Summer next steps

We heard from James Clear (author of Atomic Habits) the other week, that “You don't need to have it all figured out. You just need to know your next step”.

As you finish your school year and head into the summer break, you are probably caught right in the middle of a dilemma: On one hand you are tired, you want a break, and you really don’t want to think about school or university. On the other hand, the fact that you aren’t 100% sure about what you are going to do next, and the pressure from parents and teachers to get some decisions made, or some back-up plans in place, is stressing you out.

So, how do you square this dilemma?

Well, the answer is simple: instead of feeling you have to have everything figured out completely, instead, just have two or three things in place that you can take action on over the summer.

Whether you are in year 12 heading into year 13, and are making some initial university choices, or whether you are in year 13 and heading off to university, I have you covered with three suggestions of really practical next steps that you can take to make sure you keep moving forward with your choices.

Finishing year 12 and heading into your final year?

If you are heading from year 12 into year 13 you probably think that everyone around you knows exactly what they want to study, and where they want to study it.

You couldn’t be more wrong; most students simply don’t have it all worked out at this stage.

But I do have three things that you can do to make sure you keep moving these decisions forward:

1. Narrow down your subject choices to just one or two that you’d like to investigate

If you haven’t chosen your course, don’t pressurise yourself into choosing it now. But do plan one or two activities that will help you explore a couple of options. This could be doing a short online video course on Springboard. It could be reading something from a university reading list. It could be contacting a current student online via Unibuddy. It could be attending an online or in-person taster day at a university. Whatever you do, it will help you to rule in, or rule out that subject and help you get a little closer to a good decision.

For more ideas on what to do, see: Super-curricular activities.

2. Draft your Personal Statement

If you are in the position where you know what you want to study, then writing a Personal Statement can be a genuinely reassuring way to firm up the decision in your mind. If you aren’t sure about what to study, then drafting a Personal Statement can often be exactly what you need to rule subjects in, or out. The moment you try to put in writing the reason why you want to study something, is normally exactly the moment when you realise whether or not it's true!

For a short course on writing your Personal Statement, go to: How to write your Personal Statement.

3. Get together a long-list of universities

Whether you have made a final subject choice or not, you can probably get together a list of 15 or so universities that you might consider. Whether it’s about their distance from home, their location (city, town or campus), about their entry grades, or something else, it's a great idea to start to reduce the 180+ higher education institutions that are out there, down to a more manageable number that you might actually consider attending. Once you have a list, pick two or three and book onto their open days in autumn.

Now…

If you are thinking of applying for Oxford, Cambridge, Medicine, Dentistry or Veterinary Medicine, then you do have an earlier deadline than others. Never-the-less, I’d still encourage you not to put unnecessary pressure on yourself to make the final decisions right now. Instead, set yourself a deadline later in the summer on which you’ll make the final decision. Then, starting now, create a plan to do each of the above three actions.

Follow the process, and the decision will come! 

Finishing year 13 and heading off to university?

For most of you leaving year 13, you’ll have made your decisions, and chosen a firm and insurance choice with conditions that you’ll be confident of achieving. If so, move straight to number 3.

If, however, you are worried that your exams didn’t go quite as hoped, I’ve got you covered.

1. Check out the UCAS historical entry grades

This is a new set of data that shows you what grades students had, who got into the course in the past. Each course page on UCAS has a section in the entrance requirements titled “Entry grades data (beta)”, and it gives you the lowest grades that students got in with in recent years. While the data is not a definitive prediction of what will happen this year, it may well reassure you that you are going to be just fine, or it may suggest you need a fall-back.

For more information see: UCAS historical entry grades data.

2. Prepare for the possibility of Clearing

If you think you might need a fall-back, then the one practical thing you can do is draft up a list of universities and courses that you would consider going to if you don’t get your firm or insurance choice. Check out the historical grades for these courses too, and write them down. You could even go as far as to put them in order of preference.

Then on results day, if the worst happens and you don’t get your first or second choice places you’ll have a nice clear list of alternatives. You can then check if these are available in Clearing and start calling the universities before everyone else does.

For more information, see: UCAS Extra and Clearing.

3. Get the boring admin out of the way

For most of you, the main things to do this summer will be pretty basic admin. Just make sure you don’t miss anything, or you could find you create unnecessary trouble for yourself. So:

• Check that you’ve sent everything the university has asked for: certificates, forms, accommodation choices etc.

• Apply for your student finance.

• And (for international students) prepare everything you are going to need for your visa application.

I’ve written plenty of times before about not running deadlines close, and about building slack into your lives, but I’ll say it one more time in a slightly different way: 

Summer should be a time to relax and recharge for next year. You probably won’t be able to relax fully if you have a ‘to do’ list hanging over you. So get as much of this stuff out of the way at the start of the summer, and you’ll have a much better chance of enjoying some down time afterwards!