Zoom to Zoology? Uni open days, applications & more - a parents take

Its that time again lol.
This time with the youngest daughter.
The eldest daughter is settled now at uni studying particle physics .... https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=6562744
and we are done with that blog. So if you want to check out Lancaster, York, Oxford, Leicester and Leeds open day visits, its on those links.

This time its different with the youngest. Wants to go to uni to study Zoology or Animal behaviour, and she's just got her GCSES today, which I'm super proud of.
Zoom and Teams were one of the mainstays during 2020 and 2021 and it was tough. Tough for all students, especially in some subjects where you had to self teach yourself at times. But they got there.


Soooooo (subject to change) Her current uni interests are Bangor, Lancaster, Aberystwyth, Chester and Reading. We will be doing the same as what we did last time and that was visit some places in year 12, and some in year 13, so it doesn't feel all rushed come next September. So there will be lots of photos, opinions coming up in the next few months, so watch this space lol.

Hey @𝓖𝓱𝓸𝓼𝓽𝓵𝓪𝓭𝔂,

Congratulations on her results! It's great to hear she is wanting to come to Reading Uni!

Whilst personally I don't study zoology, you might find it useful to speak to Jessica on what it is like to study zoology at Reading.

However, what I can tell you though is what it is like being a student at the University of Reading. We have a lovely green campus which is located a short 25 min walk away from the town centre. Reading town centre has lots of different restaurants and shops so there is always somewhere to go and visit. Reading has great careers advice with a dedicated team to support the students. Some of the services they offer include 1 to 1 consultations, thrive mentoring and the RED award. I have taken part in these and have found them very useful to best prepare me for applications for jobs etc. Reading Uni also has a large variety of societies for students to take part in and meet a wide variety of people.

I hope this helps and if you or your daughter have any questions feel free to let us know!
From,

Amina 😊
3rd year pharmacy student

Its that time again lol.
This time with the youngest daughter.
The eldest daughter is settled now at uni studying particle physics .... https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=6562744
and we are done with that blog. So if you want to check out Lancaster, York, Oxford, Leicester and Leeds open day visits, its on those links.

This time its different with the youngest. Wants to go to uni to study Zoology or Animal behaviour, and she's just got her GCSES today, which I'm super proud of.
Zoom and Teams were one of the mainstays during 2020 and 2021 and it was tough. Tough for all students, especially in some subjects where you had to self teach yourself at times. But they got there.


Soooooo (subject to change) Her current uni interests are Bangor, Lancaster, Aberystwyth, Chester and Reading. We will be doing the same as what we did last time and that was visit some places in year 12, and some in year 13, so it doesn't feel all rushed come next September. So there will be lots of photos, opinions coming up in the next few months, so watch this space lol.

I have nothing helpful to say but will be following with interest. We are a year behind you - youngest is in year 11 and thinking about A levels / possible future uni courses, and is leaning towards either zoology or psychology. She definitely wants to do biology and psychology for A level, probably with either chemistry or French (or possibly photography?) for her third. What A levels is your daughter doing?

As for unis, she thinks probably a city, but that may just be because itt is what she is familiar with - her sister graduated last year from Leeds with a degree in Italian and Linguistics. I think when it comes to it she will be open to the idea of a campus uni too.

Hi Darkarchivist,
Daughter is doing biology, psychology and geography Alevel
With zoology, some unis like Manchester require the chemistry alevel. My daughter did not get on well with that subject, so swapped the chem for psychology, since a lot of unis class that, and also geography as a 'second' science subject with biology.
Eldest did chemistry alevel with physics maths and futher maths and shes studying particle physics and just finished her first year. She looked at leeds, but realised a city uni was not her thing so went for a campus option at Lancaster with the city which is reached by a 15 min bus journey. Youngest does want an element of both. She does not want anywhere thats too remote, but a city close at hand thats accessible when she needs it. Will be posting photos up of the unis we are going to over the coming 2 years.

Well done to her sister graduating, You must be very proud

Thank you for all this information. It's incredibly helpful for someone a year behind and with no experience of sciences at uni. I have just looked at your thoughts on Lancaster from your elder daughter's application blog and I think it could be a good fit for my youngest, who now seems to be leaning away from the idea of a big city uni. It's a bit further away from us than she would like ideally, but not unmanageably so. She is still thinking zoology / biology or possibly psychology. She is also wondering about trying for Oxford - will have to see how the GCSEs go, in whatever shape or form they take this year.

