You go Glen Coco! l Y13 GYG

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Just to add, I lived with my family in The Edinburgh and attended the University of Edinburgh. I had an absolutely amazing time even though I didn't stay in halls. I didn't really feel like I missed out on anything as I was extremely active with socials and events.

Unless you're determined to stay at halls, I'd seriously considering Queen Mary's. I remember that I didn't want to stay with my family and Edinburgh was actually my last place..., but due to family pressure and Edinburgh's courses, I decided to stay home and go to university. Really, really had a wonderful time.

That said, if you didn't want to stay at home, I'm sure QM must offer some affordable accommodation. You should try contacting them.

At the end of the day, it boils down to you and your living situation. Go with wherever you think you'd be the happiest. :rambo:

Thank you for your advice, I'll keep it in mind since I agree that the onus will be on me to keep up socially, otherwise it will just be a waste :smile:

Reply 21

GlenCacao

My imposter syndrome is telling me to type that the organisation is just a facade and an excuse
for keeping me busy, but I'll accept the praise regardless. In fact, I'm off to make some philosophy
notes. Thanks for the well wishes :smile:

Reply 22

Euphoria101

Original post by harrysbar

I think you are mistaken about QMUL fees being quite that high, they say on their website that "Residential fees for 2019-20 range from £5,008.92 (£130.83 per week), to £7,809.52 (£203.98 per week) for a single room over 38.3 weeks" - but apart from that your spreadsheet is absolutely amazing, so organised! What about Royal Holloway? That's a good uni not too far from London (part of the University of London in fact) - although some people do find it a bit quiet.

I think your GYG is already appealing! Maybe it will grow as you get to know more people on TSR so you can invite them to read it. The longer you stay on TSR the more you will get to know people. I will tag @LostLioness because I know she is interested in Law and also @lancpe2002 and @dyingstudent101 from the Law forum

Thanks for the tag!

OP don’t worry about your LNAT scores. I think you’re overthinking everything and stressing yourself out in the test. Calm yourself down before you do a test and try not to overthink everything, the questions are difficult but they’re not supposed to ‘trick’ you in the sense that the LNAT doesn’t want you to do badly lmao.

I’ve only done 2 tests and I got 25. I would be so happy with those but I guessed so many questions at the end and somehow got them right (had no time to read passages) so it was just luck!

Also focus on the essay too!!

Reply 23

GlenCacao

~ October 8th ~

Spoiler

P1+2

Initially, I had planned to spend this free period making Philosophy notes & even had the grand idea of writing up the whole section,
but I actually only managed 2 pages :colondollar:

- 4, if you count the contents pages. I spent most of my time on TSR answering threads & when I finally started, I was quickly reminded of why I hate making notes.

Even when I try to condense the material, I end up practically copying out the whole book and no amount of highlighting or
switching colours (which I often forget to do) will make me remember the content or motivate me to keep writing. For someone
who doesn't even use their class books for revision, bad I know :frown:

, note taking is a complete waste of time.
I'm more of an active learner & prefer using resources such as Seneca Learning or quickfire flash card questions, but Seneca doesn't have a philosophy course yet, so I have to depend on my 'notes', Crash Course Philosophy (which I would highly recommend; it's entertaining, funny & presented by Hank Green) and the Panpsycast podcast. Perhaps I should try and record some quick voice notes per subtopic, it helped me at GCSE level for remembering English quotes etc.

P3+4

I went to the library, returned The Stepford Wives and started on (some of) my Politics hw, just over 2hrs worth of videos - oh joy!

Since I had to keep on pausing to make notes, I only managed 3/10 videos, but I'll try and get the rest finished off by tomorrow. We'll be too busy in class with our 30 marker to start a proper lesson anyway.

P5+6

This free period was supposed to be dedicated to completing my Psychology hw & getting some Attachment revision done, but I [predictably] squandered it. I had spent my lunch break at the Creative Writing club which seems to focus more on poetry than short stories - this is still fine since I used to attend a Spoken Word club. I ended up writing ~3/4ths of a poem, but it seemed a bit juvenile, so I'll scrap it. The teacher who leads the club was taught by Jack Underwood & is going to look over my old work and lend me some poetry books. Most of the other members were from the lower school, but I found a cool poem whilst I was there: 'what my mother (a poet) might say' by Mary Jean Chan. It inspired me to experiment with strikethrough/blackout poetry.
Here are some others that I found.

I got my Psychology hw done at home.

tags:

Spoiler

(edited 4 years ago)

Reply 24

GlenCacao

Original post by dyingstudent101

I agree that I'm probably overthinking it, but as an extra precaution, I'll take it in January instead. Just looking at the Y13 Law text book index page had me like:

In terms of the essay, I put a lot more focus on it before I realised that it doesn't contribute to marks, but I'll try and get around to practising some questions.

