Are you ready for your A-level results?


Preparing for the future: File photo shows Jerudong International School students gathering for the Earth Day assembly. If you are applying for a Bruneian Ministry of Education scholarship, contact the scholarship department to check that courses and universities have been approved. Picture: The Brunei Times
JOHN PRICE
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN

Saturday, August 9, 2008

IF YOU took your A-levels in June, you will get the results on August 14th. This is obviously an anxious time for all 18 year olds, especially those starting university courses abroad in September.

If you have applied to British universities, you must meet conditional offers to be accepted, although some institutions are flexible. Results reach the universities on Monday 11th August, so universities have time to decide whether they will accept you if you have missed your offer. You can check your status on the UCAS website.

If you miss your offer and are rejected, do not despair. Telephone the university after 4pm (9am UK time) next Thursday and check the exact situation. If you miss a required grade by a few marks, consider asking your school to initiate a priority remark of the offending A-level. The result will come back in about a week. Tell the university, which has rejected you, that you have done this.

Only your school can apply for remarks. The Examination Board will charge the school, which will probably require payment from you. If your marks go up and you meet the offer, the university is under an obligation to accept you.

It must be said that certain boards rarely change their marks. It is always worth contacting a UK university directly, after the results come out, if it has the course you want, and places. The formal system for doing this is known as "clearing". It is permissible to telephone any university, even if you did not apply to it in the first place. If it offers you a place and you accept, UCAS can be informed afterwards. The university will probably do this for you.

The most popular courses at the most prestigious universities will generally be full, but don't accept any old course at a university of low standing. Make sure that the course is really what you want to do. There is no shame in taking your A-levels again, if you have a reasonable chance of improving the grades. If you don't, be pragmatic.

If you are applying for a Bruneian Ministry of Education scholarship, contact the scholarship department to check that courses and universities have been approved and the Ministry is happy for you to proceed.

If everything goes well next Thursday and you meet your UK offer, you are in a fortunate position. Your parents however will be worrying about how much it is all going to cost. No doubt the money changers in Gadong will run out of pounds quite regularly, so it is important to get to them early. You need money to cover you for the initial period, until your bank account in the UK is set up. Universities generally send out useful information about practicalities, as soon as students have been accepted. Your parents will be worried about you in the initial period, so contact them regularly. When I was a student, we had to queue in the pouring rain to get to the phone box. Now there is no excuse. You can text or email or use an Internet telephone line for next to nothing.

Making friends is very important. The majority of students will be British, although most universities have large numbers of international students. You will find every race and religion. One of the best places to make friends is the Junior Common Room, which will be lively most evenings. All first years will be in the same boat, so it should be easy to get to know people. You don't have to drink, if you don't want to. Just stick to your principles. A few students may need educating that it is possible to have an enjoyable evening without alcohol. Just treat them with the appropriate contempt and you'll probably find they become good friends.

However shy or extrovert you are, you will be thrown together with people on your course and you will also make friends through the various clubs and societies you join. Don't take refuge in friendships with other students from your school or country, although of course it's good to be able to chat in Malay or Chinese sometimes. University is supposed to be about breaking down barriers, not consolidating them. If you've chosen the UK for your higher education, there's not much point in going out of your way to isolate yourself from its culture and people.

Freshers' week is great fun. Universities arrange all kinds of briefings for students as well as special sessions for international students. There will be parties and societies fairs and meetings with your tutor and faculty teachers. Enjoy it.

It is probably a good idea not to take the dons too seriously. I remember doing every essay I was set in my first year and ending up knowing nothing properly. A rather dry old professor required me to read an author a week and then come up with coherent insights into his work. I was totally exhausted. I would have done better to take charge and get him to set me a manageable amount of work on fewer authors. Of course, at 19, it isn't easy to take on these greying eminences. What I wrote was probably total rubbish and my supervisor took to setting his clock 10 minutes fast so he could get rid of me sooner.

Some dons cultivate eccentricity as a matter of course and are inveterate gossips. The trivia of college and undergraduate life intrigues them. Just remember that they have probably repeated a thousand times the imposing anecdote they are telling you. The internecine squabbles among university staff about faculty appointments or funding do not always suggest high-mindedness and nobility of spirit. Some cannot admit to themselves that they no longer are excited by the history of the mute e in Medieval French or Bulgarian agrarian reforms of the 15th century and they take it out on you. Your essay is probably not half as bad as they suggest.

The writer is the principal of Jerudong International School.

The Brunei Times