If your starting to think about your UCAS application for January 2019 and ermming and ahhhing about which university to choose, the best advice I could give is to attend an Open Day!
Going to an Open Day is the perfect way to get an idea of what life is like at that university, whether you can see yourself fitting in and staying there for 3 or 4 years. Bournemouth Uni’s Open Days are honestly such fun (nothing to be worried or nervous about at all). You can chat to current students (like me) take facility and campus tours and also check out Bournemouth’s town centre and beach (there are bus tours which show you round) . However, what many people forget to do before coming is preparing a list of questions to ask about the thing that matters quite a lot: your course! During the day, be sure to attend your course talk (you can attend as many as you like and don’t have to book onto any specifically). Sometimes they are repeated throughout the day but do check the programme to be sure what options you have! You need to know whether the course is right for you so takes notes and don’t hesitate to talk to the programme leaders, lecturers and student ambassadors afterwards to fill you in on everything you need and want to know!
My top 10 questions would be:
- What sort of careers have your university graduates pursued after this course?
- What type of skills does this course nurture and develop?
- What are the key differences between first, second, placement and final year for this course?
- What is the exam: assignment ratio throughout the four years?
- What units have students really loved on this course?
- Are their field trips available?
- What have been the best/most interesting/challenging unit briefs on the course?
- How much group work is there compared to individual assignments?
- How many words to lecturers expect in an assignment?
- What is the graduate employment rate this year
Make sure you plan and prepare your questions and know who you want answering them. For example, ask the lecturers the factual questions then any personal or honest opinions you want will be best from the students. If you can, take an email or phone number just in case you forget something, otherwise Future Students Enquiry Team is always happy to help (and they literally know everything).
