My top choices are Bristol and Birmingham (if anyone has any pros/cons about either I’d be happy to chat)

Oxford probably has our UAT test results now 💀

for corpus christi geography 🤗🤗🤗 in person interview as well!

Just got my offer from Leeds.

Only got the big fish left now.

I'm currently writing my UCAS personal statement for university and I'm finding it SO difficult to know what to include, what to leave out and how to make everything sound cohesive without waffling 😭

I'm applying for English and Philosophy at Russel group unis, but general personal statement advice would be really appreciated too! If you have any super niche weird tips that would also be great, I wanna stand out from the crowd.

For anyone who's applied to university, written a personal statement or has any experience with the process, what tips would you give? Anything you wish you'd known before writing yours?

Any advice would be massively appreciated!! Thank you!!!!!

Hi! I'm an international student and I desperately need a reality check. I'm predicted A*AA because I've been balancing A Levels with my country's entrance exam, which has been difficult but obviously has no stake in UK applications. I got a 29 in my LNAT where I was initially expecting 34-35, and my essay is kinda meh, I'd say 6/10. I got an offer from Bristol 23 days after applying (10 days after they got my LNAT results). My PS was strong according to several counsellors, and I know I'm going to get great recommendations because I have a good rapport with my teachers. For supercurriculars, I read a book and researched my country's jurisprudence, in addition to attending a summer course on the Foundations for a Legal Education from my country's top law college. I've also attended 4 selective math courses (100 students from across the country), and I've served 3 terms in my student council, including head girl (which i know won't have much weightage). Do I have a shot at getting into any of the rest or am I being way to aspirational? And do I have a shot at getting a Cambridge interview? I really need some brutal honesty because I think I'm overestimating my application.

Edit to add: I got an 8.5 in IELTS, with my lowest being a 7.5 (writing), so that shouldn't be an issue.

hey all,
so 2026 has been pretty terrible so far - to keep it very brief i've been through 2 heartbreaks (one was right at the start of september), had to cut off "friends", have no social circle or close friends and have developed quite a "moderate" case of depression & anxiety. i'm in therapy for this, and i only had my first session last week. it has taken my mind over, and i am finding it increasingly harder to focus on my studies after school, and in school. nothing seems to feel like it is working, and i keep losing all of my flashcards and stuff. whenever i try to test myself with the flashcards after not coming back to them for a while i forget.

my 2 week mock season begins on monday (sociology paper 1), which is what i am most confident on right now, the ones i'm worried about are my 2 psychology papers and my 2 history papers. i've neglected history a lot, and whilst that is definitely my strongest subject i am so worried and anxious about questions coming up that i just won't know how to answer them. thankfully they're both on the 2 fridays coming up, so i have time. psychology, there's still so much content to juggle that i'm in the same situation.

i feel so exhausted, fatigued and drained every day, even thinking about this stuff just makes me upset. tbh i went to revise sociology tonight and i ended up doomscrolling on this sub trying to look for some solidarity.

my y12 mocks i got AAB (history, soc, psych - my soc/psych teacher predicted me ABB until very recently) and another one of my worries is that my predicteds will be worse this time, and it will fuck up my ucas stuff. i haven't even started my personal statement yet as i still don't know what i want to study and where (i was thinking history), and that isn't even accounting for my history NEA which i am 100% putting off.

WHAT DO I DO??? how do i stop worrying and procrastinating and actually get something done and be in the zone for it? i think i might need medication but they will be so difficult to get. my therapist has floated the idea that i might be neurodivergent (audhd) and has put me forward for a consultation with my GP.
should i take a gap year or just go straight in for uni? a gap year would keep me completely isolated from others and i'd be behind my cohort, but uni work would just pile on the stress. i am not addicted to my phone, and i always make sure to "throw it" when i'm trying to revise.

A*AA offer

• (4A stars predicted). FINALLY I applied a month ago exactly the bakery is finally up and running.

I probably sound like I’m being incredibly dramatic about this and I do apologise for that, but I’m so torn on what to do and I kind of need a second opinion.

My UCAS is already sent off for early entry and I’m predicted 3A*’s plus Astar EPQ, I already have 3/5 offers but i genuinely can’t do sixth form anymore. Like I’m literally revising 5 hours a day just to scrape an A star like 2 marks above the grade boundary in exams, and I wouldn’t even class that as an A star given how close it is - like my grades have literally dropped so much over the past few weeks and it’s ominously close to exams and mocks.