Chester Uni Open Day November 2021

Another open day this time. Chester University. Due to covid there was a time slot which we booked and chose what course we wanted to check out. We chose Zoology, but come open day, the Animal Behaviour course lecture came first so went there as there was plenty of spaces in the theatre. And she was very glad she did as she loves the course. I could just tell from the look in her eyes (she had a mask on) she was smiling. I put some photos on here below, and you cant see her face so its all good

We then went on a demonstration at the Thomas building which is the natural sciences building and saw a turtle who was being very busy walking around:

After the demonstration, we went on the campus tour by one of the students. They showed us some bookable study spaces which there was 3 buildings worth, so that's very good as it caters for a lot of students. We also saw the student union, the bar which has a pizzeria, a cost cutters, a sustainable food shop, the library, burger bar, and lots of places which could help your studies and mental health. We also saw a pool (which is free to use) and a gym (£50 per term)

We then went to a private Chester city accommodation which was the Towpath. Its a lovely place, but I think on first year would do her good on campus. Only problem with campus is that there is a couple of full board (which she didn't want) a nice bunch of studios (which she didn't want for lack of social space) or church college close a bunch of houses which were single sex which she didn't want either. The only other option she liked was Hollybank court, which was not open for viewings. She liked Abbeygate on line but again its not on campus and she's not sure whether she would get put with a bunch of second or third years which she's concerned about. If they had self catering, on campus and halls type of building (not houses) then that would have sealed the deal. Stick Chesters course on Lancasters campus and that's sold it. Animal behaviour is more her bag than Zoology, but would still be happy with Zoology if the campus is right.
And finally we went to Chester city centre:

Chester city is amazing. She did love the city and the character.
So all in all, a big tick for the city, a big tick for the course, a big tick for the uni. Its just accommodation. Its still going in the top 5 as course is paramount and she's fallen in love with it at Chester.

Chester Uni Open Day November 2021

Another open day this time. Chester University. Due to covid there was a time slot which we booked and chose what course we wanted to check out. We chose Zoology, but come open day, the Animal Behaviour course lecture came first so went there as there was plenty of spaces in the theatre. And she was very glad she did as she loves the course. I could just tell from the look in her eyes (she had a mask on) she was smiling. I put some photos on here below, and you cant see her face so its all good

We then went on a demonstration at the Thomas building which is the natural sciences building and saw a turtle who was being very busy walking around:

After the demonstration, we went on the campus tour by one of the students. They showed us some bookable study spaces which there was 3 buildings worth, so that's very good as it caters for a lot of students. We also saw the student union, the bar which has a pizzeria, a cost cutters, a sustainable food shop, the library, burger bar, and lots of places which could help your studies and mental health. We also saw a pool (which is free to use) and a gym (£50 per term)

We then went to a private Chester city accommodation which was the Towpath. Its a lovely place, but I think on first year would do her good on campus. Only problem with campus is that there is a couple of full board (which she didn't want) a nice bunch of studios (which she didn't want for lack of social space) or church college close a bunch of houses which were single sex which she didn't want either. The only other option she liked was Hollybank court, which was not open for viewings. She liked Abbeygate on line but again its not on campus and she's not sure whether she would get put with a bunch of second or third years which she's concerned about. If they had self catering, on campus and halls type of building (not houses) then that would have sealed the deal. Stick Chesters course on Lancasters campus and that's sold it. Animal behaviour is more her bag than Zoology, but would still be happy with Zoology if the campus is right.
And finally we went to Chester city centre:

Chester city is amazing. She did love the city and the character.
So all in all, a big tick for the city, a big tick for the course, a big tick for the uni. Its just accommodation. Its still going in the top 5 as course is paramount and she's fallen in love with it at Chester.

Thank you so much for attending the Open Day and taking the time to review it. We're glad you had a great time. Please let us know if there's anything we can help with or if you have any questions.

