If You Get A Place

If all goes according to plan and your results allow you to accept a place, well done! But there is still plenty to think about. The brief checklist below tells you some of the things you should soon be doing...

• Confirm your place within 7 days or risk losing it
• Make sure of your accommodation - particularly important these days as some universities are quite stretched
• Check the arrangements for financing your course: has the LEA responded to your financial details form? Have you applied for a loan if you need one? If you haven't got a bank account, set one up. There are often special deals for students.
• You will need quite a lot of money early on: advance payment for your hall, or for rent; books, etc. Make sure you have plenty of cash at the start of term, and somewhere safe to keep it.
• Get lots of passport photos (essential for the first week of term).
• You will receive loads of paperwork from the university, from the department, and possibly from the student organisations. Read it all.
• Find your exam certificates - you may need them as proof of your grades.
• Get an NHS exemption certificate (AG1) so that you do not have to pay prescription or dental charges.
• Get yourself vaccinated against meningitis (or do this at the university health centre).
• Buy supplies of stationery; top up your wardrobe (check what the weather will be like in winter).
• Make a stab at the reading list you are likely to be sent.
• Find out all the details of travel: train timetables, best times for cheap fares; compare the cost of a coach, or even flying. If you have a car, check that you can park it somewhere - no point even thinking of it at Oxbridge, for example.