Window Wednesday — Kings College London

It was only a quick trip to Kings College in London this week but it could have been the first of many so I felt I needed to document it!

A couple of weeks ago I stepped inside a university for the first time.

I didn’t go to uni.   None of my friends went to uni either.

Caity and Jonnie decided not to go to uni but to walk straight into jobs after college so when Ellie goes in September 2017 it will all be new to not just her, but me.    So right now we are doing all the leg work for that to happen.   I say “we”, I mean she is really, I am just doing a bit of support.

 A1 exams are done, the results are out on my birthday in August (no pressure Ellie) and UCAS applications open shortly.   Until recently I had no real idea how the whole process of applying to universities, for accommodation, finance, the whole shebang worked.    I must admit I thought it was relatively straight forward and I guess to a certain extent it is but there are various processes to go through to get to that point.

Starting off with choosing the university.  Thankfully Ellie knows she wants to do physiotherapy so can discount unis that don’t do it (obviously) and then narrow it down to five that she really likes the look of.   As I learned last night at an event at school, you apply for five when you hit submit on the application so you need to know which five to pick.

Which is how I found myself at Kings College in London a couple of Saturdays ago.   Split into five campuses the one that Ellie would be on is right next to Guys Hospital, opposite Borough Market, underneath the Shard.  As addresses go it takes some beating.   It is a fabulous university, steeped in history yet still at the forefront of research.   It was a great morning.

Apart from when a mouse ran down a wall and across the lecture hall when the head of PR was “selling” the uni to us #awkward

I loved this uni.  In fact it made me really wish I had gone (law or criminology for me) and not gone off to be a nanny for £45 a week.

Ellie loved Kings College.

Everybody loves this uni.   There are 13 applications for every place apparently.

This is one of the quads, just tucked away in a peaceful corner where nobody is paying it much attention as they rushed past to get to registration for the open day.    Of course the windows made me grab my phone and snap this:

The view at the top is from one of the rooms in an accommodation block we toured.   The room was tiny and had the smallest en suite, and for this you are robbed charged £200 a week.   And had to share a kitchen with 7 other people.    I just keep telling myself it is an investment.  That Ellie will qualify as a physiotherapist,  make shed loads of money and pay for me to move into the fanciest retirement home by the sea.

But until that happens, for Ellie there are forms to fill in, more universities to visit, mock interviews and the small matter of the personal statement to write.    Your one shot at getting an interview since it is the only thing the admissions team get to read about you, and on which they base their decision.

No pressure, hey?

Window Wednesday is my weekly look through a window, or at a window.   I have  a thing about windows.