Official University of Reading 2024 Applicants Thread

OP

Hello all,

I'm applying for Biomedical Science at Reading with the Foundation year, being my main choice. My back-up choice is Portsmouth. I'm thinking of Reading Uni as the course I'm hoping to get into is accredited and that the campus is lovely. I'd love to move away from home so it's ideal too. I've already finished my A-levels this year but I'm taking a gap out just to earn a bit more money and self study to prepare myself. I didn't take any sciences during A-level (Media, Photography, Business) and I got a BBC and realised I wasn't passionate in what I was studying, I only chose the subjects my parents wanted me to choose.

I was wondering if there was any students who previously took the foundation year and progressed into the degree that I could talk to. I'd love to know about how the found the course and how many students were under the foundation year. When I went to the open day, I didn't see much information on the foundation year. I know that I'm a student that'll get considered last in comparison to other as I lack the experience and A-levels and I'm JUST about pushing it as the typical requirement is BBB for students with no science A-levels, I know Reading has the firm choice scheme but that doesn't guarantee a space .. I'm super worried about my personal statement because I'm trying to get my application in by the end of this week and I'm getting no help from my previous college either T_T

Hey!

Great to hear you're applying to Reading; that's super exciting, and what lovely things you have said. We're so glad you like the sound of the course and the campus!
Those A-levels sound really interesting and it's great that you will have some work experience under your belt too with a bit of extra self-study - definitely pop that in your personal statement! I see what you mean with the worry regarding the a-levels not being science related but try not too worry too much about that as it is out of your control. Try and focus your time and energy on making your personal statement really reflect who you are and why you are interested in the course and forget about the background things you can't change for now if you can!
Unfortunately, we don't have any ambassadors at the moment who have done the foundation year, however, you may find talking to Kanniz useful as she studies Biomedical Science at the moment, so although she won't be able to give her experience of the foundation course, she will be able to give you an idea of the main course structure, what the teaching is like, department and tutors etc., and answer any questions you might have. She may also have some friends doing the foundation year that she can ask - you never know! More information about these courses can be found on the Biological Sciences website here.

Sorry I don't know if this is much help - I hope it helps a little bit! If you have any other specific questions, please do let us know and we can do our best to help or point you in the right direction of someone who can.

Good luck with your application!

Skye 🙂
4th Year MSci Speech and Language Therapy Student

Reply 41

Chronoscope

Volunteer Section Leader

21

Original post by Anonymous

Hello all,

I'm applying for Biomedical Science at Reading with the Foundation year, being my main choice. My back-up choice is Portsmouth. I'm thinking of Reading Uni as the course I'm hoping to get into is accredited and that the campus is lovely. I'd love to move away from home so it's ideal too. I've already finished my A-levels this year but I'm taking a gap out just to earn a bit more money and self study to prepare myself. I didn't take any sciences during A-level (Media, Photography, Business) and I got a BBC and realised I wasn't passionate in what I was studying, I only chose the subjects my parents wanted me to choose.

I was wondering if there was any students who previously took the foundation year and progressed into the degree that I could talk to. I'd love to know about how the found the course and how many students were under the foundation year. When I went to the open day, I didn't see much information on the foundation year. I know that I'm a student that'll get considered last in comparison to other as I lack the experience and A-levels and I'm JUST about pushing it as the typical requirement is BBB for students with no science A-levels, I know Reading has the firm choice scheme but that doesn't guarantee a space .. I'm super worried about my personal statement because I'm trying to get my application in by the end of this week and I'm getting no help from my previous college either T_T

Heya! I did the science foundation pathway at Reading more or less 3 years ago now (how time flies!) - I'm in third year now :eek4:

I do food science though not biochem, but when I was doing the foundation year it was a science pathway so there were other students from other programmes doing the same course. So there were people in the foundation year who were planning to do food science, biochem, chemistry, pharmacy, etc. The best thing about it was if you changed your mind about what undergrad degree you wanted to do at the end of the foundation year you could change you mind :smile:

I don't think the actual science foundation year has changed that much looking at the module programmes :nah:

Programme spec for the course you're interested in: https://www.reading.ac.uk/progspecs/pdf24/UFBIOMEDFY24.pdf

Heres my Grow your Grades blog I did during my foundation year during the pandemic (things are back in person now though obviously so aspects will have changed I imagine) :

https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=6673420

OP

Original post by Lara_Karbritz

Hey!
I'm Lara, I'm applying for classics at UCL, KCL, Royal Holloway and Reading! Reading is the one of the best unis in the country with classics and museum studies and although I'm a London girl, I would also love a campus with green spaces. Im currently studying classics, history and drama predicted A*AA. I play lacrosse and i love debating and musical theatre!

