Life Update - Where am I going to Uni?

Hello, Reader!

Consider this a follow up on my “Why Did I Take a Gap Year?” post: a life update, if you will. Before we begin, the quick recap is that I got A*ABB on my A Levels, messed up during clearing and decided to take a gap year and reapply. If you want more context, head over to the blog post about “Why Did I Take a Gap Year” - I go into all the details about my journey of not going to university in it.

I began working on my personal statement as soon as I decided that I would be reapplying. Technically, you don’t have to write a new one if you are applying again, but obviously, a year on, you will have more things to include: mostly things you’ve done throughout year 13 and your gap year plans. I cringed a lot reading back my personal statement from the beginning of year 13 so, although I kept in a few elements, I rewrote basically the entire thing.

Another thing I started straight away was looking at my uni options. All of a sudden I had to research more than just university rankings since the top 10 wasn’t within my reach anymore. After thorough (and I mean thorough) research my five choices were Surrey, York, Sheffield, Loughborough and Nottingham. I was really scared of getting rejected again that I just wanted to play it safe, get into somewhere and put my head down to study a subject I love. A few days before I sent in my application, I was talking to a dear friend who told me straight that I need to get myself together and aim higher; there’s no harm in applying to one or two universities that are uncertain or ambitious. So I decided to do a little more research. Last minute, I swapped out York and Sheffield for Bristol and Edinburgh. Now, I know that Edinburgh rejected me last year (spoiler alert: and again this year) but I figured that I could try again since my grades just meet their minimum entry requirements. Similarly, with Bristol, I may not have made their minimum entry requirements but I did qualify for a contextual offer so I decided it’s worth a try.

Nevertheless, the University of Nottingham was pretty much my top choice when I was applying. It’s the highest ranked university I could get into with my grades and it seems like a great place to be, but I was yet to visit it and see for myself. Within about a week of applying, I received an offer from Surrey and since I’ve never been there I even decided to go to an offer holder day - and I really liked it! Then, within about a month, I received an offer from Loughborough, which I still haven’t seen to this day. Then followed my offer from Nottingham which I was so happy and excited about that I remember the exact moment I got the offer. I had just got out of work and I turned on my phone and the UCAS track email popped up. My heart was beating so fast but I decided I won’t open it until I get home. In the end, I got so nervous that I opened it within five minutes of deciding that I won’t. I was over the moon when I saw that it was an offer from Nottingham - I could rest easy knowing that I could finally go to the university I wanted. Some time went by and I also got an offer from the University of Bristol! I actually couldn’t believe that I received four offers this year after the Great Disappointment of Year 13. Edinburgh ended up rejecting me again, but this year it didn’t affect me at all unlike the year before - I was more focused on the offers I did receive than this one rejection. I briefly considered firming Bristol and left my decision until after I’ve visited Nottingham and found out if I felt good there - and I did!

This brings us to now; I’ve got a secured place at the University of Nottingham, confirmed accommodation and I’m super excited and happy with how things panned out. I guess what you can take from this is that everyone’s journey is different and that things happen for a reason. If I went to university last year, I would’ve missed out on a lot of things I’ve experienced - some bad, some amazing. Not only that but I definitely wouldn’t have gone to Nottingham since it was a uni I didn’t even consider the first time around. Even if it takes a little longer or the road is a bit more winding, you end up where you’re meant to be. Sometimes life takes a detour from the plans we already have, but everything has a purpose.

Trust your journey.

Love,

Agnes xo