Queen Mary: I'm coming

Yep, as the title says, I've made up my mind and last Friday I accepted the offer Queen Mary had sent me!!
My insurance choice is, of course, the University of York, but I am definitely not going there because their conditions (87% alla Maturità) are higher than Queen Mary's (85%) so if I can comply with them, I would anyway be accepted at QM too.

In the meanwhile, I have also applied for Accomodation on campus and I will receive an answer between July and September :)

Indecisive

Hello,

I had just made up my mind about where I wanted to go, on the same evening after the University of Leicester open day, when the University of York emailed me to tell me I had been offered a place there as well. Of course I am glad to know that, because I have always liked York, but... come on, I had just come to a decision!! I though that, since Queen Mary had said I need to accept early if I want an accomodation on campus, I wasn't going to wait any longer for York to accept me. But it turned out that I had thought too early and now I am back to struggling! I can't decide between Queen Mary and York: on one side there is the fact that I felt good about QM and that I actually visited personally, so it's a first hand judgment, on the other is my love for York as a city and for the uni after what I have heard and seen online.

In the meantime, I have started my application at Student Finance England to obtain a Tuition Fee Loan, regardless of what institution I choose. It's pretty easy to apply, apart from the fact that they require a National Insurance Number to hand out payments... and being Italian I don't have one, so I'll have to work out how to get it!

I'll be back soon,

Martina

University of Leicester open day

Hello!

As I said yesterday, today mum and I went to the University of Leicester's open day. This one was a lot longer than Queen Mary's as it started at 10am and went on until mid-afternoon.

Last night, we had already walked to the uni to check its location, so we knew where to find it and it didn't take us too long to reach it, but we had again enough time to look around and I definitely decided I love the city: it's all so green, airy and handy for students! The campus is spread along London road and it takes a little while to get to the end of it, but it is very pretty looking :)

Anyway, around 9.30am we registered at The Square in the Students' Unions building and we were given badges, pens and brochures. We then waited to be called and in the meanwhile I had a chat with a second year history student who is going to Perth (Australia) next year! At 10am they walked us into a big hall where the Student Recruitment Manager, another staff member and two current students spoke for about 1h30. Before that, though, there was a video with some students talking about their experience at Leicester's university: it showed a lot of liveliness and it made a good impression on me, honestly.The first speaker then related all the uni's achievements, which are many, such as the fact that they connect teaching with researching (researchers are also teachers). She said all very interesting things, but I don't know... she didn't feel the same way to me as the man who said the same at Queen Mary did. The next person speaking mainly exaplined how to deal with finance as students, how to budget and earn money with part time jobs (and full time during the summer holiday). That was a pretty good talk because I finally got to understand how the Government Tuition and Maintenance loan/grant system works (but I will probably make a post about it)! Eventually, it was the students' turn to give us an insight of student's life in Leicester: they talked about working, relaxing, having fun, exercising, socialising and.... of course studying! It all sounded good and enticing, really!

After that, we were split into groups and showed around campus by 'ambassadors'. This time it was a boy and he took us to the library (awesome - it was all so modern and inviting!), the gym & the pool, some of the department buildings (Law, Physics & Astronomy - in front of which there was a brilliant clock showing the time of sunset and the zodiac - and Geology & Geography - where they had a replica of a young T Rex dinosaur), some gardens and the Students Union hall.

Lawn and the Management building

The Law building

Board in the Astronomy department

The "clock" outside the Astronomy building

The white building on the back is the Biology one

Mum and I then had lunch at one of the cafés in that same building (it was good, by the way!) and then walked back to the Geology building where we were talked through the basic info about my course, Biological Sciences. Here are the main topics he covered:
- possibility to swap to any of the other Biological courses (I applied for Genetics, even thought it is not exactly what I want), such as Biochemistry and Zoology, in the first year and the early second;
- in the first year all the undergraduates (about 160 or so) in the Biological Sciences fields follow the same lectures (5 modules I think) which give a broad scientific background, and are then divided in smaller groups for practical lessons and tutorials;
- in the second year you have a change to specialise in one of the main fields, including those listed above (Genetics, etc...);
- the last year is dominated by the big personal research project, allowing students to join any of the research teams on campus;
- possibility to spend a year abroad (for Bio students this means Europe, USA or Japan) or working in industry.

