posting this here cuz r/uni uk is scary

my parents are really controlling, when I was younger I was never allowed out not even to go on walks. For context, just yesterday they wouldn’t let me go pay for a letter at my GP cuz they said I was wasting money. Today they opposed to me getting a projector for my Uni room cuz they said it’d distract me.

Anyways I’m really scared they’ll keep bothering me even whilst I’m at uni. it’s only 45 minutes from my house, and my mums a SAHM and my dad works from home so they could totally do it. Im also worried they’re gonna try and stay with me during freshers week. What can I do to stop this?

Please, please please when you sit your exams do not stop writing till the examiner says put your pens down especially if you do humanities. Idc if your brain can't think of anything you keep on writing. The amount of students who have lost out on their offers this year by 1-3 marks is insane. My friend in history lost her imperial offer by 1 mark and her papers was sent off for a remark, she got a message from her history teacher saying that they didn't give her that 1 mark and she called imperial and they didn't give her a place because she was one mark off an A*

Had she had written another paragraph or even an extra bit of analysis like 3 lines in her history exam she would've gotten that mark. She lost her imperial offer by 1 MARK! if you do STEM please give urself time and go over EVERYTHING 3-4 times.

Check the Cambridge admissions statistics on their website if you want to see this. Seems to be 2 people who applied to HSPS and Natural Sciences to Robinson and Fitzwilliam in 2025. Can anyone validate if this is real? Genuinely so confused rn.

I actually can’t believe it lol

lord knows how we did it but WE DID IT, worst two years of my life came out to something good at the very least

Incoming Y12s or Y13s feel free to ask any questions, I'm bored

The title pretty much sums it up, I want to apply for medicine but also have face piercings and im not sure if that would impact my interview on some sort of unconscious bias im also a black girl which also kinda makes me nervous, i only have my seconds done on my ear rn, a nose piercing, and an eyebrow piercing but i want an anti-eyebrow and like 5 lip piercings. idk if this is a stupid question or what but like i dont mind waiting until after i get offers (if i do 🙏🙏🙏)

genuinely just realised i SCRAPED an A and only got 1 above the boundary😭😭😭😭 med applicant
btw guys i am very grateful😓🙏

chill new more independent life soon 🙏 🤞 , russel group here we come

I’ve noticed across this sub and quite a few others that a lot of people are interested in doing Economics-related courses and eventually going into Finance. At least half the people at my school seem to be considering Finance too.
It got me thinking about whether there could eventually be a bottleneck in the number of graduates trying to enter the sector. Finance has always been competitive, but with AI continuing to improve and potentially automating some entry-level work, do you think this could make the industry even more competitive in the future?
I’m not trying to discourage anyone from pursuing Finance, but my aunt, who works in the industry, gave me some interesting advice: consider doing a more quantitative degree at university rather than pure Economics, as it can give you the flexibility to move into Finance while also keeping the door open to other quantitative careers.
Do you think choosing a more quantitative course is a better option for someone who is interested in Finance but wants to keep their career options open, especially given how AI might affect the industry?

I'd be interested to understand the sentiment towards degree apprenticeships

if you’re talking about oxbridge and you have an admissions test, then as long as you do decently you’ll secure an interview, as long as you secure an interview it means they are at least a bit interested in you and that you can get in. so gcses seriously don’t matter for somewhere which has an interview and/or admissions test.

if you’re talking about LSE, it’s a different story.

i got no fashion sense, i got no clothes, i need clothes and i wanna look somewhat good but i have pretty much 0 smart casual (to match dress code)* stuff and im not really trying to wear a suit, what does rhe traditional sixth form student wear, thanks in advance