Hey Lara @Lara_Karbritz !

That sounds great - it's so exciting that you are applying to Reading! We are so glad you like the sound of the course and facilities here, and we agree - we love the green spaces too! It was definitely one of the drawing points for me when I was looking at universities, and I can confirm, it hasn't disappointed, haha!

If you have any questions about life at Reading or anything at all, please do let us know.

Good luck with your applications and studies!

Skye 🙂
4th Year MSci Speech and Language Therapy Student

Reply 43

Anonymous #5

hi

i've got an offer for reading medical sciences w/ experience - really considering on making it my firm, just a bit nervous since it's quite far from home and i can't seem to find too much info on the site as opposed to normal biomed? would love to hear from someone doing the course!

OP

Original post by Anonymous #5

hi

i've got an offer for reading medical sciences w/ experience - really considering on making it my firm, just a bit nervous since it's quite far from home and i can't seem to find too much info on the site as opposed to normal biomed? would love to hear from someone doing the course!

Hey Anonymous,
Amazing news - congratulations! That's totally normal - though I can't give you any specific information as science isn't quite my forte, you could chat to Kanniz who is current studying Biomedical Sciences for a little more information! Medical Sciences is essentially our new and improved Biomed course, so you'll find lots of similarities with students studying that in terms of timetabling and work responsibilities, just a little more specialisation in terms of module options. If you like, you can use this form to ask for more specific information about the course and direct it to the appropriate teams to best answer your question, and, if you haven't already, I'd recommend you check out the course page here and have a look at some of the modules you can choose and their assessment methods through this link here.

I hope this helps! If you have any other questions about student life here at Reading please let us know and we'll do our best to help! :smile:

Kat

MA Diplomacy Student

Reply 45

Loobyloo48

1

Hi, my daughter has an offer for Geography at Reading but hasn’t managed to visit yet. Does Reading do offer holder days and if so when will she find out?

OP

Original post by Loobyloo48

Hi, my daughter has an offer for Geography at Reading but hasn’t managed to visit yet. Does Reading do offer holder days and if so when will she find out?

Hi @Loobyloo48,
Congratulations to her! We run Offer Holder Days every year in Feb-March, and invitations go out after the new year - she'll likely hear something in the next few weeks as Reading staff return from the holidays. You can contact the team running them to find out more ahead of time by emailing this address: [email protected] if you wish. Our campus is open to the public, so if you'd like to visit before then you can book onto one of our Campus Tours here - they run every Thursday, and give you the opportunity to have a look around, but unlike the Offer Holder Days, we are unable to offer workshops within the Geography department or a look around accommodation.

I hope this helped! If you have any other questions please don't hesitate to ask,
Kat 🙂
MA Diplomacy Student

Reply 47

Anonymous #4

Original post by UniofReading

Hi everyone :smile:

We thought we'd kick things off with a new thread for people applying or thinking of applying for 2024 entry! Here, you can meet other applicants, chat during the whole application process, and ask our lovely reps any questions you may have.

Icebreaker questions

What course are you applying for/thinking of applying for?
What universities are you thinking of applying to?
Why Reading?
What are you currently studying and what are your predicted grades?
What extracurriculars are you involved with?
(Share as much detail as you're comfortable with!)

Lottie :smile:

GRTUK and Reading Alumna (History)

I have reading as my firm choice, and I want to apply for biomedicine with a foundation year. My final 3 grades add up to 80 points but it says that the requirement is above 96, am I still eligible as they have a firm choice scheme where you can get offered one grade lower than required?

I also have 2 certificates for one subject, 24 for the first year and 32 for the second year, which brings me to 120? I'm not entirely sure whether this applies. I am supposed to declare all of my qualifications so that being my final year grades + the grade I got for one subject in my first year?

I'm almost finished with my application and I'm so panicked that I've got everything wrong, I'm applying by myself without the help of my college as I took the year off.

OP

Original post by Anonymous #4

I have reading as my firm choice, and I want to apply for biomedicine with a foundation year. My final 3 grades add up to 80 points but it says that the requirement is above 96, am I still eligible as they have a firm choice scheme where you can get offered one grade lower than required?

I also have 2 certificates for one subject, 24 for the first year and 32 for the second year, which brings me to 120? I'm not entirely sure whether this applies. I am supposed to declare all of my qualifications so that being my final year grades + the grade I got for one subject in my first year?

I'm almost finished with my application and I'm so panicked that I've got everything wrong, I'm applying by myself without the help of my college as I took the year off.

Hey Anonymous!

Thanks for popping on to ask your question. I know it’s a super stressful time (I remember how I felt when I was applying!) and I can totally understand why you have some concerns – I’m so sorry it’s causing you worry – but you’ve done the right thing in asking!