When this introductive speech finished we were divided relatively to our chosen field (Genetics for me) and were led into a room where some of the academic staff talked to us. First, some of use where taken on a department tour and were showed lecture rooms, labs and various places around the science buildings. I then had a one-to-one chat with a professor, who asked me about my interests and other unis I have applied to, talked about his own experience and explained that Leicester really is a student-friendly city. He got me really thinking about the choice I have to make because, as I told him when asked, if I was to chose because of the areas the unis are I would pick Leicester (so pretty and airy)... but he reminded me that the main thing shouls be the course and I am not sure Leicester has the right one for me, especially because it hardly focuses on evolution and it doesn't give me many opportunities to develop some journalistic skills For the next half hour I spoke to a third year Biochemistry student from Singapore who told me about how the uni is, about the Unions and societies and we also discussed about the differences between Singapore, England and Italy! He was really nice :)

Lastly, at 3pm we went on a bus that took us to Oadby Village (3.5km away), where the main halls of residence are. We walked through all of them and were shown inside three places:
- a catered ensuite single room, which was just as big as Queen Mary's one;
- the dining hall for catered rooms;
- a self-catered (therefore with a bigger kitched) non-ensuite room, which was larger but just because the bathroom was not in there.

At 4.30pm it was all over... and we walked back to our hotel to catch a train to Stansted airport.

Soooo, how does all of this lead me? I really liked Leicester as a city and its campus was truly amazing, but I have doubts about the course... because while it does seem good, it just doesn't sound really right for me! I got really confused this morning after seeing how lovely the campus is, but I think I have clearer ideas now... I just have to give it some last thoughts!

Here you go, it's everything :)

I'll be back soon,

Martina

Queen Mary University of London open day

Hello again,

Today I went to my first University Open Day ever. It's kind of strange to think about it, you know?! It makes everything feel a lot more real and just about to happen. Anyway, it was really good and it made me change my opinion on Queen Mary University, seen that I hadn't taken it much into consideration in the past.

Let's start from the beginning! Queen Mary is not exactly in the very centre of London, but still on the Central Line of the subway so it's rather easy to reach and move around (that is if you know where to look for it, of course). Anyway, we were early out of the hotel this morning, so we went for a wander near the university and I took lots of photos of the streets and the outside of the uni.

Going to the uni

A squirrel in the middle of the road!

The front  of Queen Mary University of London

Mile End Road, where the uni is

We eventually stopped for a coffee at a place we walked past (if only we had been there last night, it would have saved us from all the spices!) and finally made our way to the entrance of the uni around 11.40am. The registration was meant to start 5 minutes later but they checked us in anyway. I got a sticker with my name and a green circle, standing for "Biology group", and then stood aside waiting with mum. In the meantime an Asian girl started talking to us and saying I would have loved Queen Mary by the end of the tour (she is in second year).
After a while, they walked us to a hall where we sat until everybody (around 25 students plus some parents) arrived and the Senior Admission Officer (I think) started introducing the university. He showed us some data about Queen Mary's rankings among UK unis and told us we are some of the ones who have been chosen amongst all the other applicants who were refused and therefore he hopes we will pick Queen Mary as our first choice.
Later on he passed the microphone to the Director of Studies of the School of Biological and Chemical Sciences (Mr Evans), as the Open Day was specifically about this faculty, who related facts about the history of the university, the research carried out at Queen Mary, the Study Abroad possibilities (eg. Australia!!!), etc... All along, both of them were funny and friendly and very down-to-earth so it was impressing, in a good way of course. In the end, the first man who had spoken (can't remember his name!) finished the session with a short introduction to accomodation and possible careers or further study.

After this, we had a lunch break in the back of the room, but I only had some crisps. We were invited to talk to any of the staff members or current students in the room and I had a chat with the responsible for the accomodations, the Career Advisor, that man (yep, always the 'un-named' one) and a student. The first one explained that we are granted a place on campus only of we choose Queen Mary as our firm option, come from further than 1 hour from the uni and we apply for a room before the end of June, but also told me I can't choose a specific house whereas I will have to select five and will be put where they can fit me in. The student and the Career advisor both explained to me what to do if I want to pursue a career in Scientific Journalism: the former said there are specific courses held in the third year (which sounds pretty interesting!) and the latter told me that, while my degree will guarantee for the 'Scientific' part, I should be involved as much as I can in writing activities, such as joining the uni's newspaper and blogging (when I told her I already had a blog she said any topic would be fine, until I have some more Science knowledge to expose, as long as I write in English - which I am trying to do, as you can see). The un-named man just talked about his own experience, as he had started uni wanting to be a Scientific Journalist but had then preferred lab science! They really reassured me about what I want to do, telling me that it is perfectly doable and that it's easier to be a Scientific Journalist with a Science degree than with a Journalism one :)

