Ack time what where
I very much thought that this school year would be less busy than the last, affording me more time to do things other than direct school work. So far, I’ve been sorely mistaken about this: despite doing one less subject, I seem to have just as much work at present to the point where I’ve fallen behind on pretty much everything else. I have a million items in my RSS reader: comics, blog posts, lolcats and the like; my inbox is utterly out of control; and I am missing deadlines for things like the recent election to the new board of Wikimedia UK. On top of all this I’m supposed to be applying to university, organise/enter various debating things, and of course it would be nice if I could do some, you know, reading of those things called books. I just don’t seem to be very efficient at getting school work done, probably because I’m usually such a perfectionist regarding such things, and hence I have no time for anything else. Any hopes of doing Wikimedia stuff this year aside from my minimal jobs as I did last year have very much vanished.
This conception of things getting easier as I advance through stages of education is of course a very common one. A friend of my father rung me up the other day to ask after his website which I am supposed to manage (another thing which I have fallen behind on) and hit the nail on the head when he pointed out that this is simply never the case. Education always works by insisting that the current stage is vastly more important than the last. GCSEs mean nothing once you start A-levels. Presumably A-levels will be entirely insignificant once you start university. And once you’ve done a degree you’ll probably be told that everyone has one, and you should try and get a masters. And then a PhD… and it just goes on. Currently I have an idea that once I get to university things will be better because I won’t have to worry constantly about passing exams and I will be able to just enjoy my subject and let it flow in naturally but of course this won’t happen; they’ll just be more exams. This silly idea I have that once I get into university everything will be marvelous and I will be able to breathe a sigh of relief is just as unreasonable as a belief that GCSEs are the be all and end all of education.
Applying to university is a process I’m currently involved in, as noted. These days it’s been privatised to within an inch of its life and is done entirely over the web, and is known as UCAS, or the University and Colleges Admissions System. Applying involves filling in lots of information – qualifications, employment, contact details and the like – but also in writing a personal statement, or set of reasons why you want to do the courses (up to five at five institutions). This is by far the hardest bit. We’re told to mix academic achievements and enthusiasm with hobbies and interests, but linking all of this together is very difficult. The other problem is that I could fiddle with my statement for ever, messing around with wording and clarifying and the like, and I’d end up never submitting it, so it’s just a case of getting it written and as good as possible and then just hoping for the best and hitting send. Conflicting comments don’t help either. While my form tutor says the statement is ‘perfect’ and that she would eat her hat if I didn’t get in to either Oxford or Durham (my top two choices), my family are more criticial of my wording. What’s also difficult is selecting my other three choices of where to apply. Open days and prospecti generally provide little more than advertising material and while I’ve obviously looked into and visited my top two choices there doesn’t seem much to gain from the others. Yet the chance of not getting into my top two is high and so I need to pick places I will eventually be happy with; I don’t trust my form tutor’s hat-eating at all. So I think I’m going to put Birmingham, York and Nottingham down, all for Maths and Philosophy, and we shall see what happens.
Sorry for a very all over the place post. I’ve just got so much to do and think about at the moment.
I’m quite busy at the moment…so here’s a massive blog I wrote.
“While my form tutor says the statement is ‘perfect’ and that she would eat her hat if I didn’t get in to either Oxford or Durham (my top two choices), my family are more criticial of my wording.”
Listen to your teacher.