Girls In Science

By Girls in Science for Girls in Science.

University

Uni Series : The Serious Case of Homesickness.

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Homesickness. 

The symptomatic pits of despair that whirl up within one abdomen resulting in a case of semi-traumatic outbreak and emotional out-pour.

Firstly there is a great need to say that if you are experiencing homesickness within the first few weeks, months perhaps even years of University – you are not by yourself. Most emphatically being homesick means that you have a loving close-knit family , and you shouldn’t be too overtly concerned with the big change of moving X amount of miles away from them. So just in-case you feeling all to solemn about moving away, here are some tips to get rid of your homesickness bouts.

  1. Stay Positive – Unless you’re studying abroad, or living on opposite ends f the British Isles, you’re more than likely not going to be more than 6 hours away from home. Its technically only a drive away if you needed to see la familglia again . Image result for positivity gifs
  2. Use Technology – With Facetime and messenger and pictures and audio, you can practically live with your close family at the tip of your fingers. And always have them around.
  3. Don’t Stay and Wallow in your room – Now I’m not an advocate for going out too much and wild parties etc. But I definitely think that taking the time to be with your new-found-friends outside our room whether for a lunch date, site-seeing or a coffee house trip is certainly a great way to forget about your whereabouts.Image result for lonely gifs
  4. Bring Home Comforts – The best way to avoid missing home is o make your dorm room as home-like as possible. So pictures, ornaments , decor that means something very special to you, take them with you and keep them close.

5.  Have something to look forward to – Whether its  a CHRISTmas trip back home, or an Easter getaway with friends, set an occasion where you get to see everyone again – It’ll be a good motivation worth looking forward to.

 

Have any more ideas about dealing with homesickness ? How did you cope with homesickness when first getting to University ? Email us at info@girlsinscience.co.uk

Uni Series : The Things Everyone Forgets

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Uni Series : The Things Everyone Forgets

I am completely struggling to believe the fact that four years ago around this time I was getting ready to enter university as an undergraduate almost five hours away from home. It’s a huge transition and I’m sure many people have already told you that some of the most dynamic times of your life so far are just around the corner.

I’ll be honest, a lot of my friends had well-thought out lists and plans as to what every box would contain and were so on top of everything they needed. I , on the other hand was pretty clueless as my Mummy pretty much packed everything for me to the extent whereby, in 3rd year with weeks to go before graduation, I was STILL opening up boxes and finding new cleaning products that I didn’t even know were there.

So tip number 1 : Be the main packer – or at least be physically present when your family are frantically placing each item in boxes for your to take, it will save you many hours of looking. Trust me, I know.

Here’s a list of 20 things you might just forget to pack for your Uni adventures.

  1. Wipes (preferably baby wipes, they can obliterate pretty much any anything.)
  2. Plasters
  3. Scissors – (you’ll always need to cut something, and you’ll never have anything to cut them with, but now you will, your welcome.)
  4. Toilet roll
  5. Disinfectant spray
  6. Disposable cups/plates and cutlery (there’s always that weird transition period where you’re hungry but the box with all the heavy kitchen supplies are no where to be found)
  7. Tissue
  8. Paracetamol
  9. Student finance documents (your reference number is handy !)
  10. A few extra passport photos
  11. Passport (KEEP THIS SAFE!)
  12. National Insurance number
  13. University acceptance letter (You’ll be needing to scan/photocopy this a lot)
  14. A dish rack
  15. Batteries
  16. Tin opener
  17. Blue tack / Sellotape
  18. Multiple plug connector
  19. Slippers
  20. Pictures of family (to make your house a home !)

Hope this list of random but useful Uni things helps a ton,

Remember to enjoy and make the last few days at home before moving out special and as stress free as possible for your family .

Happy packing !

What NOT to do in a University Interview

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So I have had a good stockpile of of interviews so far, some purely academic, and others more informal and fun. All of them however have taught me some very important lessons about interviewing, I though I would share a few tips on what I learnt from my ‘not so successful’ runs. And whether you are doing the big Medic-Interview that your whole life depends on – or just meeting your tutor for the first time here are some hard-learned tricks.

Image result for interview university

1.Don’t forget a form of ID.

The amount of times I’ve had to have a ‘mummy-reminder’ not to forget some sort of licence or passport or whatnot to take to an interview (even graduation). I would have had some pretty complicated situations otherwise.

2. Don’t forget your personal statement. 

The first sentence I spoke in my medical school interview was completely wrong and contradictory to my PS, I tried to correct it and fumbled over myself a little. It was awful.

3. Don’t sound too rehearsed . 

There’s being over prepared, then there’s being under prepared. The interviewers want to get a glimpse of who you really are. Don’t be afraid to smile, laugh – act as civilly-natural as possible.

