REPLIES

It’s done. Finally. Though my UCAS track page stated I have to reply my choices till the 7^th of June (as not all of them gave me answers till the 31^st of March), I’ve accepted my conditional offer as a firm choice and have chosen to use my insurance option on the only unconditional offer I’ve got.

What took me so long?

First of all, the university where I originally intended to study and which attracted me the most, certainly didn’t hurry with making offers or giving any notice of how my application is going. No invitation to an interview, no rejection, nothing! That kept me anxious for months and made me reconsider all my choices… and then right before the end of April I received the magic email from UCAS saying that something has changed on my application. I logged on to UCAS track, without any enthusiasm, expecting to see ‘unsuccessful’ written all over the place, well, ok, just next to the choice - Nottingham Trent, but no – there it was so longed for – a conditional offer. It seems a bit funny now, but my first reaction was far from being relieved. I couldn’t resist of making sarcastic comments, like “Oh, great, so maybe they could’ve waited a bit longer, you know, so that I would’ve lost my hopes entirely and  moved to another part of the country already!?”

Well, I’ve calmed down now, accepted my offer and I’m already looking forward to the beginning of semester. It’s almost frightening how definite everything becomes now. I’m committing to spend next four years in the same city, same university and suddenly it seems not almost frightening it’s just horrifying. Sometimes I catch myself panicking and thinking why on Earth I had to do this, why I just didn’t study in Latvia or why I didn’t buy an old Volkswagen van and went for endless travelling for the rest of my life!? xD In times like these I need to remind myself where all my ambitions come from, or think about how I felt visiting open days (twice!) or about all the times me and my friend were just standing on the other side of the road, staring at the NTU and thinking – Oh, god, we really want to study here, no matter what.

That reminded me of the quote, which might be a cliché, but still it’s so true. 

nicolesimon.tumblr.com

Now I just have to send proof of my qualifications to the uni, to get my place confirmed and put together all the final details for my student finance application and that should be it then. What about you?

Enjoy the spring!

Alina

P.S. Find the content of my blog interesting ?-  tell UCAS!

Undecided.

Well, first of all, I’ve received the magic envelope from IELTS examination centre. Turns out I did very good. I was right about reading part, that's the one where I got the highest score and I should probably spend more time writing essays as that's where I did the worst. Anyway, all in all, I got overall band which is even a couple of points higher than necessary for my chosen course. And receiving a piece of paper which gave me rights to ring my mum and proudly announce that I'm very clever made me feel soooo good and got me through the weekend flying a few centimeters above the ground.

It's already Tuesday now and I've to land down and make sure I stand with both feet on the ground. Unfortunately it doesn't come that easy. I've to apply for my tuition fee loan, but as I haven't decided were to study there is no really point of doing that as institutions for different universities may vary. Before going through the whole UCAS process I was so sure about my choices, which is the first one, second one etc. But now I still haven't heard back from my first choice and to be honest I have lost my hopes on that one, plus I have withdrawn one of the choices myself, mainly because I knew I'm not going to study there anyway and as I had received offers from other unis I just decided there is no point of wasting everyone's time.

The reason why I feel so uncertain about everything today is the fact that I'm not sure about my 2nd choice which now actually becomes first one and I don't want to make any rushed decisions. That's why I'm arranging trip to faraway Scotland ;) , I can't let go feeling of  'there is something about that school'.  I mean I didn't have a chance to attend open days (which plays HUGE role when making your decisions on where to study or at least it should), so I want to organize my own little version of it, just to see, touch, feel, hear everything, get an impression which you simply can't get from just visiting school's web site. I can't really justify why I didn't go for that some months ago, so now, right before the deadline of 9th of May I'll make my moves to help me one my replies or on opposite make me even more confused. Will see. 

Huh, my thoughts are very chaotic, so I'm sorry for the blog post of same kind. :)

Hope you're feeling more confident about your decisions!

Alina

Waiting for the IELTS result.

I should get the results of my IELTS in few days. I can’t really say I don’t feel nervous when thinking about the moment of tearing apart envelope and chaotically looking for the number next to the words ‘overall band’, but based on what I have heard form other test takers and how I think I did on the test day I might get the score needed. I think. Maybe.

Huh, I think I can honestly say I hate my lack of confidence when it goes to exams. It’s always been like that. It’s more like I’m afraid to say/believe I might have done good, because in case I didn’t it would feel awfully disappointing. Sort of trying not to get my hopes high.

