My Realising Opportunities Experience!
In this short blog, I will be discussing why I believe participating in the Realising Opportunities programme had a huge impact in my journey through my post-16 studies towards university, and how it can be such an insightful experience for any student who may not be so sure on what their next steps forward will look like and want to be able to take charge of that uncertainty.
So why did I apply?
Deciding to apply to the Realising Opportunities programme was a genuine no-brainer for me. It opened up so many pathways to amazing research-intensive universities – and ended up being the reason why I chose York! I truly couldn’t imagine being anywhere else now.
Knowing that upon acceptance onto the programme I would have access to a wide range of activities and information made me believe I’d be so much more prepared for university-life and all it’s challenges. Not to mention the bonus of reduced entry requirements for every RO partner university!
I personally fell under a fair few of the eligibility criteria, so I knew that this programme was made for students like me, who may have come from a disadvantaged or underrepresented background, to have a more supported pathway into university. It was nice to know that there was a programme out there that existed to be tailored more towards my situation and to help guide me through it and ultimately emerge with a stronger application than your regular UCAS applicant.
| Image: Realising Opportunities university partner (Cohort 17 and 18) |
What does the programme entail?
The Realising Opportunities programme offers a number of activities and events to support your journey through college or sixth form into your early undergraduate days. Unfortunately in my cohort we seemed to be slightly doomed by COVID-19, but usually the programme would offer in-person visits to your allocated Research Intensive University (RIU) too – which could be any of the partner universities (pictured) depending on where you are located in relation to them.
The activities range from practice seminars, to guides on how to appropriately reference, to a practice academic writing piece – everything that you will soon be going through when you get to university! Of course you have the little added extra of ongoing support from actual current students from your allocated institution – whom you can ask questions about anything university-related that you may be stressing about and they will answer (to the best of their ability) from a relatable and reassuring perspective.
My favourite aspect of the programme in my opinion was that even though the stakes felt a little high for something like an academic writing practice piece, there was never any real pressure at all from anybody in RO. Remember, everything in the programme is to build up your essential skills to progress to university – not to make you worried about them. Mistakes are encouraged, otherwise how do we learn? Nobody in the programme expects you to be perfect the first time, and they certainly don’t want you stressed over it!
How has RO supported me in my university studies and prepared me for the future? And how can it help prepare you?
The glamorous thing about university itself is that it is designed to better-prepare you for the world of work ahead. If you think about it, many of the things that end up on your CV are gained from your university life. Adaptability, resilience, communication, working under pressure. You mainly enhance these skills from seminars, tutorials, workshops or lectures – or even the last-minute exam cram! Except the thing is… before university, the average student gets no preparation for these skills. They are just expected to do it and are thrown in at the deep end, kicking and splashing.
Being an RO student, I got to experience and build up these skills from Year 12 to Year 13 before any of my classmates even touched their UCAS applications. I was able to approach my first academic assignments with confidence in my academic tone, researching skills and referencing skills – all whilst others were still actively figuring out how to juggle it all.
In my experience, that’s the real benefit for students of a programme such as Realising Opportunities. These programmes provide stepping stones into the true nature of the academic world for students lucky enough to participate in them and help them to excel from the start rather than having to figure everything out for themselves in the middle of a stressful one week deadline. The pressure-free environment to relax and learn is unmatched by any aid that you would get upon starting your first semester at university.
So I implore you – if you meet the eligibility criteria, what is there to lose? Applying to a programme such as Realising Opportunities will be one of the best things you could ever do in the lead up to your undergraduate life. The pathways it opens up and the transferable skills you can gain from the programme are genuinely invaluable. You never know – it could turn that dreaded first ever university essay grade from a second-class to a first! But the only way you’ll find out is by trying.
Anna, your story is empowering and illuminates your journey of education and self-discovery. Thank you for encouraging students to follow in your footsteps and take an opportunity which will hopefully give them the same positive insight into university and success at university. A big thank you for sharing.