The Moment of Truth – Tips for Results day
In just over a month’s time, once again the whole country will descend into panic mode, the national papers will launch barrages at the country’s educational system and the streets will be filled with a curious combination of cries of joy and despair. Results day is truly a magical day of the year. Every year I tend to unexpectedly relive the drama as I unintentionally stroll past my school or see a group of older students drowning their sorrows or conversely, celebrating their success. No doubt, if you’re currently a sixth form student, Results Day is going to be sitting quite heavily on your mind. So I have elected to provide you with some of my finest advice so that it doesn’t play out as horribly as some people like to make it seem.
It’s incredibly stressful – Ok, perhaps not the wisest advice to give in an attempt to calm someone’s nerves but there is no denying it. People are going to be stressed. For this reason, it is always best to act tactfully and with a little caution, especially when speaking with a friend who has been on hold in clearing for the past hour. By all means chat and try to keep a relaxed atmosphere but if somebody is looking near to their breaking point it might be best to keep your distance if they’re looking busy and you just want to celebrate.
You don’t necessarily need the grades – Now, I don’t want to go around dishing out false hope like some kind of budget Santa Claus but this is often the case. I, for example, didn’t attain the requisite grades to match my conditional offer for Warwick but nevertheless they let it slide. This isn’t to say that CDD will get you access to your A*AA offer but maybe missing out on one grade boundary is still satisfactory. Again, I’m not making any promises but it is something that is worth keeping in mind if you have heard from the exam boards but not the university itself.
It doesn’t matter if you’ve changed your mind – I have seen it happen before. Somebody has opened their envelope and their face drops, yes they have the grades but since putting in the application they have grown unsure whether or not uni is the place for them. It’s ok. This is a far too frequent occurrence for unis to neglect – most universities will allow you to defer your entry for a year so that you can go and decide what is right for you. Just because you might have the place, does not mean that you have to take it.
It’s not the end of the world – I can’t stress this one enough. No matter what happens on that fateful day in August, it is not the be all and end all. Regardless of whether you get the grades, you don’t make the cut, you change your mind or anything else, the sky isn’t going to fall down. Sure, it is possible that you can be disappointed but that’s not to say you don’t have any options; I know plenty of people who took a year out to work and then re-applied to a higher-ranked university the following year, meaning they could finance a lot of their studies without a loan. I also know of people who took on an apprenticeship and are now in a high-ranking position within a professional organisation. What I’m saying is, although many people make out like it is, university is not always the best choice for everyone and it certainly isn’t the only route to success.
Best of luck to all of you who will soon be getting their results – try not to let it control you too much!
