I have a few specific questions for people who have been to uni in the UK.
Hi, guys. This is the first time I've posted on TSR. I made an account ages ago, but forgot about it. I basically have a few questions I wanted to ask about the university experience. I'm curious about a few things. Thought TSR would be the best place to ask them, so here we go...
1) I was wondering, when you went to your entrance interview (or admission interview; I'm not sure what it's called exactly), what sort of questions did you get asked? Would you typically be asked about personal matters, such as how many friends you have or what your relationship status is at that time?
2) How are tuition fees usually paid? I'm assuming that you don't show up with a big, brown envelope with £9k stuffed in it at the start of every year, though I don't know for sure how it works. Do you set up a direct debit with your uni? Also, do you pay the full cost of your course in advance or can it be done in installments?
3) Is it considered the norm for people to have jobs while studying? Do people whose families are supporting them financially (so they presumably won't need to get a job) get stigmatised at all, or does no one really care about that? Would it be considered unusual for someone in their final year to have never had a job?
4) I wanted to ask, do people typically behave better at uni compared to secondary school? I was wondering if the types of people who threw things around in class, or were otherwise disruptive or not particularly interested in learning, are mostly filtered out before making it to uni. Are they? Also, is there any fighting or violence? I assume that isn't tolerated. I would hope so anyway
Thanks a lot for reading this, I'd really appreciate any responses.
1) I was wondering, when you went to your entrance interview (or admission interview; I'm not sure what it's called exactly), what sort of questions did you get asked? Would you typically be asked about personal matters, such as how many friends you have or what your relationship status is at that time?
2) How are tuition fees usually paid? I'm assuming that you don't show up with a big, brown envelope with £9k stuffed in it at the start of every year, though I don't know for sure how it works. Do you set up a direct debit with your uni? Also, do you pay the full cost of your course in advance or can it be done in installments?
3) Is it considered the norm for people to have jobs while studying? Do people whose families are supporting them financially (so they presumably won't need to get a job) get stigmatised at all, or does no one really care about that? Would it be considered unusual for someone in their final year to have never had a job?
4) I wanted to ask, do people typically behave better at uni compared to secondary school? I was wondering if the types of people who threw things around in class, or were otherwise disruptive or not particularly interested in learning, are mostly filtered out before making it to uni. Are they? Also, is there any fighting or violence? I assume that isn't tolerated. I would hope so anyway
Thanks a lot for reading this, I'd really appreciate any responses.
Original post by kaidan_alenko
Hi, guys. This is the first time I've posted on TSR. I made an account ages ago, but forgot about it. I basically have a few questions I wanted to ask about the university experience. I'm curious about a few things. Thought TSR would be the best place to ask them, so here we go...
1) I was wondering, when you went to your entrance interview (or admission interview; I'm not sure what it's called exactly), what sort of questions did you get asked? Would you typically be asked about personal matters, such as how many friends you have or what your relationship status is at that time?
2) How are tuition fees usually paid? I'm assuming that you don't show up with a big, brown envelope with £9k stuffed in it at the start of every year, though I don't know for sure how it works. Do you set up a direct debit with your uni? Also, do you pay the full cost of your course in advance or can it be done in installments?
3) Is it considered the norm for people to have jobs while studying? Do people whose families are supporting them financially (so they presumably won't need to get a job) get stigmatised at all, or does no one really care about that? Would it be considered unusual for someone in their final year to have never had a job?
4) I wanted to ask, do people typically behave better at uni compared to secondary school? I was wondering if the types of people who threw things around in class, or were otherwise disruptive or not particularly interested in learning, are mostly filtered out before making it to uni. Are they? Also, is there any fighting or violence? I assume that isn't tolerated. I would hope so anyway
Thanks a lot for reading this, I'd really appreciate any responses.
1) I was wondering, when you went to your entrance interview (or admission interview; I'm not sure what it's called exactly), what sort of questions did you get asked? Would you typically be asked about personal matters, such as how many friends you have or what your relationship status is at that time?
