Life After Sixth Form for St Bernard's Year 13 Students

For the oldest members of our student body, the first half has involved a lot of preparations and sending out of applications, and this half is set to be full of offers, important decisions and exams. 

Some have already begun to receive offers, others might be yet to decide as they plan to take a gap year, while others are somewhere in between. This article will be giving us some insight into where our Year 13s are hopefully headed by September, plus some words of wisdom as the rest of us get closer to this stage. 

The first person we spoke to is Joan Mathew, who is looking forward to studying Nursing at university. Joan was inspired to pursue this path by her mum, who is also a nurse. When asked about her experience applying to schools, this was her response: 

“Honestly, the application process was easy, but writing the personal statement was hard and stressful because I went through more than ten drafts in two months and thankfully, I had my career support teacher Ms. Li who helped me through this. Overall, the waiting for interviews was the most anticipating part of the process. I was always checking my emails and anxious but after I heard back from all my universities, I felt less stressed.” 

These efforts have paid off as Joan has received an offer from Kings College London which is her first-choice university and has proceeded to make it her firm choice ahead of A-level results day.  

Joan was also very kind to share some more insight into her experience in the form of advice for other students looking to go to university after sixth form: “My advice for the year 12 and younger years  would be to start researching into a career options  earlier when you start year  12 or during the summer holiday before year 12 and also just start drafting your personal statement early as well because it really helped me when I started my drafts back in year 12 end of June. This allowed me to be less stressed because I had some idea of what I wanted to do and when you come back to year 13 you have so much work you have to do, so starting early is always nice because you get a head start and  get to relax a bit more knowing you are ahead before deadlines.”  

Joan is looking forward to making new friends and joining new societies while at university. 

We wish you all the best, Joan! 
 

Next, we spoke to Peace, who is planning to pursue the degree apprenticeship route. Peace decided to pursue this route as she does not want to incur student debt and is excited about beginning work in a field she is passionate about as early as possible.  

In searching for apprenticeship opportunities to apply for, Peace considers the work culture of the company, as well as how current apprentices rate their experiences at the company. She recommends looking at the ratemyapprenticeship website which provides anonymous ratings of companies by current apprentices. 

You might be wondering what the application process is like for apprenticeships, and Peace gives us insight into that as well. First, you will have to write an essay and/or cover letter about your experiences, why you want to join the company, how you discovered the apprenticeship and other questions depending on what company you are applying to. It is also important for you to have a well-organised CV on-demand. After the initial application, the standard recruitment process involves an online assessment, which is usually some kind of aptitude test, then a video interview, after which you are considered to be invited for a regular interview if you progress to the next stage. 

In addition to applying to apprenticeships, Peace applied to universities through UCAS to help keep her options open. Her first-choice university is University of Exeter for Computer Science, and her dream apprenticeship is with Jaguar Land Rover and Warwick University. 

When asked what advice she would offer to younger students considering the degree apprenticeship route, Peace said “start researching early and go to as many in-person work experiences and company events as possible.” 

Another person we spoke to is Ana Maria who has chosen a really exciting path for her education after sixth form. 

Ana has decided to study medicine in other European countries, but she favours Spain the most because that is where she feels most at home. Another thing that drove her to make this decision is the global competition available in the medical field, and the opportunity to meet people from different walks of life since she is applying to courses adapted specially for international students. 

The application process requires that Ana applies separately to each school because they are in different countries. Many schools encourage applicants to submit letters of recommendation, personal statements, an entrance exam, and a language exam, depending on the language which the course will be taught in. 

“Even if you have done your education in English some unis still require an English official exam to standardise it for everyone.”  

The requirement of entrance examinations is another factor that has encouraged Ana to go down this path.  

“I have chosen unis that value them much more than your grades, because even though my grades aren't bad, I have another opportunity to show my knowledge and improve my probability of getting into medicine.” 

Like most other students, Ana is applying to five universities. One in Romania, one in Latvia, and three in Spain. Ana's most favoured university is the University of Navarra in Spain. In addition to being situated in a beautiful, nice-sized town, the university has good installations and will allow Ana to do her first two years in English while she brushes up on her Spanish for the remaining years of the course. In addition, “it has many connections with prestigious American unis where I could do a year abroad or be able to use my degree in medicine to work in America since not all medicine degrees are accepted by certain countries.” 

For younger students who are hoping to get into a career in medicine, Ana has some heartfelt words of advice:  

“Understand deeply within yourself why you want to do it and don't listen to outside noise. I began thinking of doing medicine in sixth form, but I changed my mind many times due to imposter syndrome as it is such a hard career to get into and then to do. People also talk a lot about the negative sides of medicine which do exist but that is like every job, so you must know your why. Nothing is easy, there is no easy way of making money as much as we would all like it, it all takes a lot of sacrifice. If you are still determined to do medicine but don't succeed in the UK, there is still the option of going abroad. That has many benefits. You can save money (especially in eastern Europe), meet all kinds of people and move out of your comfort zone. Be prepared to have entrance exams collide with mocks and to spend a lot of time doing research into universities (if you can, get an agency to help with that) and filling out applications.” 

Thank you very much Ana for sharing your experience with us! We can't wait to hear of all the wonderful things you do around the world as a medical professional. 
 

Finally, we'll be hearing from Vanessa. 

Vanessa has always wanted to act professionally. To decide what universities to apply to, she went through the course breakdowns of the different options to decide what schools offered the content she was looking for. She also says that viewing rankings and ratings of schools by other students, as well as attending open days, helped her in deciding where to apply. Some of the other schools she applied to have required her to submit self-shot auditions as part of the selection process. Overall, she testifies that the admission process varies across the different schools. 

Vanessa's first choice university is the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, and she is set to audition at the school in late March after which she will receive an admission decision.  

To supplement her skills and application, Vanessa has engaged in activities such as going to drama school, work experience, and other activities. 

For those looking to follow the same path, Vanessa advises not to leave anything to the last minute. She also points out the importance of starting to rehearse your intended monologues for auditions as early in advance to your audition dates as possible. Finally, she urges younger students to be sure of what they want to do so that they can put their all in it, and, no pressure, “have fun at your auditions.” 

Vanessa is most looking forward to the opportunity for independence in life after sixth form, as well as really diving deep into this subject she has been interested in from such a young age! 

Thank you for your words of advice, Vanessa. We should be looking to see you on our screens real soon as we wish you all the best! 

One more big thank you to all the Year 13s who shared their time, experiences and advice to bring this article together. We pray the entire year sets off to their most desired destinations come September. Keep making St. Bernard's proud!