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Your university choices confidence scorecard
So, you are making your final, firm choice of course. You read websites, chat to teachers, go to open days, and explore social media.
You want to be as confident as you possibly can be about your decision.
But decisions are complex right? And sometimes confidence doesn’t come easy.
So today, we’ll strip back your decision, right down to the essentials with my university choice confidence scorecard.
Don’t choose a career right now. Just be curious!
“Stop asking kids what they want to be when they grow up. They don’t have to define themselves in terms of a career. A single identity can close the door to alternatives. Instead of trying to narrow their options, help them broaden their possibilities. They don’t have to be one thing - they can do many things.”
That’s from Adam Grant, in his excellent book Think Again.
And in his wonderful recent careers book The World Needs You, JP Michel takes this starting point, and goes on to flesh out an alternative: The Challenge Mindset.
Meanwhile, James Clear, in his million seller Atomic Habits, warns against fixing your identity around something that is inflexible. Why? Because a fixed identity is brittle, and easily broken if it isn’t achieved, or is taken away from you.
University Admissions Tests: Everything you need to know right now!
I’ll be honest. I’m not really much of a fan of admissions tests for university.
However, university admissions tests exist, and for a number of courses and universities, they are a straightforward requirement.
And so this article is designed to help you navigate your way through them, understand what they are for and how you go about taking them.
Finding a sense of belonging at university
We all know how important it is to have a sense of belonging; in our family, amongst our friends, and of course, when choosing a university.
Why?
Because belonging affects everything at university; how much you enjoy the course, how good your mental health is, how well you do in exams, even whether you pass or fail.
So how do you know whether you’ll feel that sense of belonging when you are choosing a university?
Ten things you should know about the new UCAS Personal Statement for 2026
The other day I asked ChatGPT what it could tell me about the new UCAS Personal Statements for 2026. “Of course” it said before going on to explain that the new Personal Statement would consist of six specific questions. When I suggested that it was wrong, and there would be only three questions, it admitted “You're right!” before listing the wrong three questions.
ChatGPT, you see, gets its information from the wild west of the internet, and clearly on this particular subject, the internet doesn’t have a clue what it’s talking about.
So instead of trusting AI to sort the truth from the myths, here are ten actual, real, true things that you should know about the new UCAS Personal Statements for 2026.
Hold on, but not too tight
During a recent family chat about training for a half-marathon, I asked my sisters if they knew what you were supposed to do with your hands when running. Should you grip your fists like a boxer? Or just let them shake loose?
“Well…”, said the sister who was training, “Apparently you are supposed to pretend you have a piece of paper between your thumb and forefinger, then hold on to it, but not too tight”.
“Hold on, but not too tight?” says my other sister, “That sounds like great advice for pretty much everything!”
Zubair Junjunia, Founder and CEO of ZNotes
Last month I met with Zubair Junjunia, the Founder & CEO of ZNotes; a revision platform and online community for school students studying international qualifications.
We had an amazing conversation, digging deep into the what and the why of ZNotes and into Zubair’s own background and university choices.
Undoubtedly one of the smartest people I’ve had the pleasure of meeting, Zubair is nevertheless humble, honest and open and is building something a bit special with ZNotes.
For anyone looking to learn about the importance of community, anyone thinking of setting up their own business, or anyone looking for inspiration about their own university choices, this is a fantastic read!
We need to talk about money: Are universities actually worth it?
This week, two significant and interesting reports hit the world of higher education.
The first is Are universities worth it? A review of the evidence and policy options by David Willetts. The second is the 2025 Student Money and Wellbeing Report by Blackbullion.
One is an intelligent, articulate and well-researched piece, which provides a compelling analysis of the current state of higher education. It concludes that all is fine; media and political hype around the problems with degrees and university funding have got it all wrong, and university and the way it is currently funded is undeniably a good thing.
The other is a report that is barely more sophisticated than a master's dissertation, but manages to press exactly the right buttons, needling its way into finding precisely the financial problems that students face in their daily lives, and how it impacts their studies.
Making big decisions with a bias to action
A few weeks ago I wrote a piece about five mindset changes that I’d learned about in “Design your Life” by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans. I described one of these mindsets as “try stuff”, but the term they use for it is having a “bias to action”. For me it’s been such a game changer in my life that I thought it worth exploring a bit more deeply.
What is a “bias to action”? What does it look like when making long term decisions? And how can I start to make it a part of my mindset?
Choosing between different universities
Every so often I come across questions that challenge my assumptions about the university applications process.
