My articles
My weekly articles cover everything from thinking about your future career, to choosing a course or university, and on to making an amazing application.
Browse through to find something of interest, or better still, put a keyword in the search box and find everything I’ve written on that topic.
Articles
Geoff Norcott: “Is university really worth it?”
This week I watched the BBC documentary “Is university really worth it?” by Geoff Norcott, questioning whether he should be encouraging his son to attend university.
It really struck a nerve.
You wouldn’t expect me to be too sympathetic to his views. Geoff Norcott, you see, is that right wing comedian from The Mash Report. I saw him do live stand-up once. He had to follow James Acaster, who did the most devastating takedown of right wing comedy that I’ve ever seen. Awkward.
And yet…
Why are some universities so ridiculously hard to get into?
Whether you are applying to university yourself, or are helping and advising students, you’ll have all heard the same stories: a student predicted A*A*A*, with an excellent Personal Statement and Reference gets rejected from a top university. Come A-level results day, some of these students will find themselves with no offers at all, and might even find themselves as a headline in the press.
But why is this? Why are amazing, talented students so frequently finding themselves rejected by universities, when there seems to be nothing wrong at all with their applications?
Well, to understand, we need to go back a few steps.
‘I just liked the logo’: How branding can help you make your university choice.
I expect at some point, you will all look at a university website and think ‘Yes, that’s exactly what I’ve been looking for!’, or perhaps ‘Nah, this isn’t for me’. And trust me, a lot of that will be to do with their brand, and how they have presented themselves.
Because of this, I wanted to give you just a few thoughts about university branding.
Bear with me; I promise there will be some useful take-aways at the end, and along the way you’ll learn some new stuff about marketing and strategy.
University rankings and league tables: just how useful are they
You will probably be familiar with the concept of university league tables: they are rankings of universities, listed from best to worst, published so that you can easily identify the top universities in the country, and in the world - right?
Well, let's see…
UCAS Applicant Days: What are they and how do you get the most out of them?
As I write this, thousands of you who have applied to UCAS relatively early will be beginning to receive offers from universities. Most of these offers will be accompanied by an invitation to go and visit the university, normally to an event called a UCAS Applicant Day, or something similar.
In this article we’ll be having a look at what these events are, how they differ from University Open Days, and what you should be looking out for if you decide to attend one.
Why university? Show me the data!
Last week we looked at the connection between going to university and getting a good job. We saw the hard reality that study alone will almost certainly not get you your dream job, but that university can be a great place to gain the knowledge, skills, experience and contacts to prepare you for your life and career ahead.
This week, we put that all to the test, by looking at some hard data on graduates, jobs and careers. In the real world of employment and salaries, is going to university worth it?
We’ll look at the UK government’s own graduate labour market statistics, and at the outcomes of a recent graduate and business leader survey by Universities UK.
“Go to university!” they said. “It’ll get you a good job!”
Perhaps university will get you a good job, and perhaps it won’t, but one thing is for sure: if you think that university study alone will land you your dream job, you are going to be very disappointed in a few years time.
I have appointed more than a hundred people in my career, and not one of them got their job on the basis of their university study alone. They got their role because of the knowledge and experience they had, the skills they could demonstrate, the motivation they showed, and their aptitude to learn.
Falling in love... with learning
It’s nearly November, and those of you in your final year at school will be right in the thick of it with your university application process. You might be super-organised, and have applied already. You might be finalising your Personal Statement and refining your final choices. Or you might just be taking the first baby steps towards working out what on earth you are going to apply for!
Whichever stage you are at, you are not alone; there are thousands of others in the same position.
All of you (except a few super-human students), will be going through the same doubts: Am I doing the right thing? Is university for me? Will I enjoy the course? Will it be worth it?
And so now is actually a really good time to ask the essential question of yourself: Why go to university? And in particular, why are you looking to apply to university?
How to avoid becoming a drop-out statistic
OK, so I really don’t like the term ‘drop-out’, but I wanted to get your attention, and ‘non-completion rates’ or ‘students leaving their degrees’ just didn’t cut it as a headline. I promise I won’t use it again.
But here’s the thing… recent data released by the Student Loans Company has revealed that the number of students who are not completing their degrees is on the rise, up around 28% over the last five years. (See this BBC article).
This is not good.
In human terms, that’s nearly 42,000 young people who left their degrees last year uncompleted, carrying with them their student debts, and doubtless a whole load of other unwanted baggage.
We need to talk about The Russell Group
Have you heard of the Russell Group? If you’re just at the start of your decision-making journey, you might not have. But rest assured, as you start to investigate your university options, it’s going to crop up!
The Russell Group, you see, is a group of 24 universities regarded by many as being the top universities; the most prestigious universities; the universities that the best students should be applying to.
They formed in 1994 as a group of 17 research intensive universities after a handful of informal meetings at the Russell Hotel in Russell Square*. They now have a membership of 24, including Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial, Manchester, Southampton and Liverpool, amongst others.
Just how ambitious should you be with your initial five UCAS choices?
