BRUTALLY HONEST REVIEW: MY FIRST TERM AT OXFORD UNIVERSITY (+ MY END OF TERM REPORTS!)

[Music] hey guys so before this video starts I just wanted to extend a huge shout out to Squarespace for sponsoring it and if you want to find out more about Squarespace be sure to stay tuned until the end of the video where I will develop further right so minimalist term is done I have completed my first term at Oxford University but the question is how was it that is the question so hello everybody welcome back to my channel obviously lighting it's not cute right now really not ideal but backdrops cube so that's fine I'm looking Vida shovelled be tired because I've just done a 9 week term here at Oxford a 9 week does not sound like a long time and it hasn't felt like a long time but my body is telling me right now that it is in fact a long time but today I wanted to do a recap video of my term and how I found it how it was and just a yeah basically how was it and what does I like what did I not like and also to talk a bit about my report so like academically how are doing because those if you wanted to know that when I asked on Twitter so I have the reports saved on my phone and I will tell you I'll do that first actually just because I think that's probably why I love you were watching so I just filmed a five minute clip and honestly it was just such waffle I think being here as now baby really really consider how well structured by arguments are because that was just not structured at all so basically I'm gonna give a very very brief summary of how my exam works this year I study Modern Languages we have what's called prelims in first year they don't count for anything they're just basically a brief introduction to all of the areas that we might like to study in second and fourth year third year as a year abroad but what we do in second or fourth year is called final honor schools which is basically what counts for your degree so your exams at the end of fourth year which you'll cover second and fourth year content counts for your degree but this year does not count at all and what happens this year is that you don't get a first second third fail per se it's literally fail under 40% over 40% as a pass and if you get over 70% you get distinction which means that you get a scholar scout and like you've basically got first essentially so that is how it works okay that is a weight quicker summary than what I was doing before so I don't really like some some subjects they just have one shooter I have a lot of different people teaching me because I do languages so I have like grammar teacher speaking teachers I have by two like main tutors I have translation tutors like I have loads so I'm not going to sit here and go through each report because a lot they all just say basically the same thing so I'm basically gonna summarize and tell you what is going on though it's not very rare not very rare not very common at all for anyone to get a first in their first term because that would just be like insane basically from what I have gathered from what my tutor has told me personally and from what is on my report is that I'm working a solid high-ish to one so like a solid happy to one and the general consensus from my tutor is that she wants me to get first this year which so ironic because I okay it's ironic for this reason basically I worked so hard at a-level and I worked so hard at GCSE and I sacrificed a lot of things like socially and love life wise and just like fun wise to get into Oxford right they from like year 7 has always been to go to Oxford and there I kind of got that Abe and I was like right well I don't really want to do a PhD I'm not really planning on progressing academically so realistically from Oxford all I would need is a solid two one which I don't need to worry about till 4th year anyway so I'm going to enjoy myself and make up for all of the lost time that I had like I'm not work this hard to get into Oxford to not make most of it and enjoy myself and stop worrying about being the best at everything and just enjoying the process right so my philosophy this term was to enjoy myself and go out and do things and meet new people and see who put friends and just everything but get my work done and if it wasn't great that's fine I'm quite happy with just passing this year so I am very very pleasantly surprised at the fact that although I've been going out and I've been like going to the club see what my friends are making new friends I like trying out new things I still manage to do like a high two one I like everybody was really really really positive like all of my report was like yeah you're doing really really well keep it up fantastic like really push yourself stretch yourself next term and like my tutor was basically like you need to be a bit more competitive you need to sort of push yourself a bit more and I was like right but like that's all I've done all my life and I'm trying to have a break from that it's quite ironic that that has always come from myself I've always tried to push myself a bit more and no one's ever told me to push myself I just do it naturally some second that I've finally got my body into the rhythm of just like not being an aggressive perfectionist now everyone else is like hey come on like you can do this like you should aim higher and now I'm like do I want to first this year maybe I do I don't know I can't decide like I am actually thinking though rather optimistically that from mr. it is definitely possible what you do really well in your studies here and also have a lot of fun so I'm thinking that if I just put my foot down a bit and the Easter break and like revise for the last term I could probably still enjoy myself and maybe get a high - you want or maybe even get first if I really really wanted to I'm not sure I do want to I don't know if I want to put that pressure on myself I don't know if I want to get first this year because then I'm setting up an expectation for my tutor like this girl's got first clearly you know like she's want to watch and then they'll just be more pressure in second and fourth year so I'm like do I really want that I don't know I am very tall at the moment but yeah general consensus is working at a high tea one she wants me to aim she she was like I want to be seeing firsts on those reports next term I want you to just set yourself tasks and push yourself and like you will like you like you can do really really well but the general consensus is I think everybody's happy with me this term I'm happy with the work that I've done this term I have done a lot less work than I did at a-level yet still going okay and that's