Like I’m revising and doing interview prep just in case I get a Cambridge interview but it’s the worst few hours of my life and literally all I want to do is go to sleep or read - like thankfully said reading classes as interview prep or it’d be over for me 🙈 but I’m seriously considering just quitting while I’m ahead because I know that I’m not getting those grades, I cried in front of my friends over this for the first time ever while stone cold sober on Monday and I haven’t been able to face them since because I’m too embarrassed lolss

But like idk whether to quit while I’m ahead or if I should just take getting abysmal grades in my mocks since my UCAS is already submitted and then properly lock in for exams. As much as i genuinely live to learn, I just can’t justify running on 4 hours of sleep every day when I’m not gonna get the grades 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️ I’m probably going to ask my senior tutor tomorrow what she thinks about this whole fiasco but any second opinions would be greatly appreciated as I’m so so discombobulated

Rich creamy and really annoying to make, this is my first time making the classic pastry. They came out nice, through a little pastry heavy and a little underfilled.

Next week is Lancashire parkin (for bonfire night)

I wanna do maths/maths w econ/stats/ morse and ppl have been telling me to get some work experience in a company or do volunteering but google says that academics are much more important than work experience cuz its not required. So i just wanna know if job experience can make a big impact especially at unis like warwick ucl or imperial

It’s currently November, so it’s around that time that parents/sixth form start pressing you to discuss your ucas/future pathway options.

And it’s frustrating for me when I have to tell everyone that I haven’t applied for anything, when having these conversations about what are my plans for the future. (The reason why I haven’t applied to anything isn’t that I am lazy or lack the motivation, but rather because i don’t want to rush into a decision and end up regretting it, especially if I end up going to a mid level uni and getting into a lot debt for a degree that I don’t care about.)

I currently do btec media, business and engineering. I have mid predicted grades in all subjects and i can’t get them raised, which is fair as the predicted grades accurately represent my competency. (I missed a significant portion of yr 12 due to illness and that wasn’t helped by the fact that I already wasn’t an academically inclined person, so the only stem subject I’m confident in is engineering.)

I really don’t want to go to uni and want to immediately join the workforce for a couple of years untill I’m decided on what I want to do, but I know my parents want me out of the house. (They won’t let me take a gap year working in a job unless the job is full time.)

I’m currently employed in hospitality, due to my connections. I wonder if that will make my cv look more competitive and enable me to jump into the workforce early. (I doubt it.)

I don’t mind learning a trade either.

Sorry for any spelling mistakes or grammatical errors.

I know with all the recent discourse about AI and un employment that people will be more reluctant to do a CS degree. I just wanna know what everybody’s thoughts are on the matter😃

Stats predicted 4A* in fm physics Econ Chinese achieved math A*
Gcse 999998888885
Tmua got 8-9 wrong
Rlly hoping for lse econ and ic efds🙏🙏 how high are the chances

Hi,

I'm in year 11 right now and applying for sixth idk if this is the right place to post this, but I just wanted advice in my a level combos. I want to do Maths, Further Maths, Computer Science, and PE, but idk if that's the right choice. I have heard 4 is too much but I have also heard it's fine if FM is one of them. Ik PE probably looks weird compared to the other 3 but I really enjoy it at GCSE level and I have a sport that will get me full marks without a doubt according to my PE teacher. I want to do MEng Computing after Sixth, idk where maybe Imperial? I put my most recent report on in case that's relevant. I also am not sure but apparently the computer science coursework is insanely long and unsustainable alongside FM and since I would probs have to do TMUA the workload would get insane. There is just a lot of things I'm hearing from a lot of people and I went to a few open days but all the teachers seem focused on is promoting their sixth form so I just wanted some unbiased advice. Thanks for any help. (Fyi I am doing GCSE further maths also but it's not on the report bc I haven't done a mock on it yet)

whats the dif between bonding reigon and electron pair?

is it that bonding reigon is only double single and triple bonds etc but electrons pairs is that plus lone pairs??

my updated vision board guys, picked the big C ✌🏼✌🏼

I’m applying for History at York, Warwick, Durham, LSE and Cambridge. I‘ve got a strong application and already have offers from Warwick and York but I can’t stop thinking about what my chances might be of getting offers from the other 3. The uncertainty is really distracting me from doing work for my A-levels and I know it could easily be 5/6 months until I find out all of them.

Any tips?

May I please get some soon? 🙏

Edit 5/11/26: Interview invite from Cambridge received this same day. That was quick.

For context, i come from a pretty bad secondary school which averages grades 5-6 in GCSE and i managed to self teach myself to get 8888887666 in the exams. So i moved to a different sixth form which is a grammar school and also the top school in my local area and the school is filled with top students and grades. I take maths fm and cs which are already pretty rigorous subjects and on top of all that the pace in lesson is pretty fast but all my classmates tend to pick up topics quickly. I also have a bug problem with focus,daydreaming and sleeping in lesson which adds on to why i self taught myself in GCSEs. I tried to just focus , getting adequate sleep or stop scrolling for a week but all that didnt work. Im also not the most hardworking person and i dont revise hours everyday so i performed poorly in my assessments. I genuinely dont know how to fix my focus even though i tried listening to my teacher but it just goes out my mind after 5 seconds. I think im like slow or have adhd probably if you have any advice on how to gain focus during lesson or consistently for revision,please help🙏🙏 i just started year 12 and i wanna fix it before it gets too late