Category: General
Posted by: gap year student
Since I last wrote, I have finally managed to get my application off to university. Since it was sent off a month ago, I have received one rejection and I have an interview in a month. Progress feels slow but I know that my grades should get me at least to the first interview stage which is the important bit, once I am there, experience can speak for itself I hope. Fingers crossed really but what happens happens and there is no point dwelling on it.
Date for the diary: March 12th, the results from the January resits of the exams are released and I will discover if I have managed to improve my grades. It is purely a pride thing, wanted to get better grades, I hope that I have succeeded.
At present, I am travelling down to Southampton in order to volunteer for a week at Vitalise then I return home for a couple of days, travelling to Ireland next week. Finding work has been a problem, as I guess can be expected given the economic climate and I can only feel lucky that I enjoy my stays at Vitalise that I will almost spontaneously pick up my stuff and come down. In fact, this trip is the result of several factors all clicking into place; although I have told work that I would like to return, they have given me zilch shifts for last week and this week, since I do not want to spend all of my money before I go away to Ireland I felt it would be sensible to get away, and it turned-out that Vitalise Netley urgently needed volunteers for this week. Since I am to be volunteering anyway, I figured that I could spend the time working towards my Vimpact award. Overall, I need to do 100 hours but I am hoping that I can include some of the hours from Christmas or do some fundraising / awareness work when I am back at home to give me additional hours.
Laters x
Date for the diary: March 12th, the results from the January resits of the exams are released and I will discover if I have managed to improve my grades. It is purely a pride thing, wanted to get better grades, I hope that I have succeeded.
At present, I am travelling down to Southampton in order to volunteer for a week at Vitalise then I return home for a couple of days, travelling to Ireland next week. Finding work has been a problem, as I guess can be expected given the economic climate and I can only feel lucky that I enjoy my stays at Vitalise that I will almost spontaneously pick up my stuff and come down. In fact, this trip is the result of several factors all clicking into place; although I have told work that I would like to return, they have given me zilch shifts for last week and this week, since I do not want to spend all of my money before I go away to Ireland I felt it would be sensible to get away, and it turned-out that Vitalise Netley urgently needed volunteers for this week. Since I am to be volunteering anyway, I figured that I could spend the time working towards my Vimpact award. Overall, I need to do 100 hours but I am hoping that I can include some of the hours from Christmas or do some fundraising / awareness work when I am back at home to give me additional hours.
Laters x
I had work at 6am this morning so I had to set my alarm for 4; I've been up since half past 4 and will be up for a number of hours more as I am participated in the charity walk for Sue Ryder Care later tonight. Although it is exhausting, I know that I am making the most of today.
After realising that in order to get into Glasgow University I will need to get almost full marks on my resits of Chemistry, I decided to draw a list of other Universities which I would be prepared to attend in the place of Glasgow. I was mildly surprised that I was able to create a list of around 20 universities and now I must wait for the prospectuses to arrive so that I may decide which of them is best to apply to.
The other step is to write a winning personal statement; I have found that the most important thing is to sit down and write all that you want to say to the university of the page then you can always shorten it later if necessary. Golden rule is to never say anything negative or that could be interpreted as such because universities will think the worst of you.
If anybody is struggling to write their personal statement, just drop me an email at: webmaster@thegapyearstudent.co.uk
After realising that in order to get into Glasgow University I will need to get almost full marks on my resits of Chemistry, I decided to draw a list of other Universities which I would be prepared to attend in the place of Glasgow. I was mildly surprised that I was able to create a list of around 20 universities and now I must wait for the prospectuses to arrive so that I may decide which of them is best to apply to.
The other step is to write a winning personal statement; I have found that the most important thing is to sit down and write all that you want to say to the university of the page then you can always shorten it later if necessary. Golden rule is to never say anything negative or that could be interpreted as such because universities will think the worst of you.
If anybody is struggling to write their personal statement, just drop me an email at: webmaster@thegapyearstudent.co.uk
12 months, 12 charities. Every month I shall be raising money for a different charity in a different way. This month I am participating in a 10K Midnight Walk in aid of Sue Ryder Care. I am hoping that I can raise a reasonable amount of money for the charity through sponsorships and donations. If anyone wants to donate, I have set up a Just Giving Page. Visit it at http://www.justgiving.com/morgantunney
My sign language course starts this Thursday, that's pretty exciting.
My sign language course starts this Thursday, that's pretty exciting.
they were better than I had honestly expected but they were not good enough to guarantee my place on Nursing at Glasgow. I sent an email to the admissions office and them are very strict about 3 B grades minimum entry so I shall be spending the next few months focusing on my resits to get my grades where they need to be.
As well as needing to ensure that I get my grades to where they need to be, I will have to go through the long and emotionally difficult process of reapplying through UCAS. Rather than applying to several universities as soon as I have finished the application, I will be sending my application to Glasgow and wait for a reply before sending to another university. This approach may not work as I can not guarantee a reply before the deadline for applications; if that is the case, I will be reconsidering closer to the time.