probably just first year and it's probably just this term but all in all basically happy with my academic performance but don't feel like I've sold my soul at a level like I did you know I mean like I feel like I've done as well as I could ever have hope to do for how much work I'm doing yeah okay so that's basically the academic side when it comes to actual difficulty of work I okay it's challenging but in an enjoyable way so the essay questions are challenging are they are hard I like art on things that we just don't know so like a level you study a literature text for like a year whereas here like you study it for two weeks and by study you get a lecture on it and like you write the essay on it by your own reading your own research your own opinion it's very independent I love that kind of take that in a way it's been really challenging for me like not having like textbooks or revision guides just having to rely on your own thoughts a little bit but I've really really enjoyed it like honestly it's challenging but it's it's weird because it's kind of like what they gave you at a level to really really stretch you it's kind of like that but like at the very end of that so like the translations re difficult I do have to think about them I like but you know and it's weird as well because I have to remember that I have to in exam conditions like at the moment you do translation as you use like dictionaries and like online resources and you can research things and that way like yeah they're going to be like all your translations excellent we'll get obviously like I can make them excellent if I want to because I've got the access to the internet so it's like mmm maybe I'll be saying something different when I get my first like I say exam condition on back but that's fine so yeah to conclude with academics yeah I filed the Spanish texts relatively interesting I do not like the first one I do not like the third one we did but the second of the fourth one big thumbs up for me really enjoyed translation classes especially from Spanish into English I found them so interesting about like how you can change the register the syntax idiomatic phrases like getting rhetorical devices all of that apps you love that I will definitely be taking it an advanced translation paper next year because I find it so interesting and I really want to push myself in the translate paper German really liked all four texts actually not the first ones much but that's what I had the flu so I feel like I really wasn't paying attention poetry like a bit of poetry to POTUS that's chill and yeah translation again I really like especially English and German translation which I find really really enjoyable more so than German into English weird how it worked out but yeah paper ward for German which is our sort of like kind of an a-level paper where you have to do like a summary and you have to do like an essay or like an article and stuff like that very like reading comprehension a-level love those classes love everything about that class I think the topic is really interesting I love the time Alec that's definitely my favorite class really like that one yeah academically so I feel stretched I feel challenged I feel like I do have to work hard but I am doing less work that a-level hours wise but that's because like there's less content than a level and also during term like the focus is on sort of just treading water so like just getting through the term I'm like getting all your work done and then after term is finished so like Christmas holidays I have a lot of work that I want to do so I have a mock exam called a collection when I come back for Spanish I don't have one for German and it was gonna be on my birthday and they cancelled it so I only have a Spanish mock exam and it's just on the literature so basically over the break I do need to like revise the literature get some quotes together and stuff like that but yeah so that is basically everything vaca demux that was so awfully I'm sorry I really can't structure my thoughts yeah the lectures vary from great to awful I haven't been to all of them I won't lie to you but it's very independent I've got literally right next to me and then who saved bag filled with books I'm gonna read over the holidays I don't also have all the text for next time to read over the holidays too so lots to do but yeah general consensus is academically challenged but in a pleasant way fell out of my death but again like in a way that's pushing me not making me feel paralyzed feel like I've managed to get enough work done that I'm doing really really well for me and I'm really really happy with how doing but also I've not pushed myself too far away from the social aspect and very much looking forward to next term still haven't decided if I am gonna kick it up again and become a bit more of a nerd or if I do just want to enjoy myself and get like a solid 2:1 and make not worry about it so I will get back to you on that once I've decided what I'm gonna do about my tutors advice whether I'm gonna be like okay I am gonna push myself I am gonna get first and I want to do that or I'm gonna be like okay now I'm quite happy at where I am I like doing what I'm doing this year so that's basically the academics I think covered yeah so with regards to other things forget academics I I'm not gonna lie to you second week here was really difficult because of my flu I was just really down in that week I was really down in sixth week but that was just for hormonal reasons just literally just feeling down because of literally hallways in my body other than that I can hand on heart say that I have literally had the best time the last eight weeks like I am actually in love with this place and I just generally feel like this college this UD was just it just fits me well it fits my style of just thinking and the people here and very much my sort of people and yeah so just before I go on a waffle about loads of different aspects it's really really great hair and I'm super happy and I really hope that that never changes because I have just spent this whole time so stimulated like so busy but so sociable and I've pushed myself and I feel like I've changed so much as a person but like for the better I've made new friends I'd like to challenge myself and I've done new things and like I'm so happy about that and I really think that this place is just the best for me I'm weirdly my mental health is better than it's ever been that might not last as an example get closer and precious do starts amount but right now I am really really happy with where I'm at mentally and just in my life and yeah so that's a big thumbs up