Reply 25

Euphoria101

Original post by GlenCacao

I agree that I'm probably overthinking it, but as an extra precaution, I'll take it in January instead. Just looking at the Y13 Law text book index page had me like:

In terms of the essay, I put a lot more focus on it before I realised that it doesn't contribute to marks, but I'll try and get around to practising some questions.

What unis are you applying to? The essay still matters quite a bit for some unis. UCL put more weighting on the essay than the multiple choice and Bristol considers the multiple choice:essay 60:40

Reply 26

GlenCacao

Original post by dyingstudent101

What unis are you applying to? The essay still matters quite a bit for some unis. UCL put more weighting on the essay than the multiple choice and Bristol considers the multiple choice:essay 60:40

UCL, Bristol, Kent and I'm still somewhat undecided about the other 2. They were originally going to be Essex and LSE,
but I think Essex is off my list. I'm going to see Goldsmiths next month though.

Reply 27

harrysbar

Original post by GlenCacao

UCL, Bristol, Kent and I'm still somewhat undecided about the other 2. They were originally going to be Essex and LSE,
but I think Essex is off my list. I'm going to see Goldsmiths next month though.

Sorry to be negative and 100% your decision but Goldsmiths doesn't have the best rep for Law. QMUL, SOAS and City are all considered better

Reply 28

Euphoria101

Original post by harrysbar

Sorry to be negative and 100% your decision but Goldsmiths doesn't have the best rep for Law. QMUL, SOAS and City are all considered better

I was about to say! SOAS and QMUL in my opinion are better choices, with respectable reps and obtainable entry requirements. Of course QMUL asks for A*AA but they I believe asked for AAA in clearing and someone in the year above got in with AAB because her grandmother died near exams. Obviously that's a one-off, but it's worth noting :smile:

Reply 29

GlenCacao

Original post by StudentRep Annabel

Hey there!
So pleased to hear you're considering studying at Kent :biggrin:

I'm currently in my final year at Kent so if you have any questions about life at Kent or applications then please feel free to ask! Best of luck with your A-levels :smile:

I apologise for how extremely overdue these are, but:

1. What don't you like about the uni?
2. Are you at the Canterbury or Medway campus?
3. (Ignore if at Medway) How did you find living in Canterbury/Did you like it?
4. Is the uni as well put together as it seems (i.e. free counselling, safety app, lots of activities etc.)
5. Are there a lot of jobs available on campus?
6. How did you stop yourself from going stir crazy since everything is on campus?
7. (Ignore if at Medway) If you ever stayed in Park Wood (I think that was what it was called) was only having one upstairs bathroom for 5 people too cramped?
8. What made you glad to have picked Kent?
9. Do you remember first year being expensive?
10. How many societies do you realistically think that I can join?
11. Did you or anyone else you know take a year abroad? How was it?
12. Was the employment scheme worth it? (I heard something about employability points?)
13. Did you or anyone else you know take part in the Study Plus scheme?

I think that's all for now, sorry to spring this all on you after relative radio silence :colondollar:

Reply 30

StudentRep Medway

Official Rep

Original post by GlenCacao

This might be the most comprehensive list of questions I have ever been asked about Kent, but that's exactly what I'm here for, so this could be a long post :biggrin:

1. Honestly, this is a tough question to answer! The university is on top of a hill, and I happen to live at the bottom of it, so walking up the hill every day isn't my favourite thing to do! Also the gym on campus can feel a bit small but I pick and choose when I go so I miss the rush, but there are also loads of other gyms in Canterbury so it is by no means the only option.

2. I'm on the Canterbury campus, I've visited Medway once but I don't know too much about it in all honesty.

3. I've really enjoyed living in Canterbury! After moving off campus, I have lived in the same area between the city centre and campus which is definitely the ideal place to be, as you're close to everything and it is a really nice neighbourhood. There is plenty to do and see in Canterbury, like all the shops and beautiful cobbled streets, gardens and Cathedral, but it has also been nice to explore the surrounding areas too as I had never been to Kent before moving here for university :smile:

It's a great city to get that balance between town and countryside life (fits me perfectly as a Surrey girl).

