Friendship

Hi everyone, this week has been another challenging week. I am still not feeling 100% but that does not stop the work from university, descending upon me at a great pace.  So what helps me to carry on during good times and bad, the theme of this week’s blog “its friendship”? Where would I be without them? In our research methods unit we are conducting a study on friendship, this has made me reflect on the importance of friendships at university and in life generally.

As a mature student I didn’t have great expectations of making new friends at uni.  I already have a group of lifelong friends who I have been close to for many years. However none of them are studying psychology. The group of friends I have made a university are great. I have now acquired friends who are much younger than me and it’s wonderful. We share many things in common but importantly we are all aiming to achieve the same goal to graduate in 2016 hopefully with a 1^st.  Some of  my friends work as student ambassadors and my closest friend at university is someone who I met through ambassador work. She constantly inspires me and always takes the time to listen. I hope that its mutual and I will always be ready to give her the time she needs.

Me and my BFF at work

University is not just about learning new things that could help me have a better career, the social aspect means a lot to me. I understand how students who have moved away from home can feel. I am a Londoner and moved to Bedford 6 years ago, most of my friends still live in London , as I don’t work there anymore, I don’t see as much of my friends as I would like.

Taking part in activities at university and being involved in group work is a good way of making new friends for those student who live away from campus. So don’t be afraid there will always be another student who in has things in common with you.

Leaving you with a musical message about friendship

Ben E King Stand by Me Have a great week http://youtu.be/BTCfQ6Bb8QE

Graduation!

Hello! Hope you are all having a great weekend!

On Monday 21st of July I graduated! After three years of hard work and late nights, I finally have a degree to my name! I was within the graduation that started at 5.30pm and so we were a late afternoon group. I arrived at Luton with my parents around midday and after signing in with the hotel that they were staying in, we had a last trip around Luton town centre before catching one of the buses that were running from campus to campus at around 3pm.

We arrived at Putteridge Bury campus at around quarter past three, leaving around an hour and a half before we had to be seated for graduation. Putteridge Bury campus is a beautiful campus and I was so happy that I got to graduate there. After registering and getting my rented gown, my parents took many, many photos. I then bumped into some of my friends, all in their gowns and very excited about graduating. It was nice to get the opportunity to show my parents the friends that I had made over the past three years who they had heard so much about but in most cases had never had the opportunity to meet.

The graduation ceremony itself was wonderful. Luckily it was in an outdoor marquee, which was brilliant because it would have been unbearably hot indoors on such a sunny day. As much as everyone who I spoke to was worrying about tripping up the stairs to the stage, nobody I saw tripped or fell out of the almost 300 people that were graduating that day. The guest of honour, Professor Frederick Toates, is a professor of Psychology who gave a wonderful enlightening speech concluding the formal ceremony.

Following the formal ceremony, I spent more time with my uni friends taking lots of photos and appreciating the time with them. Graduation was a wonderful day and a wonderful chance to spend time with some of my best friends who now live far away.

Congratulations and well done to everyone who has recently graduated! Good luck to everyone who is going to uni this year and are currently still in the process of getting offers confirmed, I promise university will be the time of your life!

See you next week for one last post!
Robyn

Recieving my degree classification and 8 days until graduation

Hello, hope you are all having a great weekend!

This week one major thing has happened, I have received my classification for my degree! Well done to all my uni friends that have also received their classification this week too. After three years of hard work and dedication, I am now definitely graduating university with a second class upper division psychology degree! For a few weeks now we have been given our provisional grades but it was not until Monday that we received the grades we will be graduating with and then later a letter in the mail to confirm our grades on paper.

Filling out psychology jobs and being able to put a confirmed grade down onto the application forms is certainly a great feeling, and it makes all those years of hard work worth it. Getting a 2.1 means I now have the classification that will allow me to go on to further study in psychology which I plan to be able to fund in the next couple of years. It also means that I can apply for jobs such as assistant psychologist, so I am very happy with my classification.

There is now just over one week until graduation! I have my gown hired and photography booked, the only thing left to do is to sort out a graduation dress! Next Week's blog post will be all about preparing for graduation and how much I am looking forward to seeing my amazing uni friends again (and hoping that I don't cry saying goodbye to them). Good luck in whatever stages you are at in your UCAS application and also in any results you are soon to receive! See you soon!

Robyn

Things I wish I had known before starting university

Hello! Hope you're having a great weekend!