for me so freshers week here like it's quite nice because you have a mix of like day activities and sort of night activities I only went clubbing like three times I think but you didn't have to go clubbing at all they have mini-golf ice-skating pub quizzes whatever and it was very intense so the thing that the only thing I didn't like about this term was the idea that I came in on the first day and I didn't know who my friendship group we're gonna be and I don't like not knowing like who I'm gonna be friends with but all I would say to that is like it does come and you look back at the end of term you're like right yeah it all naturally just fell into place and you just have to roll with the punches and if you feel yourself drifting from people that's okay like it's gonna happen and it's not because they didn't like you any more or any less like you might just don't see each other as much as you did in freshers week and stuff so I really enjoyed freshers week I found it really really busy and quite terrifying but after about three four days I was like okay yeah I'm really really uncomfortable here and since then it's just felt more and more comfortable and like a home really like just somewhere that I really don't mind being and somewhere that I don't really want to leave like I'm staying for another two weeks but interviews to help out with interviews because I just love it so here I love it here so much so yeah it's really really welcoming with regards to LMH as a college like I honestly couldn't have asked for a better college the food is great I don't eat that all the time I have eaten a lot more that I probably should have I've discovered the kebab shop hussein's which after a night out is just amazing LMH have been really really good on just keeping people busy they have a rabbit cafe we have college rabbits where you can let go and see them we they have so many events like literally the other day they had Mike Hamill singing in the chord they had like a cow service they have talks by like amazing people and like there's just so much going on all the time they have charity for walls our Packers in welfare week like they really do care about their students and just everybody here it's just such a nice community and everybody's been so friendly as far as I know and yeah I really don't have any negative words to say about LMH other than the fact that my room is literally a sauna I really just can't cope with how all my room is all the time but other than that literally nothing friendship-wise I am sober as you will have seen in the vlogs with literally the most angelic corridor of all time I literally love everybody on my floor I'm so sad that all God and I'm here by myself but yeah I've definitely made friends for life in those girls and I really just feel like this corridor is just so somewhere that I just want to be and it's just so nice to have somewhere to come back to at the end of the day where everybody is just so lovely and supportive I'd always there to listen I'd always there for a laugh and even friends like outside College I've got friends outside college as well and just loads of lovely friends with in college and just everything about this college it's just great I really can't fault it to be honest I'm trying to think of sorry that I haven't liked because I feel like that would be would be useful yeah so it's quite far like not far it's like a 10-minute walk from town but if you want to go to Tesco like that's a pain but on the bright side that's meant that I can eat a lot more because I'm barely like 500 calories a day doing like average 10,000 steps a day and feeling a lot sort of fitter and got used to walking while the driving everywhere which is really really nice yeah the staff are also friendly I really just like everybody that teaches me and everybody that I associated with in the college I have got involved as a student ambassador which is really really nice which is basically like promoting the college and doing access and outreach which I'm really looking forward to I did a snapchat take over on elevates a chart in fourth week and I've also doing one for the first half of the interview week which should be really really nice negatives I would say Oxford is a big fat bubble and I generally feel like I don't know what's going on outside of Oxford I feel like I haven't lost touch with my friends outside of Oxford but I thought like I can't fully engage with anything that's going on outside of Oxford even when I read the news it just feels a bit like if it's not going on it's not really going on and like what I've seen by other friends at university I can't react engage with what's going on I just sort of think outside of what is going on in LMH at this point in time right now so yeah that would be a negative as the only other negative I could think of is YouTube like it's been really hard to keep YouTube up with Oxford not because I'm working so much because there's just so many other things I want to be doing like getting sponsored videos in on time and just making sure that I'm editing videos to a decent enough quality is been really a struggle I'm just thinking about YouTube it's just been at the back of my mind and now I feel like my channel is kind of suffering as a consequence but hopefully you've enjoyed the videos this this term I know I've loved making the vlogs and you will be getting some more sit-down videos like this properly editing and stuff as soon as I'm home from interview which will hopefully over nice and smoothly but yeah so those are probably everything about college everything about college is just great I genuinely think I would be as happy at any other college I definitely made the right decision I definitely fit this place like a glove this glove this place it's me like a glove it's a beautiful relationship I would not want to be anywhere else in any other uni I literally want to stay here forever because it's just great with regards to other things so let's think about other things so living independently and that's not really been an issue I'm quite an independent person and I actually get on with my family really really well but like I can deal with not being at home for long periods of time especially because here feels like a home away from home I feel just as comfortable here as I do at home now and it feels so welcoming and I really don't I haven't felt the urge to be at home I felt the urge to see my family and things but I really do like it here and I feel like going home is actually gonna be quite difficult not because I don't want to see my family and spend some time at home predominantly because I feel like I've changed