2) How are tuition fees usually paid? I'm assuming that you don't show up with a big, brown envelope with £9k stuffed in it at the start of every year, though I don't know for sure how it works. Do you set up a direct debit with your uni? Also, do you pay the full cost of your course in advance or can it be done in installments?
3) Is it considered the norm for people to have jobs while studying? Do people whose families are supporting them financially (so they presumably won't need to get a job) get stigmatised at all, or does no one really care about that? Would it be considered unusual for someone in their final year to have never had a job?
4) I wanted to ask, do people typically behave better at uni compared to secondary school? I was wondering if the types of people who threw things around in class, or were otherwise disruptive or not particularly interested in learning, are mostly filtered out before making it to uni. Are they? Also, is there any fighting or violence? I assume that isn't tolerated. I would hope so anyway
Thanks a lot for reading this, I'd really appreciate any responses.
1)
No, nothing like that. Why would they? That would be seriously invasive and not to mention completely irrelevant.2) 99% people in this country have a tuition fee loan from Student Finance, so we never actually see the money, it's paid directly to the uni at the beginning of each semester. Those who don't have a loan pay via direct debit. We don't start paying back any of this loan (or our maintenance loan, which helps with living costs) until we earn a certain amount.
3) Nobody cares if you do or don't have a job, unless you're at Oxbridge where they can kick you out for having a job unless it's in one of their libraries/bars etc. To be a final year student who'd never even had an internship would be unwise, as your career prospects wouldn't be great.
4) Everybody wants to be there, but at the end of the day most of us are 18-22. Nobody is there to enforce discipline so life in halls/houses is what you'd expect - loud partying, binge drinking and more generally just selfish and stupid behaviour from those who've never had to look after themselves before is common and part of the fun for most. There will be fights and violence when people are drunk, but everyone just gets over it. You're adults - there's nobody there to tolerate or not tolerate it.
Original post by kaidan_alenko
Hi, guys. This is the first time I've posted on TSR. I made an account ages ago, but forgot about it. I basically have a few questions I wanted to ask about the university experience. I'm curious about a few things. Thought TSR would be the best place to ask them, so here we go...
1) I was wondering, when you went to your entrance interview (or admission interview; I'm not sure what it's called exactly), what sort of questions did you get asked? Would you typically be asked about personal matters, such as how many friends you have or what your relationship status is at that time?
2) How are tuition fees usually paid? I'm assuming that you don't show up with a big, brown envelope with £9k stuffed in it at the start of every year, though I don't know for sure how it works. Do you set up a direct debit with your uni? Also, do you pay the full cost of your course in advance or can it be done in installments?
3) Is it considered the norm for people to have jobs while studying? Do people whose families are supporting them financially (so they presumably won't need to get a job) get stigmatised at all, or does no one really care about that? Would it be considered unusual for someone in their final year to have never had a job?
4) I wanted to ask, do people typically behave better at uni compared to secondary school? I was wondering if the types of people who threw things around in class, or were otherwise disruptive or not particularly interested in learning, are mostly filtered out before making it to uni. Are they? Also, is there any fighting or violence? I assume that isn't tolerated. I would hope so anyway
Thanks a lot for reading this, I'd really appreciate any responses.
1) I was wondering, when you went to your entrance interview (or admission interview; I'm not sure what it's called exactly), what sort of questions did you get asked? Would you typically be asked about personal matters, such as how many friends you have or what your relationship status is at that time?
2) How are tuition fees usually paid? I'm assuming that you don't show up with a big, brown envelope with £9k stuffed in it at the start of every year, though I don't know for sure how it works. Do you set up a direct debit with your uni? Also, do you pay the full cost of your course in advance or can it be done in installments?
3) Is it considered the norm for people to have jobs while studying? Do people whose families are supporting them financially (so they presumably won't need to get a job) get stigmatised at all, or does no one really care about that? Would it be considered unusual for someone in their final year to have never had a job?
4) I wanted to ask, do people typically behave better at uni compared to secondary school? I was wondering if the types of people who threw things around in class, or were otherwise disruptive or not particularly interested in learning, are mostly filtered out before making it to uni. Are they? Also, is there any fighting or violence? I assume that isn't tolerated. I would hope so anyway
Thanks a lot for reading this, I'd really appreciate any responses.
