived, fabricated,

I mean; it's weird how bad I am naturally at social interactions, but I become adequate at non-graded interviews, and I guess what I am trying to say is that interviewers or admission officers are trying to find your passion for that certain domain through those interviews and your personal statement. It's not that they are trying to find someone who is eloquent, but rather someone who is willing to develop. I guess, some can mistake charisma with this, but the world isn't fair.

And really every person is interesting. I think that what they want is for you to present yourself in an idiosyncratic way, not just through a set of premade markers.

For those who think that work ethic is important--I agree. However, I think that you are misunderstanding the issue here. It's not that most people lack the work ethic, but rather they don't find the inherent importance in doing a certain kind of work, or rather they do not think that this kind of work would lead to some kind of improvement, but if they still do get good grades, then that means that they have found their own method.

Gosh, I'm so bitter.

Me - works super hard and is incredibly passionate and excited to go to UCL. Gets A* equivs at AS in both English subjects. Is consistently getting full marks and A*s this year. Isn't a good public speaker/does not interview well, probably due to the intense bullying I used to receive at my old school for answering questions or speaking out loud. Something I can work on in the future. Gets rejected post-interview. Obviously heartbroken.

Someone else - gets high every day, deals drugs, barely turns up to lessons, didn't turn up to mocks, does not revise - gets ABBB at AS - gets an offer for medicine at UCL because he effectively interviewed well.

Another girl applying for English - didn't turn up to her mock (except English in which she got a B), does not do homework ever/never writes essays - but is charming and friendly. Gets in to Oxford and doesn't even want to go.

Girl applying for engineering - took 6 AS levels, got 6 As including 4 A* equivs, does ****loads of extra curricular - didn't even get an interview at Oxford.

I hate this system and I hate the way amazing students (not really referring to myself, but other people on this thread & others from school) get rejected.

Rant over. Don't judge me.