Surviving Christmas

UCAS deadlines

Be safe!

Unistats

Futurewise

A whale of a story

Contribute to the eBulletin

Surviving Christmas

As Christmas approaches, have you thought how you will balance your M.A.S.H… Money, Academic, Social and Health? UNIAID are here to give you some tips and advice – there’ll be no turkey or sprouts, we promise.

Money: The holiday period can seriously dent your wallet – presents, travel, nights out and the January sales.

Consider how much you can afford to spend over Christmas.

Split your cash to cover presents, socialising, shopping and travel.

Just take cash when you go out; if you leave your cards at home, you can’t spend more than you have with you. But remember to keep some aside to get home!

Academic: With the spectre of deadlines and exams looming, how will you manage your time as well as your money? Find a balance between work and play; it’s easy to overdo it either way.

Prioritise what you need to get done and how long you'll need.

Work out a timetable to make sure you have time for your social life as well as your studies.

Try and have a few days off.

Social: Catching up with your friends can be expensive.

Get the mince pies and mulled wine in and catch up at home – staying in is the new going out.

Instead of going to a bar for New Year, why not keep an eye out for a local fireworks display?

In London for New Year’s Eve? Remember, the Tube will run all night, and buses will be free from 23.45 on 31 December to 04.30 on 1 January.

Health: Christmas can be a time of overindulgence.

Eat plenty of fruit and vegetables to keep your immune system working at full whack and to keep those nasty bugs at bay.

Go out for a wintry walk, and enjoy some fresh air and exercise.

UCAS deadlines

If you are applying to go to university and have not sent off your application form yet, remember that the deadline for most applications, is the 15th January.

Be safe!

With all the nights out and the temptations that follow, it can be easy to forget or miscalculate how much you’ve had to drink, or if you’re sober enough to drive the next morning. If you’ve been drinking, be smart and get a bus or taxi home. Some things just aren’t worth the risk: you could get a big fine and hurt yourself or others.

Unistats

What’s the male to female ratio at Southampton University? Were students taking Law at Nottingham happy with the quality of teaching, and did physics students at Manchester think there were enough resources in the library?

Find the answer to these questions and more on the new site from UCAS. It has all the important statistics you'd want to know, as well as the results from the National Student Survey where, as students, you give feedback each year on the courses you've taken.

To find out about your institution, check out Unistats.

Futurewise

Which career? Which course? What skills? Get Futurewise!

Have you thought about how your choices will affect your future? Which university and course? What career options could you explore? What could you get out of a gap year and how you can best attract employers?

Futurewise is a careers and higher-education guidance scheme that will help you research your options and make informed decisions. Among other things, it offers psychometric profiling, one-to-one guidance, personal webspace and careers guidance research resources to help you explore ideas and plan your next steps!

Find out more at www.myfuturewise.org.uk.

A whale of a story

UNIAID’s favourite story over the past few months is the resounding success of a Greenpeace campaign to name a whale. One of the 11,000 names suggested was Mr Splashy Pants; he has now received 75 per cent of the votes and has his own merchandise, clothing range and Facebook page.

To find out more visit Greenpeace or view his e-card here.

Contribute to the eBulletin

If you would like to submit something for the UNIAID Ebulletin, email the team with your ideas at info@uniaid.org.uk