Preparing for University-Student Finance

Student Finance 

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Good evening my lovely people! I was meant to post a vegan recipe today but I had so much to do I didn't have the time; but I will make sure that it's up and ready for tomorrow afternoon :).
I thought that it would be necessary to give you some advice on how to apply for student fiance, and how to spend your money wisely; as well as telling you my personal experiences with it.
If you feel like this would help you or somebody else out there give this a little read, or share it; simply because everyone needs someone to calm them down and give them some great advice in the student finance world :).
Sit back, relax and take a deep breath, I'm here to help:).

If you want to read other advice blog posts, click here!

PLAN LIKE CRAZY:

Before you start University you need to plan what you need to buy, as well as what you already have. By doing this you can save money when needed, for example, if you already have spare cutlery at home use that, instead of diving into your University funds. Little things like this will go a long way.

• Make a list of items that you need and don't need:
  When making this list split into different categories, I did this by room, For example, if you start with bedroom, you can decide what you will need in the bedroom, write your list for this and then move onto a different room; do this until you have completed all the rooms. This way you can't get anything mixed up, plus you can't miss anything out if you do it that way. 
• Prioritize selected items:
  If your list is exceptionally long, which is what mine locked like. Select certain items which you feel you need ASAP. This way it's easier to manage, and takes so much stress of your mind. All the mandatory items have been brought on my list! This has made me feel so much better about myself; it's really reduced my anxiety. Now all I need to do is complete the rest of the list; which will happen on pay day this month. 
• Dedicate a day for applying for student finance:
  Profoundly, I feel like it's easier if you take a whole day out of your week just to apply for student finance. Simply because you are able to gather all the valid information that you need, and you can do it all in one go. Once it's done you can forget about it until you start University. 

APPLYING FOR FINANCE:

Fundamentally, when applying for Finance you need to be calm and prepared for the amount of time that it will take. From experience it was a terrible time, I let my anxiety get the better of me, I would cry with anger, or worry for no reason. I couldn't find the paperwork for my parents finances, it was all falling apart for me. Evidently I managed to get all the paper work sorted, and it started to flow from there. If you enjoy paper work and filling out forms, then you will love the student finance application. I would say that the entire process takes around 4-5 hours, depending on how much information you need. 

A few tips and tricks I would advice for you would be:

• Write down all your passwords and reference number.It will make the process longer, but it will save you time in the long run. Imagine if you forget your password or reference number, it will be a long and frustrating time for you, simply because you need your student finance ASAP. This will make it so much easier for you. This being said, make sure that you keep them in a safe place, and also a place where you would remember. There is no point writing all this information down, for you not being able to find it. 
• Have someone there with experience:
  Luckily enough I had my boyfriend keeping me calm and making sure that everything was correct. He had already been though the process the year before, which made it a walk in the park for me; especially with my nerves.
  I can't explain how helpful this was, if you can grab somebody who will hold your hand throughout this stressful experience then please do; it will make it so much easier. 
• Take your time:
  I know how cliche and condescending this may sound, but it's probably one of the best points. Please take your time, don't rush, you need to make sure that every single detail is correct; if not then you will not receive your student finance. Do you really want that happening to you? I don't think so my lovely; as annoying as it sounds please listen. It's not a race, you can do this at your own pace. 

THE PROCESS:

1. Go to the Gov website https://www.gov.uk/student-finance-register-login;
2. use the reference number provided, they would have given you this when you applied for university on UCAS;
3. set up passwords and security questions, write these down as you go along;
4. fill in your personal details;
5. give them the debit card information, this is where your student finance will appear;
6.  create your parents accounts, as they have to support your student finance account, (in order for you to get more money);
7. finish your application and fill in your declaration form and send it off in the post;
8. wait a few days until student finance give you your final money amount, keep hold of this documentation as you will need it when you register at your chosen university. 

This is the end of the blog post! I really hope that you found this helpful! When I was going through student finance it was rare that I came across a blog post in this much detail. I wanted to write this so that I could help people, as I know that some individuals still haven't applied, or some people that are heading to university next year; this will be a great stepping stone. 

You don't have to follow everything I have written, but even if it's a point or two, it will really help you in the long run. 