In just less than 2 weeks, I begin college where I will be studying a level one course in BSL. I know that I will have my work cut out but it will be interesting to see how well I can organise my time.
On the housing front, I have been looking on gumtree to find somewhere to live and I feel as though I may have found a few very good possible places to live.
Watch this space.
As well as needing to ensure that I get my grades to where they need to be, I will have to go through the long and emotionally difficult process of reapplying through UCAS. Rather than applying to several universities as soon as I have finished the application, I will be sending my application to Glasgow and wait for a reply before sending to another university. This approach may not work as I can not guarantee a reply before the deadline for applications; if that is the case, I will be reconsidering closer to the time.
In just less than 2 weeks, I begin college where I will be studying a level one course in BSL. I know that I will have my work cut out but it will be interesting to see how well I can organise my time.
On the housing front, I have been looking on gumtree to find somewhere to live and I feel as though I may have found a few very good possible places to live.
Watch this space.
It is not quite as drastic as that as I will always have the hospitality of my parents. Essentially, where I thought I had found the perfect place to live fell through. This is the second place that has just not worked. I am getting fed-up but in a way I am learning more of life than I ever could have expected.
Feeling that I had lost a lot of the key details of the beginning of my journey, I chose to copy all of my entries from before I really starting updating online. This means that I now have two introductions to my blog, detailing my reasons for writing. Part of me wants to get rid of the latest entries to welcome to the blog but then there is a part of me that tells me that is a bad idea as having a gap year changes you and a difference can be seen just in the first few months.
An update on how things are going is in order now. The landlord of the place I was originally going to stay was a true pain, he decided to rent my room out to another tenant then threatened to withhold my deposit. We managed to reach an agreement and he walked away keeping £100 of what I had given him originally; things did not end on good terms. I thought that I had found somewhere else to live but after a conversation with one of my housemates-to-be, I realised that the landlord has decided to make things more interested and I shall have to speak to him. For the sake of my sanity, I hope that I can reach a reasonable agreement with the landlord and I am able to move in soon. Finding somewhere to live is producing problem after problem - how much of a flavour of the real world am I going to get?!
The woman whom contacted me about the possibility of a bar job has not been in touch again so I fear that that card may have been taken off of the table. Once I find somewhere to live, I shall restart my search for bar work.
In the near future I expect that I will look for some work waiting tables. Assuming that I can get the bar work and the waiting experience, I should be well set both financially and in terms of experience to head off to university in 2010. Even more interesting is the possibility that I may have the money to be able to travel next summer, that would be amazing!
An update on how things are going is in order now. The landlord of the place I was originally going to stay was a true pain, he decided to rent my room out to another tenant then threatened to withhold my deposit. We managed to reach an agreement and he walked away keeping £100 of what I had given him originally; things did not end on good terms. I thought that I had found somewhere else to live but after a conversation with one of my housemates-to-be, I realised that the landlord has decided to make things more interested and I shall have to speak to him. For the sake of my sanity, I hope that I can reach a reasonable agreement with the landlord and I am able to move in soon. Finding somewhere to live is producing problem after problem - how much of a flavour of the real world am I going to get?!
The woman whom contacted me about the possibility of a bar job has not been in touch again so I fear that that card may have been taken off of the table. Once I find somewhere to live, I shall restart my search for bar work.
In the near future I expect that I will look for some work waiting tables. Assuming that I can get the bar work and the waiting experience, I should be well set both financially and in terms of experience to head off to university in 2010. Even more interesting is the possibility that I may have the money to be able to travel next summer, that would be amazing!
I started to keep a diary of what was going on in my life as soon as I decided that I was going to take a gap year, it was only later that a friend of mine suggested that it might be a good idea to turn it into an online blog. As a young person having left school, I have few skills which would be deemed as employable and if is becoming increasingly difficult to get a job as the economic depression sees more people losing jobs than gaining them.
Since I chose to take a gap year as late into the academic year as I did, I was left with very few options for what I could do with my year so I am taking every day as it comes. I am always welcome to suggestions as I want to do as much as possible with the short 13 months that I have left of freedom.
I have made the decision that from September I shall begin to study Lipreading and British Sign Language at a local college. Although I have not managed to enrol yet due to work commitments, I intend to at as early a date as possible. This is something that I have wanted to do for some time and am determined to do whilst I have this opportunity.
In addition, I have managed to attend one residential volunteering week in Chigwell, Essex run by Vitalise. Whilst there, I tried to do as much personal care as I could get away with. In doing the personal care, I found a strange enjoyment. It was during this week that I realised that Nursing is where I see myself in the future. I can understand how key having the work experience is to applying for a job of that type (or study that degree as the case is) as many of the other volunteers did not feel so keen to involve themselves in personal care.
