Holding on, the career connection, new guides from UCAS, and the great northern powerhouse.
😊 Welcome
This week, we get some accidental advice from my two elder (and wiser) sisters.
We look back at the connection between universities and careers.
We hear about some super-useful new Personal Statement guides from UCAS.
And we hear about a university in the north that I have a bit of a soft spot for.
As always, please forward this email to anyone you think might find it useful!
✍️ 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!”
And of course, she is quite right. The most obvious case is probably relationships, especially those we have as teenagers, but that’s not really my specialty.
What is my specialty is choosing and applying to universities.
So here are three instances where “hold on, but not too tight” is exactly the right advice.
One for students, one for parents and one for advisers.
🗄️ From the Vault: “Go to university!” they said. “It’ll get you a good job!”
As with last weeks “From the Vault”, this is for those of you who are right at the start of the university application process.
One of the things you are going to need to come to terms with is thinking about why you are going. Many students go with a specific career in mind, while others go without a clue what career they are heading towards. But research shows that pretty much all students expect their time at university to help them build their career in some way.
So what exactly is the link between your university experience and your future career?
💡 Did you know?
UCAS have just launched a whole range of subject-specific Personal Statement guides, aimed at students who will be applying for 2026 within the new Personal Statement structure. There are around 70 of these, covering just about every subject possible. Each starts with some generic advice about writing the statement and goes on to look more specifically at the type of things students could include in each of the three sections.
These look like a decent, worthwhile attempt to help students understand what is being asked of them in these new Personal Statements, so do have a look!
📸 Snapshot: Newcastle University
Became a university in: 1963
Student population: 27,850 (2022/23)
Location: City centre campus for most academic buildings and facilities
Subject areas: Almost every traditional university subject is taught across the three faculties: Humanities & Social Sciences, Medical Sciences, and Science, Agriculture & Engineering
Admissions: Generally competitive, with grade requirements from AAA to BBB. Interviews not normally required, other than Medicine, Dentistry and Music. Note they have widespread use of contextual offers and special admissions schemes.
So, I have a bit of a soft spot for Newcastle. I studied at Edinburgh, but had a friend who went to Newcastle, who invited me to go and join a band there. I spent a bunch of weekends rehearsing in various student flats and halls of residence, and performed in pubs, halls and the Student Union. Back then it struck me as a quality university in a really down-to-earth, friendly and vibrant city.
And while times have moved on, those things still apply.
That's all for this week. Thanks for reading!
Jonathan
🎯 In case you missed it
Last week we had a super-interesting and inspiring interview with ZNotes Founder and CEO Zubair Junjunia. If you didn’t read it last week, you really should!