4. From my experience, I'd have to say yes! I have taken advantage of a lot of the free services and activities that the university has to offer because I know that I may never get this kind of help again for free! I have used the student support and wellbeing services (which includes the free counselling), the careers services (if you do study at Kent, you have to use them they're been fantastic!), I have the safe-zone app but thankfully I've never had to use it! There are also free services for helping you with essay writing, maths and other study skills too which are great for helping you make the academic adjustment from A-levels to uni. Kent Union are great at putting on activities on campus from mini golf, to petting zoos and free stuff. There is also a student food bank too to help struggling students make sure they have enough food! So from my experience, it's definitely a yes :biggrin:

5. Yes there are! I've had 4 different jobs on campus since being at Kent (sounds like a lot but some of them were seasonal!). There are opportunities to work on open days, be an ambassador for your academic school, work in the cafes/bars/shops on campus, in The Venue, admin roles and paid psychology studies. I'm currently a social media assistant and an outreach History ambassador and both roles have been so much fun and so easy to fit around my university work! You can sign up to regular job alert emails from the careers service and jobshop on campus so you can keep up to date with where you could work on campus or in town :smile:

6. For me, it's never really been a problem, because there are so many different things to do on campus, but I understand how some people might get a bit stir crazy. I spend a lot of time between university and Canterbury city centre, sometimes taking my work to a coffee shop in town to mix it up a bit! But when the deadlines kick in, it is insanely helpful to have everything you need in one place so you don't feel like you're spending loads of time trying to get from one place to another. When my friends and I feel in need of a break from Canterbury we sometimes go to Whitstable beach, or to the designer outlet in Ashford, or into London as its only 50 minutes on the train. Canterbury is really well connected, so when you need a break it's super easy to venture off outside of the campus and town.

7. I didn't stay in Parkwood unfortunately, but I have several friends who did and still do live there! From what I've heard, they said it can be a little cramped but it rarely gets like that because everyone is on such different schedules so they get up/shower/etc at very different times.

8. Definitely all the friends I've made here :biggrin:

I found life at Kent quite easy to fit into and because its a campus university it has a really nice sense of community to it and a relaxed and friendly atmosphere. For me, Kent just felt like a second home and I knew that I had to go there! I did start my university experience at a different uni and really struggled to settle into life there, so it's super important that you consider how comfortable you feel at a university when you're trying to decide, as this can make settling into uni life so much easier.

9. First year can certainly feel expensive because you're suddenly having to buy food and toiletries and all that which you may not have had to do before. But if anything, it really helps to give you a sense of how much things cost and how to manage your money which is an important life skill. I think that regardless of what university you go to, everyone will say the same on this one! Buying food/drinks/snacks on campus especially in the restaurants and bars is often better value than going into Canterbury and buying the same things. But you'll soon learn to start showing your student card at places in town or using Unidays discounts which make it all much easier to afford and manage!

10. I know a lot of people get quite excited by all the different societies in their first year and sign up to way more than they can physically go to! At any one time I was actively a member of 2 societies, one sport one and one general one. Sports societies definitely take up the most time as they can train 2 or 3 times a week and then have socials too, so a lot of people get really absorbed in sport society life. I'd say realistically, 1 large sport society and 1 smaller general society or up to 3 general societies is probably realistic. But you can attend any society for free taster sessions in the first few weeks of term so you can try out as many as you like :biggrin:

There's also nothing stopping you joining a new society part way through the year!

11. Two of my current housemates did a year abroad last year. One went to Canada and the other went to America and they both had a great time! Great excuse to go and see them and visit another country as well :smile:

One thing to consider about a year abroad though, is the cost, as you really want to be able to make the most of your time living in a totally different country.

12. The employability points scheme is definitely worth using! It doesn't necessarily have any direct impact on your CV or anything as you simply input the things that are already on your CV into the points scheme. But it means that if you rack up enough points you have exclusive access to internships, placements and work opportunities over the summer and for years in industry. It is definitely worth doing for the chance to get onto one of these schemes as they can be quite competitive and highly sought after. This is my first year using the Employability Points scheme, so I don't know loads about it at the moment, but I really do recommend the Careers and Employability service at Kent. You can ask them to look over your CV, or check applications for jobs before you send them off, or go to them for careers advice, and it's all free :biggrin:

13. I've not taken part in the Study Plus scheme myself, but I used to know a few people who did. It is such a good scheme though because you can learn something totally different to your main course, entirely for free! The only thing to consider is if you have enough time to dedicate to the study plus activities and your main course, as you don't want to overload yourself by taking too many study plus courses!

I hope that helps to answer your questions! If anything isn't clear please let me know :biggrin:

and as always, any other question about Kent I'm more than happy to help answer :biggrin:

Reply 31

GlenCacao

@StudentRep Annabel Thank you so much for your in-depth replies, they were very helpful & I'll be sure to get back to you if I have any more questions about Kent :smile:

Reply 32

GlenCacao

@harrysbar @dyingstudent101

Firstly I need to apologise for my severely delayed response and secondly, thank you for voicing your concerns.