I have finished university and have been living back at home for quite a few weeks now, and have been thinking about what I wish I had known before starting university now that I have completed it. There are two main things that I wish I had known before starting university in regards to a psychology career; volunteering is essential and things might not go as planned, but that is okay.

Volunteering is essential
I am now starting to look for jobs within the field of psychology, and its only now that I'm realising how important volunteering is and am starting to wish I had done more volunteer work sooner. I am currently filling out application forms in the hope of getting onto a course to become a trainee psychological wellbeing practitioner, and whilst I will have the degree I need, the only problem is the lack of volunteering that I have. In an application form that I am filling out, it is desired to have at least one year of volunteering within mental health (which I do not have). I now know that I could have been volunteering with the Samaritans for years and have all the volunteering experience that I need within mental health. Its never too early to start thinking about volunteering and to look around at what is best suited to what you wish to do in the future.

Things might not go as planned, but that is okay
Before starting university, I had my career path all planned out. I was going to go to university to study psychology and do some volunteering alongside and then soon after get onto the doctorate course for clinical psychology. However, I did not fully understand how competitive the doctorate course for clinical psychology may be and how quickly time can pass by without realising you have not managed to get the volunteering you had been planning to do. As my course progressed, I realised that my career plan would not be as smooth and simple as I had hoped, and that it would take more years of work than I had first thought. Currently my plan is to get a full time job (preferably the trainee psychological wellbeing practitioner) and save up money for a masters degree in either health psychology or neuropsychology and eventually after several years have the relevant work experience, volunteering experience and higher qualifications to apply for the doctorate of clinical psychology course, but my plans often change. Rather than having definite career plans and being disappointed if they do not go the way first planned, its okay for career plans to shape, change and adapt as you continue through your course and learn more about what you wish to do.

Hope this has been of some help! Good luck to anyone finding out any university results soon and college assessment results, see you next week!

Robyn

Almost Three Weeks To Graduation!

Hello! Hope you are all having a great weekend!

It is approximately three weeks and one day until graduation! I am so excited! I am now in the stages of sorting out hiring my graduation gown and sorting out my plans of what I will be wearing on graduation.

I have decided to hire my gown rather than buy it, but am currently in the stages of deciding what photography package I would like (and what my parents would like). I never knew there could be so many choices for photography packages! However, like many people I know, my thoughts are now mainly on what to wear for graduation! The dress code is academic wear and so now I have the fun job of buying a new outfit for graduation.

Although I studied at the main Luton campus, I am going to graduate at Putteridge Bury campus which I am very excited about! I visited the campus during a conference at the end of my second university year, and loved the look of the campus. I am also very excited to see my university friends again! I am really looking forward to spending time with them at graduation and celebrating all the hard work that we have put in throughout university (and am going to try not to cry when saying goodbye to them).

Good luck to everyone with their UCAS applications! I know in the next few weeks my sister will find out whether she has got into university with her diploma so good luck to anyone getting results in the next few weeks which will impact your UCAS application!

See you next week!
Robyn

What am I going to do after uni?!

Hello again! Hope you are having a great weekend!

This week has been pretty much the same as the last, mainly focusing on doing lots of work and catching up with friends. I also saw my younger sister's presentation for finishing college this week. It was a very proud moment to see how well she has done in the past two years and now in September like many of you reading this will be is going to start university in September!

Aside from work and seeing my sister finish college, my mind has been focused on my dream future career and the steps I need to take to get started into a career in Psychology. I have now finished my Psychology degree, and it terrifies me. There is nothing I would love more than to be able to go back to university in September and start studying Psychology again with all the friends I have made at university. However this is not the case, and I need to begin to look into how I plan to get a job and career in Psychology.

Currently, I am looking into getting volunteer work within Psychology that will improve my chances of a good job and will show my commitment to the subject. During my time in Luton I was volunteering at Headway in Bedford. It is a wonderful charity and I thoroughly enjoyed volunteering there and so am trying to get similar volunteering closer to my hometown. I am also trying to get volunteer work more closely related to mental health although this is a lot more difficult to find. I have also been looking into potential jobs within psychology in which only a degree is needed. I would love to do postgraduate study on the future and plan to save up with my earnings from a job. I still need to look more in depth into my future plans, but now I have lots of free time to decided what future path is right for me!

Congratulations to everyone who has finished exams/ final assessments! Good luck to everyone that is sitting final exams! I know the time between exams-university is a very nervous time, but you can only do your best so enjoy the rest of your summer! 

See you next week!
Robyn