Picking up a Course in Your Second Year

Today I’m going to talk about my experience with trying to pick up another course in my second year. Let me give you a little bit of background. When I originally applied to this college I wanted to do Business Studies and Psychology, but unfortunately because of my maths grade D I couldn’t do Psychology so I just went with business. However I didn’t let this stop me. I was planning on getting my C in maths and then picking up Psychology in my second year so I made sure that the course leader knew of my interest, so after multiple talks and various emails I managed to sit in a weeks’ worth of lessons and I have to say it was fascinating for me. But now I’m not so sure. Journalism is a MASSIVE interest for me right now and I thoroughly enjoy my law units in Business so I’m considering taking law. This has put me into a dilemma. As of this moment I’m still talking to course leaders about picking either course so I thought I would share my so called ‘tactics’ on getting into a course in your second year.

Disclaimer – In no way am I claiming that this is an exact science, this is based off of my experience so far and whether or not it works out that is yet to be known.

1)    Make them conscious that you are interested – When I say this I don’t mean just asking about the course and what it covers. I’m saying that you should actively talk about the process of getting in, what the requirements are and then what it covers. It’s also useful to suggest sitting in lessons to get a feel for the course, this is the benefit of already being in the college because it usually isn’t much inconvenience for a current student to sit in one of their lessons.

2)  Read up on the subject – This is very good way of showing that you are enthusiastic about that course because they aren’t going to let you in lightly because they will take your current course into consideration and not many students are even allowed to stay in for more than 2 years because chances are that the course will be 2 years.

3)  Be in close contact with someone of power – This could come across as manipulative but it isn’t in no way. Assert yourself with someone who you can go to for advice in college. For me it’s the head teacher of my college, however I was quite lucky to meet her because of the fact that I enrolled late and she must have been managing the late enrollers because she was the one to email me back on my application. Since then I have been able to get VERY useful advice and information from her and typically people don’t say no to their boss. She is lovely too :)

4)   Sell yourself – Think of it like you aren’t a student at the college because then you will have the mind-set that you have to show off your determination, interest ect and that would make you a more attractive candidate for the course. It is also worth explaining why you want to take the course up in your second year and why you didn’t apply for it in the first place. If you don’t have a legitimately good reason you can be honest or you could do what most do which is come up with one.

So that’s it. Pretty simple for now, however this is what has worked so far and the future seems promising.

Are you looking into picking up a course?  Or did you successfully pick up a course? Share you experience with me on Twitter! @Jayson__Knott

Getting Help When YOU Need It

We've all been there, that time where you feel like everything is getting on top of you and the stress becomes a little too much. Some people can cope others (like me) seem to just give up sometimes and it’s easy to forget that there are people that can help you in these situations. So here’s a little advice.

1)   Accepting that you need a little help – A lot of people never even acknowledge that they need some help with this, accepting that you do isn’t a weakness. If anything it’s a strength because it involves accepting that you can’t deal with everything that is going on whether that is to do with your work or personal life it’s good to get the practical things out of the way, especially coursework because you don’t want to the work to pile up in times of stress as it would just end up adding to your stress.

2)  Seeking Help – This is another thing that people struggle with, most feel embarrassed or as if they are being a pest. I can guarantee that you wouldn’t be the first student to struggle, you’re only human and your college or school will know this. There is most likely someone to help you in school or college to email people you think will know about said person, for example your tutor or head of year if you’re in school. Remember you can get help with the stress itself or with the things that are stressing you out like coursework of the whole subject, just going to a tutor and having them explain things to you does a world of good.

3)  Follow the advice! – This is the biggest of them all! A lot of people go to see someone about some help in a close minded attitude. So because of this the advice they give you could be the best advice ever but you won’t follow it because you either think you are above it or you just don’t want to. So ironically, my advice would be to follow their advice! You’ve gone for the help that you need so you do need to follow that advice no matter what!

4)    Find stress relievers – this is the final step which is the most useful one of all. Find things that calm you down, whether that is just taking an hour or so to watch something on the TV or listening to music just do it. You need a rest you can’t be expected to do everything at once all of the time, you’ll just become more frustrated and everything you’ve gone and done so far would have been a waste, just sit back and relax!

That’s what I think you should do based on my personal experience, you’re not the only that struggles every so often :)

If you’ve got any good tips for relieving some stress let me know by either leaving a comment or by tweeting me at @Jayson__Knott :)