Around 1.20pm we split up in groups led by a Student Ambassador, in our case a girl named Hannah,  and went for a campus tour. She showed us the various student services (such as the nurse, counsellor, etc...), the gym, different cafés and restaurants, computer labs, the night club, the Biology builiding (where the Bio students spend a lot of their time - it looked great!!), the Chemistry building! It was cool :D Students definitely have no problems in finding food or activities ;)
Lastly, we walked throught the various Houses and another student let us inside a flat shared by 6 people: the common kitchen was small but perfectly usable and it had all that you need, the private bedroom... mmh... a bit small, especially the wardrobe and the washbasin, but nothing terrible ;) It's probably just me used to bigger spaces!
Here you go, some photos of Queen Mary University:

And this is it! At 2pm we were left free and took some time to walk around, before leaving the uni and going back to the hotel to collect our bags to go to Leicester! Tomorrow we will be visiting the University of Leicester, which I really liked from the brochures and the website.

In short, I really changed my mind about Queen Mary and am actually seriously considering the possibility of choosing it as my firm option because of how friendly everybody, staff included, was and how good the university looked and sounded!

Bye everyone :-)

London!!!

Here we go,

We are in London!!We left this afternoon under Italian rain and came to English rain :P The travel between London Stansted and here took us about 2h on trains and subway, now it's time to go exploring around!

View from the hotel window

...later...

After asking a thousand of people and getting lost just as many times, we eventually found the uni, so I think we will get to it easily tomorrow morning! The problem was having dinner though... we walked aroudn for over three quarters of an hour and only found take away plaves! After a while i was exhausted and with my back hurting from skiing so I dragged my mum into a Turkish restaurant, the only one with seats, called "Royal Spice"... well, cosnidering none of us likes spices...! Mmmh... let's say it wasn't the best dinner ever... we were only saved by the classic chips and some nan bread that coverede a bit the spicy taste of the lamb chops!

Spicy Lamb Chops

Now we are back at the hotel, tomorrow University :D

It's time for Open Days

Hi :)

I'm back with a very short post to say that tomorrow I'm flying out to England for a few days, because on Tuesday and wednesday I will be visiiting universities, respectively Queen Mary University of London and University of Leicester, with my mum! It's gonna be fun ;) I'm truly curious of seeing myself two of the unis that have accepted me, especially considering that Queen Mary started sounding interesting to me just in the last couple of days.

Okay, I'll be back to you to tell you about the universities!

XOXO

Cambridge interview and other news

Originally published on Back from my Aussie world on the 23/11/2013

Gooodmorning ;)

How are you?
Maybe the title has already given something away, but... guess what happened this week! Yep, I have been invited to an interview at the University of Cambridge on the 18th of December *-* *-*
I know, it means nothing yet, because they only take 1 out of every 5 that undertake interviews (I think), still I have a chance at least! Anyway, at lunchtime on the 17th of December I will be flying out to England with my mum and will be coming back on the 19th, considering that the interviews start at 8.30am and the last bit only begins at 6.30pm!!! I'm already kind of nervous, but for now I am mainly super excited because they are giving me a free COLLEGE ROOM ALL FOR MYSELF FOR TWO NIGHTS (mum will have to stay at a hotel)! I'm soooooo excited about being in a Uni campus :) And I will be meeting some of the current undergraduates who will guide us around!

Ok, let me tell you what I know so far about how these interviews work:
1) fron 8.30 to 9.30am I have a written maths and biology test (really?! Only one hour?!) with all the other candidates;
2) at 3.30pm I have the first oral interview, with two examiners, concerning my chosen subject (aka Biology), my reasons for choosing Cambridge, various Science topics... Arggh! Now I have to revise all that I have done in Biology in the past years!!!
3) At 6.30pm I have my last interview, with two examiners again, but this time covering more general topics, myself, current news, the stuff I have written in my Personal Statement, etc...

Yeah, it will be a pretty intense day, but here is another pro (one of the many of course): I will see Cambridge again, after four years since the last time (I was in Nottingham at a summer school and went on a day trip there), and it is such a beautiful town! Moreover, I'll be able to check out Magdalene college, the one I picked, from up close (actually from the inside!) :) 

Now that my long talk about Cambridge is over, I can give you the news I mentioned in the previous post... I HAVE BEEN ACCEPTED BY THE UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND TOO (Australia) just about three weeks ago *-*
Here things are even more complicated... I haven't told my parents yet [now that I am reposting this, I have told them] because it would bring up a mess, so for now I'd rather keep the news from them and enjoy for a little longer my hope of going there and the satifaction of having been accepted in Australia as well! 