a lot as a person so I'm kind of like trying to fit back into a smaller box I feel like I've kind of had all this independence and then it's kind of going back home it's a bit like oh it's quite suffocating Oxford it's just so much bigger and like there's just so much more freedom so I think that will be a real struggle but generally I would say yeah living in the penalty's the fire I've managed to cook kind of not really eating the best but who cares and yeah really have enjoyed this all freedom and just sort of making that transition from being a hermit depending on your parents you begin what to just like do you think yourself which I really really like so yeah independence all good in herd clubs and societies so I've joined the German society and I've been to quite a few German society events I've been to a couple of media society events I'm also working with unique and with LMH or lots of access and outreach things and I'm pretty sure that that I want that to be our principal focus while I'm here is access and outreach because I'm really really passionate about that so that is kind of going to be my like main like extracurricular it's working on access and promoting Oxford to people that might not necessarily have thought of it as an option for various reasons I am going to hopefully hopefully fingers crossed start writing for the chair well which is the student newspaper next term I didn't do it this time because I just wanted to get a bit of a feeler for what I wanted to do but I hopefully will be starting to write for them and really getting involved in student journalism because obviously if I want to be a journalist that II see what happens I did apply for some work experience at channel 4 I didn't get it because it was people with no experience and they counted my youtubers experience I think whereas other work experiences whoa cowboy youtubers experience I'd say that I don't have enough experience so it is proving quite difficult to get work experience but I am trying and yeah so that is basically what is going on with extracurriculars I've tried think of other things I think I've covered everything have I not so in terms of goals for over Christmas and what I would call X term so really over Christmas the number one priority for me is going to be catching up or second week reading because where I had the flu obviously didn't do any work for about a week so I have about 18 books obviously not like the full books but articles I want to read and I really just want to read around the text a bit more because during term time you don't really have a chance to do that I need to do all my reading for next term I have collection exam for Spanish to revise for obviously and just a couple of tip bits like an essay to write a couple of translations I'm only at home for three weeks obviously a week of that will be off for Christmas so aim is to get all of my reading done in the next two weeks and then have two weeks to do everything else so it's quite a short vacation but five weeks is literally going to feel like an eternity after living here for in such an intense environment with my friends for so long literally I don't know how I'm really gonna cope without having that social aspect of my life anymore I used to be so happy to just sit in my room for hours and watch Netflix and now after about 30 minutes of not having human contact I'm a bit like somebody talk to me please but yeah that is pretty much everything about my first term I'm sorry this video has been so long and I just wanted to ramble and get it off my chest so I can capture how I'm feeling but all in all I've literally loved it and this place is just I feel like it's where I'm meant to be and I feel like it's where I've worked hard to be and where I kind of deserved to be because I feel like I just get I put so much on hold like for a lot of my life to work harder to get in so I'm really glad that I'm enjoying it and I'm really proud of myself for getting to a place in my life where I could just enjoy academics and not have to worry about doing academics for the sake of again passing an exam like I can this year I'm really just enjoying the process of writing essays I'm reading about texts and researching things I'm interested in and yeah all in all I have been down like upset for probably about 1% of the time that I've been here which is natural and I'm so so grateful that that's been my experience because I know that not everybody is been lucky enough to have that but I'm honestly head over heels in love with this place and the people at the college I'm just everything about it I really just don't want that to change I really don't want Hillary like Hillary term next term I don't want the update video for that to be like it was awful I can't believe I loved it so much to me Thomas I really hope it stays like this and I hope that I feel this way about this place forever because it's just been such a dream of mine since I was so young and to actually be here to be studying here I prefer it to be my home it's just so insane I'm yeah so I'm very very happy and yeah okay well I hope you enjoyed this video if you did give it a big thumbs up comment down below how you've been fighting uni or how you've been finding a levels or GCSEs or yeah Nile or whatever you are whatever you're doing let me know give me your own MIDI update I kind of want to know so yeah so I hope you enjoyed that video and as I said at the start of the video this video is sponsored by Squarespace which is basically a platform that offers you the chance to develop your own website it is home to loads of award-winning and beautifully designed templates and the best thing about it is that it's an all-in-one platform so you don't ever need to download anything or install anything or upgrade anything and it's very very simple and easy to use and very transparent which I love it's really easy to set up and it can be used for any type of website by any type of person so if you are interested be sure to click the link in my description or the link on-screen now for a free trial and 10% off your first purchase I hope you enjoyed this video if you did be sure to give it a big thumbs up comment down below how your first term of university when and I will see you very very soon with a new video bye guys [Music]

Channel: Eve Bennett

Views: 118,238

Keywords: 6-12-2018, eve, bennett, oxford, university, first, term, review, first year, how, did, find, it, honest review, work load, academic, rejection, q&a, oxford exposed, spanish, german, eve bennett, alevel results, gcse results

Id: z_2oOQK0k78

Length: 25min 24sec (1524 seconds)

Published: Sat Dec 15 2018