Welcome to university life

One of the great advantages of being a student at EF Academy is that students already have some experience of living independently. They have learnt to manage their money, their time and their studies without parents to watch their every move. None the less it is still a daunting thing to do from considering which university to consider and applying to heading off with bags packed.

Here in Torbay we do all we can to make this journey as easy as possible by making sure students are as informed as they can be. Debbie Chatterton our Director of University Guidance goes through every stage of the process with them starting with the shaping of dreams into the reality that is the UCAS application.

We also organize a number of visits to UK universities where students can see first had what Uni’s are like and are able to compare different types from the city campus to the all on one site set up.

We also believe that it’s important for us to bring in key experienced people into school to talk to the students and give them the benefit of their wisdom and experience.

It was in this vain that we invited our former Director of University Guidance Katherine Lloyd Clark into school to talk to our first year students about every aspect of university life. Katherine is extremely well placed to talk about such things as she works at Exeter University in the admissions team and has previously worked at Bath University in the same role.

Katherine spoke to the students about the difficult admissions process for universities and how best to maximize applications but a lot of what she focused on was what life is really like at uni. What are halls like? Should I live in a house instead? What is fresher’s week? How many lectures will I have? How much money will I need for day to day things? Katherine answered these questions and a good many more.

Sometimes though the best people for students to hear from are other students and along side this event we also had former students from EF Torbay come along who have now been at university for a year and it was amazing to have that experience shared, especially from students who have left Torbay so recently.

EF Academy international boarding schools provide a thorough preparation for university and a future that knows no borders.