Education Important decision time

So I've just started my A2s, Biology, Chemistry and Psychology, and it's time to sort out UCAS and apply to uni!
I want to do a Forensic Science course and, as to be expected, I get all the usual gaff from my peers telling me how Forensics isn't like they show on TV and it will be boring etc. But I'm pretty damn sure it's what I want to do.
I think I have my 5 choices prepared and will be visiting them soon but was wondering if anyone has any information that you can only get from people at the unis.
Choices are, Leciester, Bournemouth, Hull, Keele and Kent.

I'm sure there are people here in my position and those that have have been through uni applications and what not so I'm curious to hear your stories.

 

Hull is the best tech uni around IMO (from what I've seen)

Plus it's in Yorkshire, so you know you're in good company

 

Same position here. I'm doing Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Maths (just dropped Eng. Lit. ) and I'm going to try for Medicine.

If Forensic Science is your thing, I wish you the best of luck in your pursuits. I have heard that its not all that its cut out to be, but it must be quite stimulating to have a case to get to the bottom of...

Unfortunately, I don't know much about Forensics, though I have looked at Medicine at Leicester and Keele.

Leicester is a good Uni. I would compare the campus to Nottingham. The lab facilities did appear to be better than Nottingham, though all in all, I couldn't help but feel that it needed a bit more maintenance. I would say that it is a good university to try and get into, though if you go, buy some trainers since the university is a good few minutes away from the accommodation.

Keele is one of the more recent universities, but I am told to stay away from their Medicine course because it is apparently 'f*cked up'. I do know that they share medical facilities with Manchester, so I don't know if this is an indication that their forensics labs might be shared as well...

My advice would be to go and check it out yourself - have you been to any open days?

Hope it helps,
MGT

 

no love for UCL? it's pretty damned good for the medicine courses, dunno about forensic sciences though.

 

Been to Leicester (open days and with my sisters boyfriend as he's studying there)
The labs are really nice and Leicester is where a lot of forensic techniques were developed (such as DNA Fingerprinting) I like lab work and got to try first hand in using the different equipment and looking at the research they do there.
I have some booked already, Kent on the 4th Oct, need to check Bournemouth's.
I need to sort out a "personal open day" so to speak as a couple of them clash and there aren't others (not obviously at least) that I can attend.

MGT, what exam board are you doing for Bio and Chem?

 

I thought the Leicester Open-Day was very good, though I do find their prospectus is a bit woolly....

I'm doing AQA Spec A Chem and Salters Nuffield Advanced Biology by Edexel... and though I have few problems with the Chemistry, I must say that the Biology is a nightmare. It really is just a collection of slide-shows and cutting and sticking activities, claiming to be 'intuitive'... and the exams are just random...

I think I'll be going for Imperial/UCL, Birmingham, Leicester/Manchester and Sheffield. (Imperial and Leicester if I can get my Chemistry teacher to predict me an A ).

Also, I have heard some very good things about the Forensics course at my local university - The University of Lincoln. Its a very up and coming university and rather nice - and if you're strapped for cash, it is one of the cheapest places to live in the UK.

And I'm currently on the phone with my friend at Central Lancashire, and he claims that theirs is one of the top universities for Forensics as well...

Worth a gander?
MGT

 

Thank you very much. My mother does a lot of research (along side my own of course) as she works at a uni so knows all about the leader boards etc.
I do SNAB Bio aswell, such a poor course! You can't think for yourself, ever! You seem to have to follow the mark scheme to a tee. We complained about the AS exam in January as one of the diagrams was so unclear the answer really wasn't obvious.
I do OCR Chemistry which isn't too bad, tries to be up to date but hasn't really been updated in too many years.
Just on the Lincoln uni and UCLan websites, will have a look at what they're like. (the course at lincoln looks interesting and intuitive)

 

^I hate exams like that and always do really badly in them so good luck
The chemistry course I did (I forget what it was) was so annoying - there was just masses of learning by rote and very little understanding of what was happening. The exam at the end was (imo) marked to easily as well - I was not at all good at the course but still managed to get a B. If I had been grading myself I would have put me in me in the c-d area

 

OMG, don't you just hate that b*stard course... The textbooks have the consistency of ****, the activity sheets are absolutely pointless and teach you nothing, the teaching methods are strange, patronising and childish and the Core Practicals are just... grrrr. And because it's laid out in such a 'convenient' way, teachers choose to just let you get on with it... Thank god I had the sense to nick one of the big old-school A-Level Biology books to learn from... otherwise I don't know where I'd be...

I think I'd prefer OCR Chemistry to AQA... Past Papers are harder to come by and I think there are a few more topics covered, but the exams are supposed to be a bit easier...

Chemistry is a bit like that. Atm I'm on the second module of Organic Chemistry and I'm just getting bogged down with all these godforsaken compounds which apparently, serve no purpose at all other than annoy me... I suppose it does help that I'm taught by a young, pretty Oxford graduate... though she is a bit too enthusiastic...

