Going to University

Part of Euroclassicist’s job is dealing with young people from all over Europe who want to go on to study at university in the United Kingdom. This has to be done through UCAS (www.ucas.com) which is the central admissions point for all UK universities. The main difference between entry to UK universities and those of many other European countries is that entry through UCAS is competitive: applicants receive conditional offers or rejections on the way admissions tutors assess their applications. Their achievements at school and their marks are part of this, but so is the reference or report written by the school on their progress, character, suitability for the course and their predicted marks in their final examination. Some courses require additional entry tests as well. In addition the applicant must write a personal statement expressing their motivation for the course and institutions they are applying to, as well as their background and interests. They must demonstrate in this personal statement their commitment to their subject and give clear reasons why the tutors should choose them instead of their rivals. A large part of my day is taken up in reading many of these personal statements, and then returning them to their authors explaining what could be improved or better expressed (and correcting plain errors) while endeavouring to make sure that it remains a personal statement and not one that has been completely rewritten. The remainder of the day at the moment is taken up with arranging for the writing of the references, writing them myself, and then editing those written by my colleagues for space and consistency of style. Then I try to squeeze in some Latin teaching as well.

What amazes me most about these applications is the number that come from young people of all European nationalities who want to go to study in English in the UK. Many have English as their first or second language and have achieved an excellent level of language skills. Some, however, take English as their third language and have studied it formally for only six years. Yet they are willing to commit themselves to a three year undergraduate course in what is neither their first language (or mother tongue) nor their second language as studied at school. The adaptability and ambition of these young people is admirable, and experience shows that they go on to make a success of their chosen courses. As a whole for all applicants, Geography is up this year and Economics, though still popular, is down a bit. Not many of them, although they are skilled and accomplished linguists, go on to study languages at university. Quite a few, however, go to study Law with a language or International Business or Management where they use their languages as an integral part of their course. We send a good number to do scientific and engineering courses each year. Imperial College London which is a specialist science and technology institution is very popular with my students. I even get an occasional student to apply for Classics, which flourishes at Oxford, Cambridge, London (University College and King’s College) and many others.
Many of these applicants wish to go to Oxford or Cambridge (or Oxbridge, as we call it/them). These world-class universities are very competitive and few in the end are chosen. The capacity to show that you are completely committed to your academic subject, to have all-round ability in every subject and to be a reasonably well-rounded human being as well is not granted to many and I always have some disappointed faces to deal with in January when the decisions have been made. For talented and ambitious young people, the first rejection in their lives is hard to take. But they bounce back after a bit and realise that Bristol, Warwick, Edinburgh and Imperial College are every bit as good, and are perhaps even better for them personally. These applications have to be completed by October 15th and the lucky ones will be interviewed in Oxford or Cambridge in the first week of December.