I agree that Goldsmiths is perhaps not the best option for Law, but I think that I started considering it because I
felt a bit nervous about not having gone to many open days & wasn't sure about which option to replace Essex
with so looked more at Goldsmith's attributes such as proximity to home, my familiarity with the area etc.

I might still go to the open day, but I will start some more research on the options suggested :h:

Reply 33

GlenCacao

~ November 10th ~

Philosophy

My PPE was on Thursday, there were 3 essay questions and I picked 2; 'Whether or not Jesus was more than a teacher of wisdom' [Philosophy] & 'Whether or not religious language can only be understood through the use of analogy' [Ethics].

Both questions were kind of difficult to answer.

Jesus was one of the topics that we had to go over ourselves outside of lesson, so I feel like I didn't have a full grasp of how to answer the question, especially because there aren't any scholars which dispute or support this topic, just opinions on whether he was divine, human, a teacher, a political figure etc. It was good practice for developing a thread throughout my whole argument though, and I remembered more Biblical quotes than I expected.

The analogy question confused me because I thought the religious language section would relate to the more contemporary influences such as Wittgenstein but it was more about Aquinas. I tried my best, but I feel like it was the worst out of the 2.

I feel like I don't know how to revise for philosophy, the textbook is quite convoluted sometimes and is hard to break down into chunks. My teacher recommend listening to the Panpsycast, but each podcast is around 55 minutes long which is just made longer if I have to keep pausing to make notes.

Psychology

My PPE was on Friday on The Approaches, Biopsychology & Research Methods - a full paper 2 exam.

I revised more for Psychology than Philosophy, but Psychology is my best subject in terms of grades & the one that I find easiest to revise for, so I probably got a bit cocky and slacked off a little.

Overall, I think that it went well but there were a few questions that I was stumped on i.e. There was a question on the psychodynamic approach about the ID, Ego & Superego but the revision resource that I had used hadn't brought up these topics at all and I couldn't remember whether it was the Superego or the Ego that regulated the other two. There were 2 or 3 more questions like this, but everything else was fine.

I'm going on a Psychology trip tomorrow to listen to some talks (one by Zimbardo, the researcher responsible for the Stanford Prison Experiment!) so you can expect a post on that sometime next week along with how my Politics PPE went.

Other

My teacher finally got back to me on my personal statement & I amended it accordingly - I, lowkey, like it a little less now, but it's for the best 🤷🏾

The headteacher held an hour long meeting after school for prospective law students where went over the LNAT; Iʼve decided to take it either by the end of the month or by early December.

I'm considering adding Coventry uni as my 5th option to be safe since my other options are somewhat aspirational, the jury’s still out on whether or not I’ll go to the open day.

tags:

Spoiler

Reply 34

harrysbar

Original post by GlenCacao

~ November 10th ~

Spoiler

Sounds like the PPEs went reasonably well, considering you've still got a lot of time to improve and revise before the real exams. And that Psychology trip sounds interesting, the prison experiment is fascinating and thought provoking, I think.

I'm going to be annoying and say I think you can do better than Coventry - sorry :redface:

Look forward to your next update!

Reply 35

GlenCacao

Original post by harrysbar

Look forward to your next update!

Wow, that was quick!

I see where you're coming from with Coventry (and, thank you for the compliment), but if I don't step up my
revision soon, Coventry will probably be my only option - so, it's good to have it for a backup! :smile:

Reply 36

GlenCacao

~ November 14th ~

Psychology trip

There were 5 talks in total on:

•

Memory

•

Sex & Gender

•

Revision

•

ACE (Resolving situations)

•

Wonder/Illusions

All in all, the trip was alright. I had most been excited for hearing a talk by Zimbardo as my teacher had mentioned, but I think that was just wishful thinking on her part :frown:

The Memory talk went over some illusions and techniques for remembering things such as using a 'memory palace', the Sex & Gender talk was about human sexual behaviour and the difference between the two terms, the revision talk mentioned things like the forgetting curve and had some cool videos & I (ironically) don't remember much from the ACE talk, but the final talk was presented by a magician with a doctorate in Physics! :hat:

Politics PPE

The 30 marker was on Congress and the 12 markers were on the Senate & Lords and democratic participation. Overall, the topics weren't too difficult, but I think I could have linked the paragraphs better.

Other

•

I'm working on tidying up my GYG.

•

Holidays are coming, so I need to think of what to get my parents.

•

I applied for a 'student shadowing' day at LSE, if I get in it will kind of be like having attended an open day.