What else should I embark on this year?
Since I chose to take a gap year as late into the academic year as I did, I was left with very few options for what I could do with my year so I am taking every day as it comes. I am always welcome to suggestions as I want to do as much as possible with the short 13 months that I have left of freedom.
I have made the decision that from September I shall begin to study Lipreading and British Sign Language at a local college. Although I have not managed to enrol yet due to work commitments, I intend to at as early a date as possible. This is something that I have wanted to do for some time and am determined to do whilst I have this opportunity.
In addition, I have managed to attend one residential volunteering week in Chigwell, Essex run by Vitalise. Whilst there, I tried to do as much personal care as I could get away with. In doing the personal care, I found a strange enjoyment. It was during this week that I realised that Nursing is where I see myself in the future. I can understand how key having the work experience is to applying for a job of that type (or study that degree as the case is) as many of the other volunteers did not feel so keen to involve themselves in personal care.
What else should I embark on this year?
16/07: Welcome to my blog - AGAIN!
I should have known better when I bought the hosting but I guess I figured that its pricing was just the way that these things go nowadays. What am I on about? Well, this is the second time that I have started this blog, the first time I wrote this blog was lost when fog city hosting, a company i had bought hosting from, disappeared off the face of the Earth. Do not trust so easily!
Anyway, enough of the rant. Who am I? I am a gap year student from England. I attended the same secondary school for 7 years so when the time came to make the big decision about university, I just got caught up in the tide and applied without really knowing what I wanted to do. My experiences throughout my last academic year helped me make the decision to write polite letters to each of the 5 universities which had offered me a place, asking if I could defer by a year. Having carefully worded my letters, I received a positive response from them all.
The exam results which determine where I shall be going come out in just over 1 month's time; as it stands, I am set to attend Glasgow University (studying Theatre Studies and Mathematics) if I get high grades or De Montfort University (studying Drama Studies) if I do not quite meet the grades.
So that is my little introduction, not much more to say. If you want to get in touch, you can email me at student@thegapyearstudent.co.uk
Anyway, enough of the rant. Who am I? I am a gap year student from England. I attended the same secondary school for 7 years so when the time came to make the big decision about university, I just got caught up in the tide and applied without really knowing what I wanted to do. My experiences throughout my last academic year helped me make the decision to write polite letters to each of the 5 universities which had offered me a place, asking if I could defer by a year. Having carefully worded my letters, I received a positive response from them all.
The exam results which determine where I shall be going come out in just over 1 month's time; as it stands, I am set to attend Glasgow University (studying Theatre Studies and Mathematics) if I get high grades or De Montfort University (studying Drama Studies) if I do not quite meet the grades.
So that is my little introduction, not much more to say. If you want to get in touch, you can email me at student@thegapyearstudent.co.uk
I don't appear to have kept records for this month. My guess is that I was so busy with work, attempting to earn some money that I was unable to note any significant changes. What happened during that month may well be lost forever but the outcome of it is likely to be evidenced in things that will happen.
26/05: Where am I now?
I feel back to square one in some respects as the response to my job interview last week arrived and I was not successful. I know I already have a job but the position which I had the interview for seemed like a fantastic opportunity and would enable me a large amount of freedom to make the most of my year. In some ways, I feel most irritated because it was just a group interview so I didn't feel as though I was given fair opportunity to demonstrate my worth but that's how job-seeking works.
On a more positive note, I have applied for a job that, if successful will give me such a reasonable income that I would be able to simply work 9 – 5 and the location of the job is close to where I will live also.
There is little further to report in the great job hunt for the gap year except, as a side note, I have acquired for myself a paper round which means that when I wake up early each morning, I have a reason to get up and make the most of my day.
It is incredibly difficult readying myself for the gap year because I need to know when college will be so that I can organise employment and knowing that I can gain work experience. Knowing that I am having a gap year makes me feel much more eager and ready for university but then I remember that I have no idea what I will be planning to do after I graduate. PGCE? Assuming I get where I want to go, I have 5 years to consider what options I have but it seems slightly unnerving entering into a situation blind.
Food for thought.
On a more positive note, I have applied for a job that, if successful will give me such a reasonable income that I would be able to simply work 9 – 5 and the location of the job is close to where I will live also.
There is little further to report in the great job hunt for the gap year except, as a side note, I have acquired for myself a paper round which means that when I wake up early each morning, I have a reason to get up and make the most of my day.
It is incredibly difficult readying myself for the gap year because I need to know when college will be so that I can organise employment and knowing that I can gain work experience. Knowing that I am having a gap year makes me feel much more eager and ready for university but then I remember that I have no idea what I will be planning to do after I graduate. PGCE? Assuming I get where I want to go, I have 5 years to consider what options I have but it seems slightly unnerving entering into a situation blind.
Food for thought.
