Transition at UCL - Student Blogs
Elaine - Before Coming to UCL
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What are you most looking forward to about university? Starting to study, in depth, a subject I have a great passion for. Meeting new people from all around the UK and world. Getting the opportunity to hopefully start a foreign language at the Language Centre. Buying interesting and challenging books. Finding new places to have lunch. Going out to bars and clubs that I never knew existed. Going to different parts of London that I have never been to. What are your main concerns about starting university? Knowing how much to revise for exams and how hard to study in my free time. Finding the correct books in the library and finding past papers for exam preparation. Getting to meet new people as I will not be living on campus. Finding my way around such a large university spread across London. Ensuring I take the correct and accurate notes in lectures. Ensuring all essays are to a high university-level standard. Making sure all my finances are above board and I budget myself effectively for travel, socialising and living. What do you expect will be the biggest challenge in adjusting to university life? I feel the biggest challenge to me will be trying to balance my time between meeting new people and studying hard. As I have not been to university before, I am unsure how much of a work load to expect. I hope that I will be able to find enough time to meet people on my course and other courses and still have enough time to study. I want to do well at my chosen degree and know that a good result at degree level requires time and commitment. However, I do also want to come out of university with close friends, who I will hopefully stay in touch with for most of my life. |
First Month at UCL
On my first day I found all the staff to be exceptionally warm and welcoming. As all the lecturers are so passionate about their subject, it makes it so easy to get enthusiastic about learning. As I live at home I thought I would struggle to meet other students, but UCL held so many events in Freshers week that I didn't once stop meeting new and interesting people.
My first impression of UCL is the diversity of people studying there. It is lovely to meet individuals from different backgrounds, countries and religions. So far, university life has been fast-paced, exciting and challenging. The range of extra curricular activities available is also amazing and exciting. Since getting my timetable I have decided to take up French at the Language Centre. I have also had the chance to look around the library where the range of books is fantastic!
Second Month
I have now been at UCL for five weeks and feel I am already in a routine. I have eight hours of lectures a week, so I have a great deal of free time to do independent studying and background reading. For every module I have a reading list and usually the lecturer will tells us what he/she would like us to read from that list in advance for next week. I find this exceptionally helpful as it gives me the chance to tackle readings on my own.
I particularly enjoy my tutorial consisting of two other students. Within the hour we read out our essays based on a selected extract and discuss the essays and the extract. This was daunting at first, however I now find it invaluable to be able to discuss my work with fellow students confidently and gain their opinion as well as my tutor's.
I am also thoroughly enjoying my French evening class, where I have met new people from outside my course. I am looking forward to progressing to a level where I can start to read philosophical texts in their original language.
One of my main concerns before starting UCL was making friends and balancing my time equally between socialising and studying, especially since I am living at home. However, I have already made some wonderful friends who I sit with in lectures and have lunch with. I have also become very accustomed to the library over the last month. As my course demands a great deal of reading I find myself in there almost everyday reading and photocopying.
Fourth Month
Before breaking up for Christmas I volunteered to show around a group of A-level students who had just had their interview and entrance exam. They seemed very focused and interested in life at a London university. However, most seemed apprehensive about their exam and interview. Talking to these prospective students reminded me how I felt when I was applying. I think the skills you learn in this process are very valuable, as you will go through a similar process when applying for jobs and post-graduate positions. It is important to learn from it!
On return to university life and studying, it was lovely to see all my friends again and find out what they had been up to over the Christmas period. I found the time off gave me a chance not only to relax, but to do some reading or revision that I had not otherwise had time to do. Of course I saw lots of my old school friends and have now made plans to visit one of them in their university up north. It will be interesting to see what life is like in another completely different university.
Unfortunately, I did get a bad cold over part of my holiday. However, it was probably best to get it then rather than during term time and consequently miss valuable lectures. At the end of the day, if you do miss lectures it is not the end of the world. Just make sure you make some good friends and I am sure they will gladly photocopy notes or get handouts on your behalf.
However, don't use this as an excuse to take an extended shopping trip or holiday. The best lecture notes you can take are the ones made by you. People only take notes on things they do not know or think are interesting. My notes can sometime be very different from that of the person sitting next to me.
Fifth Month
The month of February has been an activity filled month. .
Obviously, Valentine's Day held an evening filled with parties and student evenings at numerous clubs around London. The student elections also took place this month where students fight it out to get a place on the student committee as representatives of all the students at UCL. This is definitely an excellent way for people looking to use their persuasive and selling techniques to win over students all around UCL. It is also a fantastic extra-curricular activity to put on your CV.
On to the academic side of this month, I was asked to choose what exams I want to take in May. The best thing about university is that you can specialise in a subject you have a passion for and put your energies into the areas you have a flare for. At the beginning of the year I was worried about such decisions on exams, however now it is clear what areas of Philosophy I particular enjoy reading about and which I feel I will do well in.
Now that the year is coming to an end I can see the different stands of Philosophy linking up and as I am reading more texts I can now see what eras of Philosophy I enjoy most and which Philosophers I agree with more so than others.
I would advise any prospective student to any course that the more reading you could do before starting the course or during the course, the better. By reading a wide range of works you will develop stronger opinions of your own and be able to argue for these opinions with a greater understanding.
Page last modified on 21 nov 06 17:07 by Ian C Bartlett
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