1) I didn't have an interview to get in.
2) You won't see the 9k. Student finance pay it straight to Uni, not once do you get that much in your bank account! The only money student finance pay directly to your bank account is the maintenance loan and extra grants if you get them.
3) There's no view on this. Some people have jobs, some people don't. I'm about to go into my third year, and for the last two years I haven't had a job and that will not change for my third year.
4) I'd say people are more mature. I've never seen people throw stuff around or kick you from behind! I've recieved text messages during lecture from someone else in the room, the person next to me might whisper to me and people fall asleep but that's all I've seen. Then again, I do study a computer-related course. I've never seen violence when I've been at Uni, I doubt that happens at all? The only time I've seen violence is on nights out, not actually when I'm at Uni.
Gonna move to Applications and UCAS
I'm just about to graduate from a UK uni, so here goes....
1. No, they'll only ask questions that are directly relevant to the course you're applying for. For instance, they could ask you about relevant work experience, or they could give you a question and ask you to solve it. However, it should be noted that most courses at most unis don't routinely interview - I didn't have a single interview when I was applying for uni
2. If you're a UK/EU student then Student Finance will pay your tuition fees directly to the uni - you'll never actually see the money yourself, and you won't have to pay a penny upfront. You don't start paying it back until after you graduate and are earning more than £21k. At that point, you pay back 9% of anything you earn over £21k, and it's deducted directly from your payslip, just like tax and NI.
If you're an international student, practices for paying will vary, but it'll normally involve a bank transfer or paying by card. At the very least they'll let you pay annually, but they may also let you pay in smaller instalments than that.
3. Never having had a job when you graduate will make it far harder to find work. Employers are looking for relevant work experience, and without any you're going to find yourself seriously struggling in this jobs market. I didn't really need to work from a financial point of view because I was on full student finance, but I worked for experience and because I enjoyed my job. It certainly paid off, because I'm graduating with a job to go to, and I know that wouldn't have happened if I hadn't worked during my degree. However, from a social point of view people who don't work / are supported by their parents aren't stigmatised - I can't say anyone cares.
4. It's a much more grown up environment, and people only go because they want to be there, so the idiots from secondary school are filtered out. Whilst people will do silly things on nights out etc, you won't see people misbehaving in lectures beyond doing things like texting - throwing things across the lecture theatre would be beyond the pale. Similarly, violence won't be tolerated, not that I ever actually saw any violence at uni.
Posted from TSR Mobile
1. No, they'll only ask questions that are directly relevant to the course you're applying for. For instance, they could ask you about relevant work experience, or they could give you a question and ask you to solve it. However, it should be noted that most courses at most unis don't routinely interview - I didn't have a single interview when I was applying for uni
2. If you're a UK/EU student then Student Finance will pay your tuition fees directly to the uni - you'll never actually see the money yourself, and you won't have to pay a penny upfront. You don't start paying it back until after you graduate and are earning more than £21k. At that point, you pay back 9% of anything you earn over £21k, and it's deducted directly from your payslip, just like tax and NI.
If you're an international student, practices for paying will vary, but it'll normally involve a bank transfer or paying by card. At the very least they'll let you pay annually, but they may also let you pay in smaller instalments than that.
3. Never having had a job when you graduate will make it far harder to find work. Employers are looking for relevant work experience, and without any you're going to find yourself seriously struggling in this jobs market. I didn't really need to work from a financial point of view because I was on full student finance, but I worked for experience and because I enjoyed my job. It certainly paid off, because I'm graduating with a job to go to, and I know that wouldn't have happened if I hadn't worked during my degree. However, from a social point of view people who don't work / are supported by their parents aren't stigmatised - I can't say anyone cares.
4. It's a much more grown up environment, and people only go because they want to be there, so the idiots from secondary school are filtered out. Whilst people will do silly things on nights out etc, you won't see people misbehaving in lectures beyond doing things like texting - throwing things across the lecture theatre would be beyond the pale. Similarly, violence won't be tolerated, not that I ever actually saw any violence at uni.
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