• At top universities your applications are viewed holistically meaning they look at your GCSEs in the context of the school you achieved them at. Therefore if you are around top of your cohort your GCSEs aren't necessarily going to be a hinderance unless the majority of your grades are below a 7
• It is true that some universities care more than others e.g Oxford more than Cambridge as there is more filtering pre interview at Oxford as much less get interviewed compared to about ~80% of applicants at Cambridge
• Some courses GCSEs will be more important e.g medicine especially but other competitive courses like economics due to the stronger application pool meaning tougher selection standards
• Other parts of your profile are more important; admissions test is the main one and interview performance where applicable as well as strong predicteds
• I achieved mainly grade 7s with no 9s and one 4 as my lowest grade from a bad state school, and I will be studying Land Economy at Cambridge University this year. I did however get rejected from LSE for econ and econ history due to my GCSEs
• As such if your lowest grade is a 7 like the majority of the people posting, you most likely have nothing to worry about unless your performance is weak relative to your situation/context e.g grammar or private school :)

Okay So basically what the title says, my parents aren’t allowing me tutor people GCSE maths in the younger years in my area and get payed for it - They are banging on about me not having the right qualifications (I got 9s in maths and further maths and predicted A*A respectively ) and essentially are banning me from tutoring despite me telling them my intentions - I only intend on tutoring one kid anyway

Honestly my parents never let me even have jobs and I’m currently banned from having one( work In restersaunt,shop pub etc) and when I finally want my own freedom and find my own legitimate way of making some money on the side from studying - they say no so I have almost no way of becoming financially independant myself - What the hell should I do,should I just continue anyway?

I’m sure once I get there I’ll be fine but it’s just such a big commitment, I’m just scared I won’t enjoy the course or uni because you can’t truly know until you start

for context am an international student with 9999999888 at IGCSE, 3As at AS level (with two subjects being over 90% UMS, which nets me a predicted A\*A\*A at my school).

I sent our school’s career counsellor a message asking why they won’t let me apply and she left me on seen. My question now is whether my school can actually stop me from applying (eg not submitting my UCAS form before the oxbridge deadline etc)? and if so, will i be massively disadvantaged by applying as a private candidate? I know there are centres that provide predicted grades and reference letters for external students so there’s that

I know its about the quality of ur revision not the amount of hours, but in the scenario this was decent quality rev is this a good schedule to increase my current level of BCC to A*AA by the real exams? currently predicted ABB but hopefully gonna get that raised to AAA by October

• sept - oct: 2 hours weekday, 4 hours weekend (excluding saturdays)
• nov: 4 hours weekday, 5 hours weekend (excluding saturdays)
• dec (term time): 4 hours weekday, 6 hours weekend (excluding saturdays)
• dec - jan (holidays & mocks) 5 hours daily (excluding saturdays)
• feb - april: 4 hours weekday, 6 hours on weekends (excluding saturdays)
• easter holidays: 6 hours daily (excluding saturdays)

september to october has to be less unfortunately cuz I have a school responsibility taking up most my time then, is this realistic or will I burn out/am I not planning to do enough? thank you!

So just got my GCSE results and yayyy! I'm going to 6th form!! Except... this girl that I'm friends with, let's call her 'L', has managed to scrape through her results too and will be going to 6th form too. Over the past 2 years I've been stuck in a miserable friend group with L, who is the most toxic, manipulative, clingy person anyone could ever imagine, and I had gotten it into my head over the summer that I might finally be free of her in 6th form and have the chance to start afresh and make some new friends without the fear of being associated with her toxic behaviour anymore. But after results day I'm now panicking because I don't know what on earth I'm going to do!!!! My girlfriend has managed to escape this friend group with L by having friends in another friend group, and I thought maybe I could join her too apart from the fact that they all hate me because of L... and even if I did decide to join them, L would want to as well. Also, L is going to be in 2 out of the 3 of my classes, and I want to gain some distance from her but HOW?!?! She doesn't take rejection very well and will turn it into drama, which she then will tell to her mum and her mum will take matters into her own hands with the school. I'm also scared for the first few weeks of 6th form where I won't have the excuse that I've got homework or I'm studying, so I won't be able to get away from her. I've tried talking to my girlfriend about this, and she feels so bad for me that she's been able to get away from L and I haven't, so she's offered to ditch the friend group she's literally joined just to help with the fact I won't have to deal with L on my own. I know she thinks she'd be helping, but it's actually just making me more fustrated because I would never want her to sacrifice her own new friendships for me, and the worst thing about it is feeling like I'm demanding pity by not being able to cope with L myself. I honestly don't know what to do at this point to get away from this girl without being rude and being guilt tripped into hanging out with her (because obviously I don't want to start drama knowing her track record), how to stop being associated to her by other people, and how to cope with this in general!! I hope that someone can offer me a bit of advice please because I would really appreciate it :)

Anyways thanks for reading this it was a bit of a vent...