Sarah

Chester Uni Open Day November 2021

Another open day this time. Chester University. Due to covid there was a time slot which we booked and chose what course we wanted to check out. We chose Zoology, but come open day, the Animal Behaviour course lecture came first so went there as there was plenty of spaces in the theatre. And she was very glad she did as she loves the course. I could just tell from the look in her eyes (she had a mask on) she was smiling. I put some photos on here below, and you cant see her face so its all good

We then went on a demonstration at the Thomas building which is the natural sciences building and saw a turtle who was being very busy walking around:

After the demonstration, we went on the campus tour by one of the students. They showed us some bookable study spaces which there was 3 buildings worth, so that's very good as it caters for a lot of students. We also saw the student union, the bar which has a pizzeria, a cost cutters, a sustainable food shop, the library, burger bar, and lots of places which could help your studies and mental health. We also saw a pool (which is free to use) and a gym (£50 per term)

We then went to a private Chester city accommodation which was the Towpath. Its a lovely place, but I think on first year would do her good on campus. Only problem with campus is that there is a couple of full board (which she didn't want) a nice bunch of studios (which she didn't want for lack of social space) or church college close a bunch of houses which were single sex which she didn't want either. The only other option she liked was Hollybank court, which was not open for viewings. She liked Abbeygate on line but again its not on campus and she's not sure whether she would get put with a bunch of second or third years which she's concerned about. If they had self catering, on campus and halls type of building (not houses) then that would have sealed the deal. Stick Chesters course on Lancasters campus and that's sold it. Animal behaviour is more her bag than Zoology, but would still be happy with Zoology if the campus is right.
And finally we went to Chester city centre:

Chester city is amazing. She did love the city and the character.
So all in all, a big tick for the city, a big tick for the course, a big tick for the uni. Its just accommodation. Its still going in the top 5 as course is paramount and she's fallen in love with it at Chester.

Update 09/2/2022 Mocks

Its been such a long time since I last posted. Its a while before we get to the next open day which we think could be Reading uni in June.
So the youngest is currently in the middle of mock week. shes getting B's and C' currently. Target grades an A for all three subjects, but were not quite there yet and shes still only a year 12 so havent covered all the topics. Biology, I thought, I know Ill help her revise most nights. I did it for tests for GCSE, and it seem pretty simple enough, I had done Alevel biology myself, even though I flunked alevel ( but got a C at GCSE (she came out with an 8 so thought we could smash it)). LOL how wrong was I? Biochemistry? never had this 'back in my day' and it was super hard. It took a few videos on you tube and reading her text book a few times to understand glycosidic, ester, peptide, and phosphodiester bonds. Then the 4 structures of protein oh my.
Enzymes, thoroughly enjoyed that, and also enjoyed the plasma membrane. I think if I continued I might next year I take it myself and actually get a grade this time lol.
Today was the day, she had biology morning and psychology this afternoon (did psychology paper 1 monday). She thinks she did ok. Geography for the next two days.

Back to unis again, We have Chester in the front running, and Lancaster, with some more to go and see. Lincoln, Reading and Bangor we think are the ones she wants for now, but is subject to change

Hi Ghost Lady,

Love your posts ! I’d recommend Khan academy for videos on the biology topics and if she’s doing chemistry a level I have a fab book to help with the calculations. Has she got a long list for the unis x

Hi Ghost Lady,

Love your posts ! I’d recommend Khan academy for videos on the biology topics and if she’s doing chemistry a level I have a fab book to help with the calculations. Has she got a long list for the unis x

Lincoln - not been ourselves but a mum friend with daughter at a different school went to the offer day last Saturday and said it was fab!

Thanks Shes doing Psychology, Geography and Biology, so doing zoology does limit the unis you can look at. So for example you wouldn't be able to apply to Cambridge or Manchester. There are unis out there that do not need a second hard stem alevel like chemistry physics or maths, and require other subjects like psychology geography.
She has another limiting factor when it comes to unis and thats biochem. Some are really heavily involved in the biochemistry and she already hates that in alevel lol. Ideally, she wants to go to uni thats less in biochem, and more animal behaviour, ecology, welfare, biodiversity etc. She has Chester, Lancaster, Lincoln, Reading and Bangor, although Aberyswyth or Sheffield could be a contender, depends on how things go.

Yeah it looks great. And they do a degree in animal behaviour and welfare too

Thanks Shes doing Psychology, Geography and Biology, so doing zoology does limit the unis you can look at. So for example you wouldn't be able to apply to Cambridge or Manchester. There are unis out there that do not need a second hard stem alevel like chemistry physics or maths, and require other subjects like psychology geography.
She has another limiting factor when it comes to unis and thats biochem. Some are really heavily involved in the biochemistry and she already hates that in alevel lol. Ideally, she wants to go to uni thats less in biochem, and more animal behaviour, ecology, welfare, biodiversity etc. She has Chester, Lancaster, Lincoln, Reading and Bangor, although Aberyswyth or Sheffield could be a contender, depends on how things go.

Yeah it looks great. And they do a degree in animal behaviour and welfare too