Anyway, now when the excitement has faded away and I’ve stopped going over and over my possible mistakes I can actually talk about THAT day. First of all it is important to arrive earlier, but maybe too early will not do any good. I reached the examination centre around 7:30, which gave me an hour and a half to admire architecture of Jubilee campus of Uni of Nottingham, nervously walk around and check for billion times if I really have my passport with me and pen hasn’t run out of ink. Luckily me and my friend had to take the test on the same day, so when we run out of things to do while waiting for our exam we decided to listen to each others voice recordings we made while preparing for IELTS speaking part. Turns out it’s an excellent method how to have a laugh and relax. Honestly. I think the moment when in one of the recordings she ran out of things to say and called her cousin fat as a part of ‘describe a person you know’ made me burst into tears, because of laughing so hard. (One a more serious note – it is a great way how to practice for speaking part, when you get over that “I hate my voice on recordings” feeling you can really notice mistakes you’re making, which ones repeatedly and where your pronunciation sounds weird or unclear)

I know I didn’t get all the answers right on the first part which was listening. When I realized I have already missed the place where they give information whether that or this hotel has old fashioned interior I got quite nervous and had to almost force myself to let it go and focus on what’s left. All in all my biggest fears of hearing strange accents or low quality recording didn’t come true. That’s for sure, on your IELTS you don’t have to worry about technical things, they give you enough time to fill out answer sheets and all the instructions are clear and easy to understand.

About my score on reading part I feel much more confident, I seemed to understand all the questions and find the answers quite quickly. I would strongly advice to make yourself familiar with the type of questions and tasks you will see on IELTS. When you do a couple of practice reading tests it gets easier and easier on the next ones.

Writing part was the one where I had problems with the time limit. I finished both tasks, but I didn’t have that much time to check spelling or any errors. Plus, I always find it a bit irritating that on all the tests where you have to write essays, you’re expected to have an opinion about practically everything. It’s not even about the language you have to write in, but about the fact, that you’ve a very limited amount of time to form an opinion and then explain it in a logical and understandable way.

Well, and about speaking part, I don’t know, I believe I was too nervous and because of that I was mumbling too much and speaking even more chaotically than usual, so I don’t want to give any smart advices, because I don’t think I have ones. Maybe, just try to think about it as of a casual conversation with a friend. And breathe.

In other news: I actually did well on my interview and offer has been made. In order to be confident about my replies to offers I have decided to pay a short visit to Scotland. Couldn’t find any open days at the end of April, but hopefully I’ll get the chance to take a quick look at the school and get the feeling of Glasgow as a city.


Take care,
Alina

IELTS and interview

Huh, some time has passed since my last blog post. To be perfectly honest I can’t use studying hard or any other reasonable argument as an excuse. Though UCAS/UK blog stood still for a while, my whole application process has been going forward and for a moment short summary looks like this: I’ve submitted portfolio to 4 of my choices, 2 of them made conditional offers and I just had an interview with the third one.

Interview

At first when I received invitation to the interview I was a bit disappointed that I will not be able to attend it in person, simply because I faced difficulties arranging trip to Scotland on such a short notice. So I chose telephone interview. It has one advantage though – person on the other end can’t see you. Maybe it sounds silly, but it gives you a chance to use all the notes you want to and I think it’s less stressful than actually standing in front of admissions team. In fact I had the table and the floor around me covered with paper sheets showing me my notes/potential answers to potential questions, laptop with my portfolio, statements, and application details opened on the desktop, everything ready in case it might help me.

With all the preparation I had I still think I might have answered some of the questions differently and I had a feeling that I was too chaotic in my explanations about few of my projects. Anyway, it wasn’t that terrifying as I thought it will be and it was a good practice for future interviews.

Now, when I have had time to think over my experience I can give few advices. First of all DO prepare. Read all the essential information on school’s web site, write down questions for the one you couldn’t find there, visit open day’s if possible, check degree shows of last year graduates, gather all the information you can. It will show your interest in the course and in that particular university. I tried to think of possible questions I’ll be asked, wrote them down and came up with answers/key words. It calms you down and obviously it’s easier to answer if you have thought about it before. KNOW your work and be prepared to talk freely about any of your projects. For example I was asked to tell something more about one of the projects by my own choice and after that about one they wanted to hear more detailed about. Definitely expect being asked about your interest in chosen subject and what it means to you. As I want to study Interior Design I was asked to describe a specific space I have seen/been to and impact it left on me. Use it as opportunity to ASK questions, it’s also your chance to get more detailed insight of your course, subject and university.

