The Ultimate University Survival Guide: The Uni-Verse

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I was set to give this book a 3/5 until I reached the wellbeing section which essentially saved it for me. The chapter about mental health was very well written and the analogy was one I'd never heard before and I really liked it. The letter he wrote to his pre-university self was also surprisingly moving. A book, too, can be a star, a living fire to lighten the darkness, leading out into the expanding universe.” The Big Bang Never Happened: A Startling Refutation of the Dominant Theory of the Origin of the Universe

Many of us have heard of space celebrities such as Tim Peake and Brian Cox writing about this topic, but – while books of that kind are included on this list – there are a wide range of great titles to be read in your search for an understanding of the Universe. Some of these will help amateur astronomers get to grips with the night sky, while others will bring heart-warming tales of the collaboration and community within the space industry. Still this book managed to take some stress of my shoulders and help me worth treating university less seriously because of the jokes (BUT SHOULD A GUIDE RELY ON JOKES? - NOT REALLY, MAN) Remember what information has already been covered in the rest of your application. When you apply to a university, it’s not just your personal statement that is sent to them. There’s also the rest of your UCAS application, which includes a reference from your school or sixth form, and a full transcript of your academic record. It’ll tell the admissions officer about all the grades you have acquired over the years, and contextualise them with the school you went to and the area you grew up in. For this reason, you don’t need to flaunt your past grades (or your target grades for the future) in your personal statement. If you got an A in your Maths GCSE – or 7/8/9 for those studying under the new system – which will suggest your suitability for a Maths degree, then the admissions staff will already know. Don’t waste valuable space by inserting each grade you’re proud of one-by-one and the circumstances in which you achieved them. You’ll only be repeating yourself. I really did not want to mark this book so low but I thought he was just a bit forceful with some of his ideas that I did not agree. These ideas of his had also nothing to do with the Uni experience. To add one of the last bits of the book about imposters syndrome I thought was stupid. If you struggle with imposters syndrome do not read that as it is as useful as a chocolate fire guard.

Grade expectations: What grades do the universities expect from you? I’d recommend applying to at least one uni that is quite ambitious, and at least two that are safe bets (as in, you know you’re likely to get the grades they’d expect of you). Campus/city: Campus universities are very self-contained, and usually a bus ride away from the city. They’ll have accommodation, department buildings and probably a club all in one central hub. City universities have their academic facilities dotted around, so you get to actually live in the city centre.

For fans of Jim Al-Khalili's The World According to Physics, this book is an accessible and engaging introduction to one of the Universe's most extraordinary phenomena. Levesque's writing is witty and honest, and asks us all to reconsider our relationship with the Universe. Taking the growing body of information about other planets, applying the laws of biology, principles of chemistry, and his knowledge of Earth's history, Kershenbaum presents the possibilities for alien creatures with confidence. Bonus Materials: Listen to an audio narration by Neil deGrasse Tyson, view moving 3D images, and more. Location: How far away from home is it? * Is the commute to/from this location easy or complicated? What other cities are nearby?

Who better to describe life in space than someone who’s walked the (space)walk? Peake pens answers to the public’s burning questions, revealing what space smells like, how he enjoyed a cosmic cuppa, and what it felt like to return to Earth. Even though I still think I need to do a lot of research into university/medical school, and actually choose which ones I'm applying to, I feel slightly more at ease now I've read this.