4. Don’t be sluggish or uptight. 

Google and read a few articles about body language. Work on sitting up straight, leaning forward, having good eye contact and open gestures – not being timid or too reserved in appearance… you may be nervous but sometimes you just have to fake it till you make it.

5. Don’t be overtly desperate. 

You may really want the position, but saying things like :’The building is great , I’d love to study here everyday … or … do you lecture at this university ?- I’m sure I’d love your classes’ :- this is an absolute no-no.

6. Don’t be late . Just don’t do it.

7. Don’t have an inaccurate CV. 

This will lead to complete complications – I remember the story of a sixth form class mate who mentioned that he could speak fluent Arabic on his uni-interview. He couldn’t … and go figure one of the interviewers was unexpectedly a professor in Arabic history and language.

8. Don’t retort your favourite parts of your CV

If you really want to talk bout that time you did Duke of Edinburgh …  yes , its an absolute great achievement but remember the interviewers will ask you about questions they want to know … you saying “Oh and did you see I did Duke of Edinburgh” – is a little pushy.

9.Don’t be nervous 

Harder said than done, but think of it as a meeting with two old primary school teachers, and you’re basically telling them what you been up to the past few year. Take some deep breaths, think happy thoughts and how amazing you’ll feel afterwards.

10. Be yourself. 

Cheesy – yes, but so true… Don’t try to put on a more academic-sounding accent. (although speak with clarity). Be you’re authentic self (although not too informal) . They know what they’re looking for, and if they don’t choose you,then it wasn’t meant to be.

But really, go in with 100% confidence, you have just as much chance as anyone else does.

– You’ve got this.

 

 

 

 

 

Twice as Hard.

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Are you a natural academic ? Do you cruise along secondary school life? Yes? Well then, I am exceedingly envious of your journey – mine was very different.

Image result for jealous students studying

I went to an amazing science specialist school in the heart of the Bucks countryside, it also happened to be a grammar school and was filled with intellectuals who seemed to pass a test just by carrying a book under their arm. – I however, have never been like that. And it was something that for a while had me quite frustrated. Why did I have to work twice as hard to get the exact same grades as them?

Till this day I don’t really know the answer to that. But one thing I will say… Being a hard worker, sets you up more proficiently for higher education than those who can cruise-schmooze and still do incredibly well. I wish I had known that and not spent so many hours asking God why ?!

– I had passed exactly the same entrance exam as they did right ? Surely our brains worked in identical ways – I remember vividly being in early-year 9 and asking the top 3 “class-clever-kids” what they did to revise.

One of them … lets call him ‘D’; D responded back to me and said: “ Well nothing much really … I listen in class, and I automatically understand, then I go home, read it in the text book and I’m done.”

-‘Ah,’ I thought, ‘well that sounds simple enough… I can do that !’ So I took note. Copied ‘D’ and listened in class, took sparing notes and stuck to this revision plan for my year 9 SATS.

My mum tried to warn me … “Lakechia … are you sure this is an effective way of doing things? All your doing is reading, you’re not interacting much with it”

I responded with a very sure and adamant: “Its fine Mummy, I know what I’m doing”

-SATS week came (back when they still did the SATS) and I realised… I could not have been more wrong. All the hours that I had spent reading and re-reading seemed to disappear. I didn’t remember anything! Needless to say, I didn’t get into the top group for science, and I was devastated. ‘D’ got in to the top group though.

It was at that moment, first of all I realised:

  1. GCSE scores were what mattered, not what set I was in.
  2. I was going to work so hard, that they would move me up into the top set.

I started to find out more about my academic personality, what sort of learner am I? How and when does MY brain work best?

It took a while of trial and error, but after much questioning, experimenting, prayer and mums-advice (this time heeded to:) – by year 11, I was quite sure that I found my niche.

My niche was different, more labour intensive, more time consuming, more restricted. I had to wake up early, I didn’t watch any television during the week, Saturday nights were spent studying, I used flash cards, and voice recordings and posters and cartoon figures, I stuck reminders and notes everywhere from my bunk-bed to our downstairs corridor – whatever it took, I was going to do it.

I didn’t get moved to top set.

But – I got the same grades as ‘D’ in the end. – and higher than a good chunk of the people in the top class.

Now I have a degree in a hardcore science subject and am pursing post-grad studies – not what I expected when I got 31/50 in my SAT scores.

When you get to university though, you find that those who had to work hard in the past excel, they have already practised and used their ‘brain /discipline muscles’ – sort of like riding a bike. They put their hard-working hat back on and get on with it.

The race is not for the swift, but for those willing to endure … I don’t want anyone to feel – even on a website like GIS that because they’ve scored badly once or many, many times, that they can’t be clever and do well. I wasn’t in the top sets for most of my school time, and even since then, it hasn’t been smooth sailing; but I worked quietly and effectively. And in the end, I proved to myself that I could do it.

You can do the same and even better.