I love you all so very much, I am going to be writing another blog post on how to prepare for uni, it's going to be a tiny series. If that's what you want of course! If you have any other ideas then please suggest them :).

I hope you enjoy the rest of your evening, I will be posting my vegan recipe tomorrow :). I'll be heading off to bed shortly, I'm rather exhausted. 

Sweet dreams Little ones, stay safe and stay tuned :) x x x 

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Email: missamymcguire@hotmail.com
If you want to keep up to date with that I do on a daily basis follow me on my social media above, and I'll be sure to follow you right back :).

  

Advice

Applying to university-personal statement

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Twitter:AmyRoseMcGuire
Email: missamymcguire@hotmail.com

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Good morning Little ones! How are you doing? What are you plans for today? I know that I'm going to be writing a review later on! I can't wait to share it with you :).

Any who, I have decided to help people who want to apply for University; but first things first, your personal statement needs to be PERFECT! 

In this blog post I am going to be:

• Showing you how to plan your personal statement; 
• what not to put in your personal statement;
• how to write your personal statement;
• the rules and regulations;
• my personal statement
  If you need help, or just need some inspiration, have a little look! I just really hope this helps :)
• Also, I hope to make 'applying to university' a series. For example, later on I want to tell you my experiences with applying for student fiance, my first year at university etc. 

If you want to read other advice on my blog, click here!

When I started studying my second year of Sixth Form (A2), they drummed into our minds the importance of applying for University, and that your personal statement had to be perfect! I remember walking into the hall, and before we were welcomed back into the new academic year; our head of year had a long and boring speech based on just personal statements ... Yes my summer was lovely; thank you for asking. But with this speech were just words, they went over my head; they didn't explain how to do it; they just wanted it done ASAP. 

This meaning, we were alone, I knew what I was best at, and that was planning to the extreme.

TOP TIP NUMBER ONE:
PLAN

When it came to planning my personal statement I used various strategies. For example, when I needed a generic guideline I put the subject which I wish to study in the middle; which was Marketing, and placed hit words of why I wanted to study it. With this I branched out on the why, and started analysing this with: marketing articles, quotes from people in the marketing field etc. And used this valid piece of information and linked it back to the question of: why I want to study marketing, and why I am the best candidate for this course. ALWAYS have this question in mind or in front of you! MAKE SURE YOU ALWAYS LINK BACK TO THE QUESTION! If you ramble out of track you aren't answering the question; which shows your university that you aren't right for that particular course. 

WHAT NOT TO PUT IN YOUR PERSONAL STATEMENT:

As much as you want to, and as much as I wanted to ... Don't use intricate language. I know ... It's painful. But you need to make sure that it's easy to understand and to read. Keep in mind that your university has to read thousands of these applications they don''t have time to read your fancy writing. As much as you think it will set a good impression, it won't, it will do the complete opposite. 

DON'T PLAGIARIZER! I know it's a drag! Believe me I know you'd rather be doing your homework, but this needs to be done! Don't take the lazy way out and use someone else's personal statement! I have seen people doing it and their universities have turned them down! The sooner this is done the better! If you need to copy information, for example when I was writing my personal statement I needed quotes from famous marketing individuals, I referenced their quote. THIS IS OK TO DO! JUST REMEMBER TO REFERENCE ALL INFORMATION THAT ISN'T YOUR OWN. 

HOW TO WRITE YOUR PERSONAL STATEMENT:

When it comes to writing your personal statement, it should flow. You should know what to write, as you are writing about a subject in which you want to study; in some way shape and form you have an idea of what to write.

If I was to give any advice I would suggest to:

• Write why you want to study this course;
• why you feel you are right for this course; 
• where did your passion come from? Have you learnt about it before? Reading online?;
• what extra reading have you done? (Use websites-blogs, books, personal experience-where have you been which links into your course?) For example, I went on a marking trip when I was studying media.
• who has influenced you? Why does this impact your course;
• what have you done outside of school, your hobbies, awards etc.

These key elements will be your guide, this will help you throughout writing your personal statement,

When writing your personal statement, make sure that it's short and snappy. Make sure you are always answering the question, and that you are to the point. You want to show your university of choice that you know how to write, and you know how to answer questions. 