Ciaoooo!

First university news

Originally published on Back from my Aussie world on the 8/11/2013

UNIVERSITIY NEWS :D out of 5 English universities I have applied to, 2 have already answered me:
- the University of Leicester me accepted me on the condition I score 90 at Maturitá;
- the University of Lincoln first accepted me and then refused me, when I wold him in the last year I am not doing Biology nor Chemistry, aka the two subjects mentioned in their conditions. What?! It really isn't my fault if I am not doing them... It's not like we can pick our own subjects here! 

Actually, I have another news to give you about uni, but I'd better wait for now, so you'll find out what it is later on.

IELTS

Originally published on Back from my Aussie world on the 7/09/2013

Good afternoon :)

I'll take some time to tell you about the IELTS* exam, necessary to study in England if you are from a non-English speaking country, that I sat today!

Anyway, it's divided in four parts (one less than the FCE** and the CAE*** -  the IELTS doesn't have the "Use of English" part): listening, reading, writing and speaking.

1) The listening task is a lot easier than the one in the CAE, in my opinion! The speakers didn't have particular accents and they didn't speak too quickly :) The hardest thing is the fact that you hear the recording only once, whereas in the other Cambridge exams you hear everything twice.
The first task was about a student going abroad for a work experience, the second about two Australian students talking about Uni, task three was about a homeswap-holiday agency and finally number four was about a research about how people conform to their group's behaviour.

2) The reading, again, is far easier than the CAE's one but there are some parts in which you have to think for a while, for example the tasks when you have to choose a title for various paragraphs among a list of given titles!
Task 1 was about a geothermal project on an island, task 2 about herbs and plants' methods to defend themselves and task 3 about textile crafts in New Zealand.

3) The writing was just like in any other exam, very similar to what was in the CAE but a bit more technical.
In the first task you have to analyse, describe and compare the data of a (or more) table/graph. In our case it was about the percentage of adult Australians not doing any physical activity which varies with the increase of age and the sex difference.
The second task asked us to write an essay about the development of large out-of-town stores making small in-town shops disappear with disadvantages for people who don't have a car and for everybody because of the presence of more traffic. So the question was something like: do the disadvantages outstand the advantages in your opinion? Why?

4) The speaking was the part I was more nervous about because I hate talking to strangers... However, my examiner was very nice so I was more at ease than I expected :) At the beginning she asked me what I do in life and when I told her I'm still in high school she looked at me all surprised (the other candidates were all either at universitarians or working people). Then she asked me some questions about gifts (among the others... "what was the best gift you received in your life?" and I was like "Definitely the plane ticket for Australia this summer!"); then in task 2 I had to talk for about a minute about a given topic (in my case a trip on a bus/metro) but I stopped after only 40 seconds as I didn't know what else to say... But she gave me some tips so it was good anyway! And in the end she asked me more questions about public transports and car usage :)

Over all, I think I did well :) I'll get the results in 13 days and I hope everything will be fine... IELTS is scored with marks ranging from 1 to 9 and I need an overall score of 7.5 (with a minimum of 7 in each task) for Cambridge or 6.5 (with a minimum of 6 for each) for all the other Universities I'm applying for... LET'S SEE WHAT HAPPENS :D

Byeeee

*IELTS = International English Language Testing System
**FCE = First Certificate of English (ovvero il cosiddetto First)
***CAE = Certificate in Advanced English (anche semplicemente detto Advanced)

Making my way to University

Originally published on Back from my Aussie world on the 6/06/2013

Hi guys,

Today I want to explain a few things about the aplpication process to English universities. Just bear in mind that a) I haven't applied yet, b)I might be doing some things wrong and hope I am not leading you off the track! Anyway, I think I have done it all right, thanks to the great official site for applications in the UK:  UCAS.

The first thing to do, is of course, choosing the subject you want to study, because in relation to that you will have do pick your institutions! Once you've chosen that, you have to visit the UCAS site I linked above and start an application. On there, you can find info on how to choose a uni, what to do to apply, what will happen aftewards and deadlines. That is, I thought I'd have do do all on my own, instead there is this website that keeps you on track. Eventually, after you have read all the info you are interested in, you can sign up for and create a student profile, which you will have to fill up with heaps of information about you (don't do it in one day, I suggest!)