I don’t want to give you any incorrect information and chance misleading you, and as I don’t know for certain how they work out credits, my best advice at this stage would be to contact our admissions department directly as they will have the most up to date information about each course and the entry requirements, which I don’t have, and hopefully they will be able to give you the clarity you need. Does that sound okay?
You can contact them via email at: [email protected] or call: +44 (0) 118 378 8372

We know how stressful this can be, especially if you are writing the application on your own, but we want to make it as stress-free as we can so do ask if you have any other questions too and we can try our best to help or point you to someone who can. Well done for getting this far with it – nearly there!

Hope this helps and wishing you the best of luck with your application!

Skye 😊
4th Year Speech and Language Therapy Student

Reply 49

A.Wilkinson

1

Original post by UniofReading

Hi everyone :smile:

We thought we'd kick things off with a new thread for people applying or thinking of applying for 2024 entry! Here, you can meet other applicants, chat during the whole application process, and ask our lovely reps any questions you may have.

Icebreaker questions

What course are you applying for/thinking of applying for?
What universities are you thinking of applying to?
Why Reading?
What are you currently studying and what are your predicted grades?
What extracurriculars are you involved with?
(Share as much detail as you're comfortable with!)

Lottie :smile:

GRTUK and Reading Alumna (History)

Hi,
I'm looking at doing Speech and Language Therapy at Reading in September as a mature student buyt there is so much about the course and in general I don't know.
Anyway, I thought I'd start by saying hi!

Reply 50

michaela001

16

Is there a Reading offer holders thread ? Thanks

OP

Original post by A.Wilkinson

Hi,
I'm looking at doing Speech and Language Therapy at Reading in September as a mature student buyt there is so much about the course and in general I don't know.
Anyway, I thought I'd start by saying hi!

Hi @A.Wilkinson,
That's great to hear! If you have any questions, please let us know - we'll be more than happy to help! One of our ambassadors, Skye, is a current SLT integrated Master's student so I'm sure she'll be able to help you out with the specifics. Definitely make sure you check out our prospectus page on the course here!
Kat :smile:

MA Diplomacy Student

OP

Original post by michaela001

Is there a Reading offer holders thread ? Thanks

Hey @michaela001,
We have an applicants thread that you can join here, but not a specific offer holders group (yet). There are often facebook groups that get set up around February time that you'll learn more about on your me@reading portal, so keep an eye out for those - any and all info and updates will be seen through that portal first! But I'll have a look at getting an offer holders group put together on TSR too :smile:

Kat

MA Diplomacy Student

Reply 53

SparkyStar

1

Hi, please could you tell me the difference between the standard and “quiet” session on an offer holders day for Computer Science? The quiet one is 90 mins shorter so are some things not included in this one?

Reply 54

scarlettkeeble

1

Original post by Lara_Karbritz

Hey!
I'm Lara, I'm applying for classics at UCL, KCL, Royal Holloway and Reading! Reading is the one of the best unis in the country with classics and museum studies and although I'm a London girl, I would also love a campus with green spaces. Im currently studying classics, history and drama predicted A*AA. I play lacrosse and i love debating and musical theatre!

No way I've applied for philosophy and classics! Also applied for Royal Holloway too but Reading is my number one choice due to it being outside of london!

(edited 2 months ago)

OP

Original post by SparkyStar

Hi, please could you tell me the difference between the standard and “quiet” session on an offer holders day for Computer Science? The quiet one is 90 mins shorter so are some things not included in this one?

Hi @SparkyStar,

From my understanding, the quiet sessions will still cover everything that the usual sessions do, but are designed to be a bit more accessible for neurodivergent applicants or those with additional accommodations; so they may take different or shorter formats. You should be able to choose which you prefer, and if you want to confirm that with our teams or ask any other questions, feel free to email them at [email protected]!

Hope this helps :smile:

Kat
MA Diplomacy Student

(edited 2 months ago)

Reply 56

SparkyStar

1

Original post by UniofReading

Hi @SparkyStar,

From my understanding, the quiet sessions will still cover everything that the usual sessions do, but are designed to be a bit more accessible for neurodivergent applicants or those with additional accommodations so they make take different or shorter formats. You should be able to choose which you prefer, and if you want to confirm that with our teams or ask any other questions, feel free to email them at [email protected]!

Hope this helps :smile:

Kat
MA Diplomacy Student

Very helpful, thank you!

Reply 57

jcordy

3

Original post by Anonymous #1

Hi, I've applied for Modern Languages, and very grateful to have already received an offer! Although I have never been to Reading, I've heard very positive things the university! My only question is what things there are to do in the city, ie museums, theatre, etc? I was also wondering if anyone knows how easy it is to get a part time job whilst at Reading?