RULES:

• Your personal statement has to be a total of 4000 characters, this includes spaces, commas, new sentence etc;
• if there is any information that isn't yours, ALWAYS reference;
• be 100% truthful, don't lie in your personal statement, your university DOES check! 

MY PERSONAL STATEMENT:

I wrote this personal statement on my own, it took me a total of 4 hours with one attempt. This includes planning by the way! It normally shouldn't take this long, but I took my planning to the max! With that being said, after I gave it to my head of year I only needed to change a few words as they were "too complex". Which is why I mentioned earlier, that your language should be simple!
My personal statement was a total of 3840 characters with spaces! And was a total of 628 words.

Marketing and advertising Personal Statement-Amy McGuire:

Marketing and Advertising is unquestionably an influential part of civilisation. I want to study this course because it would enrich my knowledge, and give me more information and experience in the Marketing and Advertising field; and would help me gain a better understanding of my future occupation. My passion started for this course in my A Level Media Studies. Additionally a key strength I have would be the capability to work independently and research successfully. A perfect example would be, planning and researching for my EPQ which was based on historical and modern architecture.

Another key strength would be my ability to work well within a team. An example would be, in Business Studies we were set a task of selling roses, making a profit and giving that to charity. My role was to compare suppliers, select the cheapest and to advertise the entire project. I did this by creating posters and placing them around school. This gave me a better understanding of what Advertising and Marketing would entail, because creating various forms of advertisements (posters) is a must in this type of industry, especially when you have to engage the public eye. We all communicated with each other to make sure everything went well, and also helped our team by dividing the workload. We made a profit of £138.76 and gave it to The British Heart Foundation. Furthermore another key strength would be, my problem solving skills, for example when I was supervisor at Cargo I had to tackle issues which entailed: refunds, customer complaints, furniture orders etc. I had to use my knowledge and understanding of the business to figure out a way I would solve these issues on a regular basis.

What I’ve done outside of School includes: volunteering at The British Heart Foundation, attending my weekend job at Sainsbury’s, which helped me develop my organisation and communication skills, purely because I have to speak to people on a daily basis, and I have to organise my time wisely when at work so I know what tasks to do without overlapping. I also write a blog on how to deal with depression and anxiety, which have enriched my writing and analytical skills, in which I would need to be able to analyse Marketing and Advertising strategies. Within my free time I read around Marketing and Advertising, my main resource’s being: “Advertising promotion and other aspects of integrated marketing communications” (2013)-book by Shrimp, Terence A; Andrews, J. Craig. Another book I’ve read into is, “Advertising age: the principles of advertising and marketing communications at work”-by Thorson, Esther; Duffy, Margaret (2011). I found these texts significant because it gave me a detailed overview of what Marketing and Advertising was, the history of many advertising companies, for example Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), in which they help take down advertisements which are inappropriate. Furthermore I’ve followed Marketing and Advertising blogs, such as: AdverBlog and Seth Godin, only because they deliver new advice, knowledge and encouragement; especially Seth Godin. For example his main moto is “make something happen”, this is helpful for me because it gives me motivation to work hard in my studies and aim for a better future. But the information provided by him is good, purely because he’s giving his own view of what it’s like to be in the Marketing and Advertising industry, “Only in the last 20 years have we seen marketing change”. On the other hand some of the material provided by him can be deceptive, he keeps it too brief. For example in one post he’s explains “The other element of guerilla marketing”, I would’ve liked it if he could’ve analysed the process properly, because I would’ve understood it more. Altogether I do find my resources extremely helpful, especially when preparing for university. 

I hope this has helped you! I know that when I was researching on how to write my personal statement, coming across a good blog post really helped me. I hope this has the same affect on you! I also hope that you find it easy and less stressful; as I know going into your second year of A Levels is tough! If you don't already know and would like to know my Sixth Form experience click here!
If I can do it, then I know you can to! 

I wish you a very good day! If you need to ask me any other questions about this or any other topic don't be shy! Talk to me on my social media platforms above or below this blog post!

I love you all so very much! See you later on today! Stay tuned Little ones <3 :D x x x 

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Email: missamymcguire@hotmail.com