All in all I think my interview went smoothly, I might even make a wild guess that successfully, but if really so I think my portfolio did the job, not my presenting skills. :)

I have IELTS date set on this Saturday. I’m scared to say the least. Huh, I find practicing speaking part together with a friend as a very relaxing activity. Trying to stay optimistic. :)

Feels almost better than Christmas

It's a new and potentially very cold day here in Nottingham and I finally got an email which starts with the magic words - "Dear Miss Ludviga Something has changed on your UCAS application ".
 

Offer. One. And not from my first choice, but it still feels good though. Condition is the one I already knew I will have to meet - pass IELTS. I was expecting invitation to interview, even looking forward to a little trip, but no, just the required IELTS score. Speaking of which, I finally managed to get a place on one of the test dates. Now I still have1 month and few days to live in growing fear and to improve my English. Oh, wish me luck!

Receiving this offer was also a wake up call, that I should pay a visit to UCAS web site and refresh my knowledge about offers and everything connected to this stage of applying. I know I have read it all before, but it's always good to make sure you got all the important dates right and what exactly to expect after making your application.

A bit on the negative note - I still haven't heard anything from my first choice. Before submitting my application I made sure they're accepting my qualifications and I will be considered as an applicant, but I still don't know when or if I need to submit my portfolio. Have contacted them myself, examined the whole web site, but nothing useful so far. That makes me nervous.

Plus, everyone say's that it might start to snow soon!? From what I have heard it usually causes big panic over here and everything pretty much stops. True or false? :)

deadline

So, this is it. Deadline has passed and I hope that you're on this side of a line.

Seems like UCAS facebook wall, has been a great help to many applicants. To me as well. Never underestimate power of social networks! I tried to reach UCAS by phone once, but after the first round of  "if you need this or that option, press..." I hang up. My question wasn't that urgent, so I decided to save myself a phone call. :)

Anyway, now it's the time to calm down, focus on what's left on the whole UCAS cycle and to submit my portfolio. For now I have heard back only from two of my choices. With one it's pretty clear, it has a deadline till when to upload portfolio and a short statement about my artwork. I'm still undecided about 15 images I will include though. I think many future art students would agree that it's a very hard process of choosing the ones which would show your skills the best and secure your place on a course.

I have quite a few 3D interior visualizations, made both as school assignments and as a client work, but I don't want for my portfolio to look "dry". All of the unis state that they want to see your artwork in its development, so including sketches would be essential to show your way of thinking, generating ideas. Nevertheless you have to show your passion for chosen subject and how the things you have done till now indicates your understanding of it. It is challenging to create a collection of images which leaves an impression, stands out, is focused on one particular area, but at the same time is original and shows your skills using different techniques.

Plus, I'm not that good with words. Art has always been something to hide behind and let it speak instead of me. And now, more seriously than ever before I'm required to talk/write freely about my work, ideas behind it.

Well, anyway, I think I have found a way how to keep myself creative on a daily basis and to practice "explaining" my creations. You could call it a bit less serious version of online portfolio, huh, but you have to start somewhere. So, if you feel like, take a look at A Sunday Kind Of Sketch and leave me your feedback.

Done! Done! Done!

Probably I shouldn't be so happy about the application I've submitted only 5 days before the deadline, but I am. It's a weird mix of emotions. I feel excited, nervous, happy, terrified and relieved at the same time.

Also there is a question which bugs me a bit. Am I the last one to sent off my application? xD Not that it changes anything, I'm just wondering if there is anyone who is still in this IJustSentItAndFeelSoExcited stage? Tonight I'll be still enjoying my excitement, but I know as the morning will come my always worrying mind will start to set up plan for all the other things I need to take care of to become a student in the UK.

Bot for now I will put on "With A Little Help From My Friends" for probably 10th time in a row and jump around my room for few more times. There is nothing I can do to affect my applications progress right now, so I might as well be careless for one evening. :)

To the ones who are still struggling with their applications - just make it in time. Make sure that no unfortunate coincidences, technical troubles would delay your application.15th of January is just one of the deadlines we all will have to meet. There are still a couple of left when applying for your tuition fee loan, submitting portfolios, replying your offers etc... and than a bit later getting your course work, essays..done in time.

Deadlines might seem a bit daunting at times, but I genuinely think it's good to have them.