University Course Review

Students that go to university are often ill-prepared in terms of what to expect of their courses and living environment, as their only source of information is the limited handouts they receive from their university coupled with the course outline and a list of a few books they will have to study from. As you would expect, the more competitive universities, which by definition means the ones that are harder to get a degree from, tend to give out fewer handouts than others. This is because it is expected of the students, who are assumed to be amongst the smartest of their age group in the country, to go away and learn for themselves what the course will entail and the general content of their undergraduate university courses. The major difference between learning at school and studying at university is that the onus is on university students to conduct their own personal research and not rely on their teachers and professors to spoon feed them through their degrees. Clearly, this is a great learning experience, for when students eventually have to go and work in the real world but it can be a daunting experience if you are simply not expecting this to happen. We believe that if students can find out beforehand what their courses will actually be like as told by some students currently undertaking the course, they will be much happier once they start their degrees and will be in a better position to succeed.

University Courses UK

Our primary objective is to supply clear and accurate descriptions regarding a range of different university related fields. We do not have hundreds of different adverts or a load of random and often irrelevant student offers to grab your attention on every page; instead we have packed our website with honest, useful and practical advice and descriptions written by students. Plus we have included plenty of handy statistics such as the ratio of males to females, and the percentage of graduates that are employed within six months following the successful completion of their university degree. These statistics are invaluable in comparing one university with another, especially when they are combined with the rankings as given by the top university guides. We currently cover 1130 university degree courses across the UK from over 300 universities and hope that the information and knowledge that can be gleaned from our website can be put to good use when it comes to making the very important decision of what university and what course to undertake. Our website only came into being in 2009 after we realised that our independent research showed that over one in two university students admitted to not knowing what to expect from their course, or at least felt unprepared for it. Our initial research also indicated that a very significant eight per cent of undergraduates regretted choosing the course they were on as a result of being ill-informed, and were keen to switch to a different degree course.

Start off on the Right Foot

Out of all our research the most shocking statistic that we discovered was that only a minuscule six per cent of students said that they were very prepared for university life and their courses, which means that a staggering 94% of students were going to university at best only slightly prepared for what to expect. Given that undertaking a university degree represents one of the most important and significant things that anyone can do, we felt compelled to at least attempt to make more students better prepared for university life. One of the major contributing factors to students being ill-prepared for university is the simple fact that students who are coming to the end of their school or college courses have an incredible amount of choice when it comes to deciding what university degree course to take. Clearly the idea of going to university after finishing school or college is a logical one, but as there are over 300 universities and a thousand courses from which to choose from it can be difficult to know where to start. Information that is available is in the majority of cases written by the universities themselves, who normally give a very biased opinion with their literature more akin to marketing material than helpful advice; or journalists, who are not in the ideal position to be giving advice. As a result many students end up making misinformed judgements regarding their future and end up regretting their decision at some point down the line.

Be Financially Prepared

One of the most simplest pieces of advice that students should be made aware of is that when it comes to budgeting make sure to know how much money you have to start with. Although this may sound like an obvious statement to make, students are often left out of pocket after spending money on the most basic and essential of items ranging from rent, bills and shopping to nights out and clothes. It can be a great challenge to keep track of your expenses whilst at the same adapting to new surrounds and undertaking a difficult course, so if you are able to know how much you have to spend from the off, you can calculate how much spare money you will have at your disposal whilst studying psychology university courses or other similarly challenging courses. To make life easier get yourself a cash book or start a spreadsheet on your computer and write down everything that goes in and out of your account. One page should represent one month and you can then list all the transactions, such as rent, tuition fees and so on, that you know will take place. This will represent the money that will be debited from your account each month, which can then be compared to your credit amount, or the amount of money that you know will be coming in to your account each month. The difference will be the spare money you will have for the month to play around with.

A Change of Lifestyle

The day that you’re A-level results come in can be a mix of genuine excitement and anticipation. The joy of finding out that you got the grades to get into the university of your choice quickly subsides only to replaced by fear and doubt regarding life without your friends and family. As the summer comes to a close you will likely feel increasingly worried about what life will be like and whether you will be living with a weirdo in the next room or if you will have the confidence to introduce yourself to complete strangers. If you look at a university course guide it will not normally mention what to expect on the day you move in, but from our experience most students will testify that the day you move in to university digs will be such a hectic affair that you’ll forget to be worried. This is then followed by Fresher’s Week, comfortably the time of your student life in which you will have the most fun. You will get plenty of opportunities during this week to meet new friends, start to build solid friendships and have a great time. It is important to be yourself during this time and try and be friendly as possible as then you are sure to sustain the friendships that you strike up. Once lectures begin you will start to meet even more people, and by consulting a university course review you can see how many people will be taking your course.

Student Loan Hints and Tips

The best way to finance your university degree is to take out a student loan. It is very easy to apply for this loan by simply going online and completing a set of questions, or by requesting a paper copy of the form to be sent to your address and completing it by hand. Make sure to send it in on time and be aware of the deadline day, as if you don’t get your form in on time you run the risk of your payments being delayed. Within a few weeks you should receive confirmation that your form has been received and then you won’t hear anything else back for a time. In fact you will only get a provisional notification of finance a couple of weeks before your university courses UK term starts, which will be followed by a final notification of finance. It is in this final notice that you will find out the breakdown of your payments in terms of when and how much you will be paid. Make sure to keep these papers in a safe place as you will more likely than not need to present these when your university enrolment begins. The loan is normally split into three categories. First is the Tuition Fee Loan, which is paid to the university directly covering the costs of tuition; second is Student Loan that represents the money they are lending you, and third is the Maintenance Grant that you will not have to pay back.