•

The internal deadline for UCAS is Dec. 12th, so I just need to get my LNAT done & am waiting on my Politics teacher to read over my PS (I gave it to him ~2 months ago & I don't really care if he reads over it now, but it would be nice).

•

There's an EPQ session today during p5&6, I might go, but I missed my last Philosophy lesson for the trip and don't want to fall behind over something that I might not even do.

•

Still undecided on Uni #5, but I'll do some research before the week is over.

Spoiler

(edited 4 years ago)

Reply 37

GlenCacao

~ November 24th ~
(this is the 4th time I've had to type this, so excuse any mistakes :/)

•

My LNAT's been booked for the first week of December! - I'll be preparing my keeping up with the news, practising the essays and using the online test.

•

My Politics & Psychology teachers got back to me about my PS, so I have only a few tweaks left before it's complete.

•

I managed to narrow down the 6 options I was initially considering for my 5th UCAS option to 2; Kingston & Coventry. Their entry requirements are both BBB (low, but safe) and now I just have to decide between the two.

•

I got my Philosophy & Psychology PPE grades back, but I'll wait until I have the full set to make a post.

Pros & Cons of Kingston

•

Still in London, so close to home.

•

Low entry requirements.

•

Almost near the bottom (99th) across regional rankings for Law. :s-smilie:

•

Seems to have study abroad options available in the country that I want to go to.

•

Has a lot of practical Law elements & schemes i.e. their Professional Experience program.

•

Generally ranks lower than Coventry on DiscoverUni stats (64% student satisfaction compared to 82%) but info on Coventry was supplied by 250 students compared to Kingston's 15, so the results may not be wholly representative.

Pros & Cons of Coventry

•

Is ranked 54th for Law across all regions, increasing by 2 since last year.

•

In the West Midlands so further than Kingston.

•

Low entry requirements.

•

Recommended by a friend who goes there.

•

However, a current Law student told me that it isn't the best uni for Law as she had experienced virtually little help outside of classes for her course.

•

Add+vantage & third year modules are also practical.

•

Generally scores higher than Kingston on DiscoverUni.

•

I could qualify for one of the scholarships.

•

Has travel abroad options but doesn't seem to have any in the countries that I'm particularly interested, but I would still consider them.

tags:

Spoiler

Reply 38

GlenCacao

~ 5th December ~

So, I just got back from taking my LNAT!
There isn't too much to say about it, the multiple choice questions weren't too bad, although the last few were a bit difficult for me to understand - I spent a lot more time than I did per question when practising, but still had 20+ mins to spare.
I would give you an in-depth description of the essay section, but one of the screens mentioned a non-disclosure agreement, so all I'll say is that I picked a topic that comes up a lot in Philosophy & RE and I knew a lot about. I was naming philosophers left & right & probably wrote my best essay so far on the topic :yeah:

LSE
I was accepted for the LSE shadowing day, so went on Tuesday for a quick tour around the 'campus' and a lecture on the Law of Obligations with real students! I can't say that the tour endured me more towards LSE, the area is very busy i.e. there's lots of construction & foot traffic (but then again, it's central London), it's closer than I realised (so if I go, I might commute) & I'm not sure that I'd be a good fit, but it was interesting nonetheless. The lecture was actually helpful as it contained a lot less jargon than I expected & all the students were very organised.

November PPE
Now for the ' main event', I got my PPE results back! I got an A & B in Philosophy (for the Religious Language & Jesus questions respectively), a B in Politics & a D1 in Psychology :s-smilie:

I can see where I went wrong in Psychology - I need to work more on getting at least a 10 in 16 mark questions. We have another set of PPE's coming up in January, so I'll try harder in those.

UCAS
I applied officially for Kent, Bristol, UCL, LSE & Coventry and sent my application off for UCAS last Tuesday however it was sent back to me on Friday for improvements.
I ended up changing the last 2 paragraphs to show how my subjects relate more to Law i.e. mentioning specific Court of Appeal cases which were linked to developments in Psychology etc.
In the end, the changes were for the better, but I did have to sacrifice a few stylistic choices for the sake of the word/line limit :/
At this point, I still haven't gone into Track.

Tags

Spoiler

(edited 4 years ago)

Reply 39

harrysbar

Original post by GlenCacao

Spoiler

I'm pleased for you that your LNAT went ok - people on the Law forum nearly always seem to say it was awful so I'm liking your positivity :smile:

Not too taken with LSE? I really like the area of London it's in but I don't know about being a student there....very expensive. Anyway, good for you that you've got the dreaded UCAS application in, hope those offers start to roll in soon