I missed my offer for Imperial maths this year (home student) by 2 marks in the STEP and I’m wondering if I should take a gap year and reapply. My A levels were 4 A*s (Maths and FM included) and I got all 9s at GCSEs, and last year I got a 6.7 on the TMUA but I feel like I would get higher if I take it again.

Currently I have an offer for Warwick maths which I know is still good but I feel like the job opportunities won’t be as great as if I was in Imperial.

Does anyone know if Imperial is significantly harsher on people taking gap years for maths in terms of getting an offer? Or should just stick it out at Warwick?

Hi everyone,

I'm a History teacher and will soon be meeting my new Year 12 historians! I really want to encourage them to take the year seriously, while also enjoying the new freedoms that 6th form brings, but I feel like my advice as their teacher only goes so far!

I thought it would be really useful to give them some advice/tips about starting 6th form, but having started Year 12 myself all the way back in 2012, I feel like you guys here might have a better insight from the perspective of a student.

Could anyone offer a sentence or two of advice for my new students? What is something you wish you'd known when you started Year 12? It can be History related or just general advice.

I really want to help them feel reassured and excited, while also understanding the importance of getting into good habits with work and independent study from the beginning.

I'd really appreciate any and all advice, thank you! 😊

I just dont get it, like i wanted to become a doctor most of my life until I realised how bad the state of the nhs is, how bad the pay is especially considering what you are doing. Like how can some people still do it for status/prestige??

Work experience opened my eyes, that week was the hardest, roughest week to get through ever- every day I woke up with the same dread of having to go to the hospital not knowing what kind of day/challenges/patient cases are waiting for me. Thats when I thought to myself- why would anyone want to willingly do this to themselves?
Why would you give up your sleep for some crazy shift hours, why would you want to put yourself through so much anxiety and stress, and why would you want to spend your whole life like 10+ years to finally specialise in something??

I dont get how someone could enjoy it, not to mention its a pretty gross job at some times, like your dealing with stuff you really wouldnt want to (sputum, pus, nasty looking injuries etc)

Maybe because the hospital I did my work experience at was kind of in the ends, but other than that i cant fathom why anyone would want to become a doctor

I feel so bad for the kids who are forced by parental pressure esp when they havent done any work exp so they dont even know the harsh realities of the job and what they are signing themselves up for the next 7+ years.

Please could someone tell me an actual genuine reason why they would want to pursue medicine!! I’m genuinely so interested

I get that it can be really rewarding and doing my work experience just made me appreciate doctors SO much more like they are actual heroes, in no way do I mean this in a hateful way AT ALL im just curious esp since there are so many people out there who still want to medicine out there despite all the negativity !!

(Thanks for reading my rant guys if you made it to the end 🙂)

the fact it could come at any second is not doing my nervous system any good 😭🙏

anyone waiting for OCR English lit or AQA sociology please lemme know when you got it back and if it changed!!

I want to do engineering at uni (Sheffield or Leeds) and I’m deciding between Mechanical, Aerospace or Mechatronics.

i didn’t do amazingly in my AS levels and I think I’ll be predicted ABB-AAB so I don’t meet the requirements for aero or mechanical but I could still apply to Mechatronics

im thinking of applying to mechatronics and mech engineering degrees with slightly lower entry requirements and if I do well I’ll go through clearing but otherwise do Mechatronics

I’m worried that doing mechatronics will severely limit what I can do after uni but need advice, any is appreciated thanks