Right now, loads of students are receiving their offers and starting to make firm and insurance decisions. Meanwhile, there are parents out there asking questions online that make me realise just how much I take for granted, having worked in the university sector for so long (30 years and counting…)
One question on a parents facebook group that has surprised me most in recent weeks has been a parent asking for thoughts on choosing between Loughborough and Nottingham Trent.
How to start building your career while you are still at university (Part 2)
Last week we began looking at how you can start building your career while at university, and in particular how understanding your own specific situation can help you work out what type of opportunities you should be seeking during your course.
This week we have a look at the huge range of opportunities that there will be for you to do this; all while studying your degree. While breadth and scale of opportunities will vary from place to place, every university in the country will have at least some of these available.
I outline the types of opportunities that will be available to you, and for each I have given an example of a university that you can look at to find out more.
How to start building your career while you are still at university (Part 1)
I am a member of a whole bunch of Facebook groups for UCAS advisers, parents and prospective students. They give incredible insight into the questions and motivations of different people, and occasionally I’m able to help answer some of the questions asked.
Earlier this year I saw a post by a parent which basically said:
“My son is in his final year of Finance and Accountancy, and we are wondering where he should be looking for jobs, as we aren’t really familiar with this sector.”
This is an unnervingly common question, and every time I see such questions I’m left pretty dumbstruck: How did it get to the point that three months from the end of a degree, parents are still worrying about their son’s next step?
Five mindsets for designing your life
I’ve just finished reading Design Your Life, by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans. It takes the principles of design thinking and uses these to help build your career. It's a great read, and whatever stage you are at in your career, if you feel things aren’t quite going to plan, I’d happily recommend it.
And for those of you who are in the process of making your university choices, there are five basic mindsets in the book that you can definitely apply to your university search.
So, today I’ll look at each of these mindsets, and how you can use them as you research and make your university course choices!
A super-quick guide to the Scottish Universities
I grew up in Scotland, studied at Edinburgh and then worked at Stirling for the first phase of my career. I absolutely loved my time at university, and it’s safe to say that I am a big fan of Scottish education. But is it really all that special? Is there really anything that sets Scottish universities apart from others in the UK?
Well, there are certainly some differences, but whether they are special, depends on you and what you are looking for.
Building on the approach that I took a couple of weeks ago, looking at similarities between universities based on a bit of history, I thought it would be interesting to look at the Scottish universities in three quite distinct groups:
Personal Statement checker
Have you finished your UCAS Personal Statement and want to know if it's any good?
Are you a parent who is looking at their child’s statement so you can give them feedback?
Or are you a teacher or adviser faced with providing feedback on lots of Personal Statements?
If so, this checklist is for you!
Just check for these eight essentials, and you’ll have a pretty good idea of whether your statement is good to go!
Six things I’d do if I were choosing a university course right now
OK, so I applied to universities in the 80s.
No league tables, no social media, and in fact no internet at all. Just a very large book in the school careers library with some serious lists in it. And a handful of prospectuses - though even those weren’t quite like the glossy brochures of recent years.
I basically chose on the basis of hearsay, reputation, and following in the footsteps of my siblings.
No disrespect to my siblings, but it was a pretty terrible way to choose a university.
Knowing what I now know, after a 30 year career spent in university marketing and admissions, it’s no surprise that if I had another chance, I’d do things a bit differently.
If you like… you might also like…
So, you’ve found a couple of universities you really like. Perhaps it’s the location, the campus, their approach to teaching? Or maybe it just felt right when you visited.
Now you want to find a couple more that are similar so that you can have a range of different options on your UCAS form.
So what about looking at universities with a similar history?
I know it might sound crazy, but history can tell you a lot about a university; its type of location, its architecture, its approach to teaching, its community feel, even its purpose; its very reason for existing!
Is it OK to apply for two different subjects through UCAS?
It's that time of year when loads of students are finalising their UCAS choices, and a question consistently asked of advisers is “Can I apply for two different subjects?”
Well, as with most things about applying to university, the answer is “it depends…”
But what exactly does it depend on?
10 amazing resources for making better university decisions
There are loads of league tables out there, and plenty of commercially driven so-called university advice sites out there.
But quite frankly, so many of them have lazy journalism, trotting out the same bland advice, or worse still, are filled with so many university promotions or “recommended unis”, that you can’t tell what’s impartial advice and what is paid-for advertising.
It’s tempting to name and shame the worst of these, but instead I thought I’d highlight some of the best, most genuinely useful resources.
10 ways to work out if a university and course is the right fit for you
Choosing a course and a university is a tricky business.
In this back-to-basics article, I suggest ten things that you should definitely be thinking about as you make your choices.
From campus life to teaching style, accommodation, cost of living and careers, we look at the essentials of finding your best fit course.