While most courses are currently full, I have always received the same general response in that come A level results day, positions may appear. Now this will be in part due to the unfortunate circumstance of people not getting the grades they require to go on their course but also some who will change their mind and not attend. There is also then the eventuality of people who will drop out.

The one thing that I am decided on is that I want to attend university. I want to attend university because I know this is what I want, when I finished college I thought I didn’t, I took up a job, a menial job, the pay wasn’t amazing, the hours weren’t brilliant, but that was the path I took, unlike many others I know who went off to university and within a matter of months came home, deciding university wasn’t for them. If you asked them why they went they nearly always had the same response, ‘because that’s what you do’, and luckily for me by not going down that route, I have gained a motivation that I did not have 2 years ago. This drive that pushes me on and makes me certain I will not drop out when I do get there.

So you may be asking what the point in this post is. Well the answer is simple, on my course there are a few people who unfortunately have not go any offers, and they will more than likely have to go through clearing and take an option that they are not that keen on. However I can say that they will more than likely enjoy it none the less, they like me want to go to university because they want to, not because it’s what everyone they know is doing, they will be leaving things behind, families, jobs, and general lives.

So throughout the entire experience of applying for university I wonder whether or not the system by which university application works is flawed. UCAS makes applying to uni easier than ever, but if someone applies to 5 universities and gets 5 offers, they will only go to 1, and that means that 4 people’s university applications will have to be rejected, making the outcome 4 people who might not have their first choice.

So with this knowledge would it not be better to have students apply individually to universities. Not only will this reduce the likelihood of people applying to 5 universities knowing they will only go to one. It will help the universities in the selection process because they will know the people who apply are more serious and more determined to attend because they will have put in more effort to apply.

I know my plan is probably not cost effective, and that most students would hate this, I also know that the universities probably prefer the UCAS method and that is why it has stuck but maybe, just maybe it isn’t actually benefitting the education system.

It’s nearly the end of February and like many of my fellow college goers, I am now receiving replies from universities about my application. And this is where my predicament lies, have I made the right choices? Is it the right uni? Is it the right course? Which one should I accept?

I chose English Language, I put down 5 in the hope of increasing my chances of getting onto a course knowing how competitive it would now I am starting to question myself, I know the main reason I chose it was because it was more broad and would allow me to keep my choices open, even though I mainly want to either do some kind of journalistic job or something in teaching. But now I wonder maybe I should of just gone for one probably journalism. Don’t get me wrong I would love to teach, but I thought that a couple of years ago and something always nags in the back of my head and makes me second guess and hesitate in making any decisions based on it.

So chances are I have made a mistake, the biggest problem being that if I just settle for this and go ahead to one of these universities, maybe I won’t enjoy the next 3 years of my life, or worse I will drop out and it will be a largely wasted year getting myself into one of them.

I’m sure I won’t be the only person, who currently has a mind in overdrive worrying and thinking up problems that don’t really exist, and I have my fair amount of them as well but this one seems to be the only realistic problem I currently have. So come Monday during my usual visit to college to do my daily lectures I have decided I will no doubt visit our careers advisors.

Either way I hope everyone else who is or knows someone who is applying for university is managing, and getting offers which they hoped for.

Now I know this seems very cynical of me to question the fabric of human decency, but I question this because do our lies really hurt anyone? Most of the lies we make up are to protect people, ‘Does my bum look big in this?’, ‘Am I just being silly?’, ‘I shouldn’t have stayed with her should I?’, most friends would instantly answer these questions with a ‘no’, but not because it’s the truth but because if they let you know you end up upset.

At the other end of the scale, you have the lies that annoy you, but do they really hurt you? Before the beginning of the New Year, my local bus service informed us they were increasing our bus fare by 10p, bringing it up to an extortionate £2.50, so I headed off for my first day back at college in the new year to be informed that the bus was £2.60, anyone who saw me on or around that day heard me moan and whinge but within a few days I had come to terms with it and I did not care, the lie, or ‘misinforming’ as Arriva would probably refer to it, had no lasting effect.

I can understand lies that don’t need to be told such as if you’ve done something wrong, but in a country where you are brought up not to lie. I can’t help but think; maybe more time should be spent teaching kids not to do the things that they generally end up lying about rather than the lying itself. Especially when you more than likely tell ‘white lies’ to your partner or friends on a weekly basis as to avoid any upset.

No one can say they have never told a little porky… Maybe we try our best not to, but sooner or later we will tell one.

It’s only a short post… but food for thought all the same.