 

Oh god, I had blocked the core practicals out of my memory! "How does caffeine affect the heart rate of Daphnia?"
All we're doing at the moment are genetic bloody crosses.

Chemistry though, the course apparently is easier but we have 2 teachers. One fresh out of uni, apparently got a first in chemistry but seems to know very little about it. The other, looks exactly like Peter Griffin, excellent teacher though.
The problem I'm having though is that my old school (I moved to a different school for sixth form) taught me nothing in chemistry so when it came to starting the AS, I didn't know even the basics. (I hadn't even been taught what a mole was) so I had to play major catch up for the first few months.

 

I know! I mean, wtf is a Daphnia?! We managed to kill about 30 before we even got a reading, and apparently that was wrong... and then we had to go and cook some beetroot - I presume for the teacher to eat for tea...

And all we seem to be doing now is analysing 'King Phillip Same Over For Good Sex' (Naming species). God, I'll be glad to get SNAB over and done with...

One of my teachers is a rather scary rugby player type, though he's an awesome guy... though he doesn't so much teach as dictate...

And the other is a young female oxford grad... She's generally quite good, though a bit chirpy about chemistry... Not as intellectual as you'd hope from an Oxford student though... I'm having to catch up atm for my dismal Chemistry AS.

Will you be cashing in your AS Grades on your UCAS form?

 

Go to Leicester. Club 147 is there.

 

I doubt it, considering I did maths AS and got the worst combination of teachers the school had to offer, 20 points isn't much in the grand scheme of things.
That annoyed me, I was always really strong at maths and then for the first time in my life, a teacher actually sent me to sleep.
Also, most of my courses want 260 points minimum and I think I can get A,B,C, dunno if my teachers think that, but I do.

One thing I'm worried about, personal statement. Luckily I have both my sister and her BF to help me with mine but I don't know how to start it.
One of our teachers (philosophy teacher, probably the cleverest bloke in the school) is practically giving lectures on how to get into uni.

 

Im from leicester! Leicester uni is very good, good campus with Victoria park alongside it which is great to hangout in your spare time with friends. It is also next door the Wyggesston Queen Elizabeth I college as they share some buildings and the SU which isnt neccessarily a good thing with it having college kids about but its not a big deal honestly.

Town centre is just 10-15minutes away on foot and you just follow a path straight down.

 

I did my a levels last year but im not going to uni till next year so im doing my ucas at the moment aswell just need to decide where to go for graphic design....

Josh

 

So, it's 9 O'clock at night in my area of the colonies and I have NOT understood a word of theis thread. I am pleased that your peers are expressing their experiences. It is so much different over here that I think we are on different planets.

John

 

Water flea anit they my pet fish seem to enjoy them. But anyway While its true real forensic science isnt like on the TV. I reckon its properly still very interesting and you should still go for it.

 

aye, like I said, I have people left right and centre telling me it isn't going to be interesting, everyone has their own taste and I find that sort of stuff (the boring lab work) interesting.

 

The university of surrey has a half decent chemistry and forensics course if you don't want to go outright forensic science. On the downside UniS nightlife is a shambles as is most of guildford...

 

Even when you are going through it yourself it is hard to understand, so don't worry!

Here, after taking GCSEs (at 16) we can stay on at school to do A levels. In order to get an A level in a subject you have to get take (usually) 3 AS units and 3 A2 units, the AS units at the end of your first year of 6th form (aged 17) and your A2s at the end of your second year. Grading is done by adding up the normalised scores you got from AS and A2 (they have equal weighting), A is 80%, B is 70%..... to E.

A common thing to do is to take 4 AS subjects then drop one of them and take 3 A2 subjects to end up with 3 A levels and one AS.

If you want to go to university then, you apply either after your AS grades have come through (at the beginning of your second year of 6th form) or if you are taking a gap year then after you have taken your A2s and got your total A level grades. If you apply before you have finished the A level course you get given conditional offers if the unis like you, otherwise they just say they will take you with the grade you have already got. These can either be as grades (e.g get AAB, or ABB etc) or as UCAS points which are awarded depending on what grades you get. With UCAS points 2 AS levels get the same number of pints as one A level, despite the units at AS generally being easier.

To apply to uni, you use a service called UCAS (universities and colleges admissions service, after which UCAS points are named). You put in your "Personal Statement" in which you tell the universities you are applying to a bit about yourself, making yourself sound as good as possible without sounding incredibly arrogant. This, along with letters from your teachers, predicted grades, etc are sent to the universities you have applied to for them to ruminate over.

Once they have decided that they want you, or not, you are informed online via the UCAS website, which manages the whole process and sends your lots of junk mail in the process. If you haven't yet taken your final A2 units, you choose a first choice and a backup choice out of the unis your have offers for, and hope you get the grades you need.

I think that is everything. I am sorry it is so long but it is quite a complex process.