The basic principle behind the UCAS system is that it balances the need for students to have a range of choices when they apply, with the need for universities to have some kind of predictability in working out how many offers to make. So, for many years, students have been able to make up to five choices. Any more, and the universities will simply be swamped with applications that are not realistic or necessary. Any less and you could run the risk of not getting an offer of a place that suits you.
The system works reasonably well most of the time, provided students are realistic with their applications, and provided universities are transparent with their entry criteria, and consistent with their offers. This year nearly 79% of A-level students secured their firm choice (ie. their first choice course), while 12% got into their insurance choice.
So, how do you make sure the system works well for you? How do you turn all that research, all those possible choices, into a list of five courses on your application form that gives you the best chance of getting into a course that you really want to do? Is it as simple as listing your five favourite courses? I’m afraid not. But neither is it some dark art where you need to have some amazing insight and specialist knowledge to get it right. Just read on, and I’ll try to make it as simple as possible.
Things to see, do and ask at a University Open Day
Off to an open day soon? With over 100 such events in September and October, it’s certainly a good time to be going!
Open days were always one of my favourite parts of working at a university. I loved seeing everyone arrive on campus - all with a sense of excitement and anticipation about what this intriguing place might hold in store for them in their future. I loved working with a team of staff and student ambassadors, doing our very best to show off our university, and giving future students just a small glimpse into what their next steps could look like.
Of course we tried to show our university in the best possible light, and it's for that reason that I’ve written this; a few tips on how to understand what they are showing you, and when to ask for more, or to see things a little differently.
“Help me, it’s all getting a bit complicated!” - Part 3
AKA... Applying through a Student Recruitment Agent
Last week we looked at how you might go about choosing an Independent Education Counsellor. This week, we look at recruitment agents. Sometimes it might not be obvious to you, as an applicant, who are independent counsellors, and who are agents. Sometimes you might find the same company is offering, in effect, the two models together. But we need to be clear, the business models are quite different, and this matters.
Top 10 things I learnt at the University of Cambridge Open Day
A few days after I’d been to the University of Oxford Open Day I had a message from a long-standing friend that he’d be attending the University of Cambridge Open Day with his son the following week. Did I want to meet up?
I thought for at least half a second before replying a very positive “yes”. After seeing Oxford, what better than to see their nearest and dearest rival on equal terms. And of course to catch up with an old friend who I hadn't seen for a couple of years (you know who you are!)
So off we went, on a beautifully sunny day to visit the University of Cambridge!
“Help me, it’s all getting a bit complicated!” - Part 2
AKA... How to choose an Independent Education Counsellor
Last week, we looked at how best to work with your school’s university counsellor. Many of you will have one at your school or college, so if you do, please have a look at last week’s article.
Many of you, however, won’t have access to expert advice and support in your school or college. This will mainly apply to those currently at schools outside of the UK, but even some of you in the UK might feel that the support you are receiving is not quite enough for you.
If this is you, then read on.
Top 10 things I learnt at the University of Oxford Open Day
At the start of the summer, I was staying with my brother in London, and his niece had booked to attend the University of Oxford Open Day. “Would I like to go along with them?” they asked.
In my 30+ years working in universities, I’ve visited Oxford numerous times, and I’ve shared a stage with University of Oxford admissions tutors even more often. But I’ve never been to an Open Day there, and I’ve never been right inside any of the individual colleges. I couldn’t resist the opportunity!
“Help me, it’s all getting a bit complicated!”
AKA... How to work best with your university counsellor
Depending on where you are in your journey, you may or may not yet have worked out that UK Higher Education is complicated. And if you haven’t already, you are soon going to find out that the same is true of the application system. So naturally, you’ll want to find someone to help you navigate it, right?
Your first port of call should be your school or college…
Having a last minute change of heart? How to change your course after results day
A-level results come out on Thursday, and alongside the results, UCAS Clearing will get into full swing. Clearing, as you’ll doubtless be aware, is the process by which applicants without a university place can quickly secure a place on one of the many courses still available.
You might be surprised, however, to know that Clearing is not just for those who didn’t make their grades. Last year around 20,000 students made the decision to go into Clearing themselves, declining their firm choice place and finding a new course. Not because they had to, but because they wanted to. If this is you, read on to find out how to do this, and some of the risks and pitfalls you might want to consider.
Embrace the chaos: Nietzsche and choosing a university
Ever read any Nietzsche? Nope? Me neither! But I have read a little bit about Nietzsche, and one of his ideas particularly resonated with me when it comes to choosing a university. The quote that caught my eye was this:
“You must still have chaos in you to be able to give birth to a dancing star”.
When is a top university not a top university?
Back in the spring, I used to keep seeing an advert on Facebook suggesting I should study for a British Masters degree at the “9th Best University in the UK”. The university in question was Liverpool John Moores University.
Now, I mean no disrespect to Liverpool John Moores, but it is not a university that has troubled the top 10 in any of the major league tables, so I was naturally curious about this claim to be ninth best? By what measure were they making this claim?
Well, the small print on the advert gave the source…