1) In a section, you will have to type in your personal data, indeed, inserting the basic things you are asked whenever you are applying for something

2) The next section asks you about your secondary education, which got me stuck at first, because I hadn't seen the second part of this section and I kept trying to mark it as complete when it wasn't. At first, you are to insert the schools where you have studied (for Italian students like me, this means licei or istituti), including the dates in which you were there.
Afterwards you have to communicate all the certifications you have achieved at these institutions: English language certificates (eg. from FCE to IELTS), ECDL, certificates for other language or any other official activitiy available in their (long) list. You also have to include exams you have failed, you marks when you passed or the tag "pending" if you haven't heard back on your results yet.
Lastly, you are asked what level of schooling you will have reached when starting uni (in our case "Below honour degree).

3) There's a section called "Reference", where you have to nominate a referee, who will be sent an email by UCAS to write a reference on you. All you have to do here, therefore, is choose a referee and indicate his/her contact details (I chose my English teacher, seen as she is the only one who can write in English, out of all the teachers who have known me for years) and discuss carefully with him/her about your plans for the future, so that they know what they are meant to write.


4) Obviously, you now have to select which institutions are to receive your application. UCAS clearly specifies that you can pick up to 5 universities in the UK. For each of them, you have to select its name and the subject from two lists, a campus (eg. Cambridge has heaps of them, while other institutions only have one), a starting date (you have to choose between a deferred entry or a regular one).
For instance, I selected:

• University of Cambridge - Natural Sciences - Magdalene college - October 2014
• University of York - Biology - Main campus - October 2014
• University of Leicester - Biology - Main campus - October 2014
• University of Lincoln - Biology - Main campus - October 2014
• Queen Mary, University of London - Biology - Main campus - October 2014

Yes, I have applied to Cambridge as well... I know it's a suicide... I had though of leaving it out, at first, and wirte down Nottingham as fifth choice, as I didn't want to waste one of my 5 chances on a uni that is so hard to get into. But I decided to risk it all and try, because it's always been my dream and would regret it forever if I didn't give it a go!!

5) Most important of all, the section concerning the personal statement, which is fundamental and needs to be done carefully. In this statement you have to introduce yourself to the university, explaining why you chose a certain course, what your ambitions are, why do you think you are the right person for that course (remember you ahev to convince them to select you among hundreds of candidates!), what your interests are and how they are valuable to your chosen subject. If you are a student coming from a non-anglosaxon country, you have to show that you are good enough for their institution despite English not being your first language (pointing out you have been an Exchange student, if you have, is important here, because you have studied in English for some time!). In short, you have to be immodest and convince them you are the best candidate for their uni :P

I think these are all the main sections, while the others only give general info and ask you to tick boxes to confirm your understanding, so I don't need to explain anything.

What happens next? You pay UCAS (not much), in order to have them send your application through to your chosen institutions, then you will be sent a code to enter an area called "TRACK", where you will be able to see replies from unis.

One last thing, then it's all over! Since I am sending an application in Australia as well, I'll shortly talk about that too. The uni I am interested in is University of Queensland (UQ) in Brisbane and I'd like to go there because it's one of the few places allowing to study on a Dual Degree with Journalism and Biology (Bachelor of Science/Journalism). Obviously, I also love it because it's in Australia, and what's more it's in Queensland!
Main issues? It's terribly expensive and very far from home (which my parents don't like, considering it last 4 years, at least). I mean, it's strange for me as well spending so much time on the other side of the world, but I know I could make it, so I'll go on believing in this impossible dream.
Anyway, applying is rather easy, as there are only a couple of pages to fill in, print and send, without any serious difficulty. And about time, considering all the effort I had to put in to apply to the English unis, I am glad I found something a bit easier eheh

Ooook, it's over ;) I hope what I said is going to be useful to sombody! If anybody has further questions, don't hestitate to ask.

Here I am

Hi there,

I'm Martina, an 18 years old Italian student making her way to University. This blog is a continuation of my old one about my Exchange in Australia (Back from my Aussie world) , an experience that changed me and made me 100% sure that I wanted to study abroad. So, now, here I am, trying to work out where my future will be. I have applied to five English universities and an Australian one, now I have to make a choice and start my new life as a Biology student!
First off I will paste in the next posts all those regarding university that I had written in the other blog (translating them into English) then I will go on with everything else :)

Hope you like my blog!

Martina