Calvin, past Foundation Arts student

The transition to uni life

People always tell you that the transition to uni life is hard and I found that was definitely true for me. I worried about it beforehand as I took a gap year and didn't have amazing A Level grades, so I was a little out of practice when I started.

I felt like I'd struck gold by being lucky enough to come to Nottingham even though I was a little rusty. But once I started easing myself into the process things became much easier mostly due to an amazing support network.

I had support networks in two areas, there were the friends I'd made on the foundation course (some of whom I live with now!) and the foundation staff. Peter and Doug were my two lecturers during the foundation year and they are genuinely lovely, lovely guys. They interviewed me for the course and allowed me to explain where I was coming from, they were so kind and helpful, and I'll always be thankful that I had their support.

Imposter syndrome

I think that imposter syndrome is something that many people feel at university, I know I certainly did. My A level grades weren't awful, but they weren't as good as they could have been, so when I spoke to other students who gained all As or A*s I felt that I'd got into Nottingham by luck. But by chatting to other people on my course I realised we were all in a similar boat and we developed a really tight knit friendship group.

Now that I'm in my second year (of American and Canadian Studies with History BA) it is very rare for me to feel imposter syndrome, only occasionally at the beginning of a new module when you're meeting new people and starting a new subject. But now, having worked hard and achieving good grades I know I deserve my place here at Nottingham.

I won't let not-so-great A-level grades hold me back at uni

Despite arriving at Nottingham with less than perfect A-level results I have gone on to achieve first-class marks so far during my time at university. The catalyst for that change is not only the support networks but also the variety of assessment methods. I admit that I hate exams! But I discovered that in essays I perform really well. Because the foundation year has a really wide variety of different assessments, you can find your niche and start to improve yourself. 

My parents were so proud when I won the award, they could see how hard I'd worked, for the first year of university I commuted every single day from Belper, catching the 7am train and pulling all-nighters studying.

Living at home during my first year

It was hard to integrate myself into the university community whilst living at home, but there were quite a few other people in the foundation year doing it too, so I wasn't alone. I joined some societies which really helped too.

It was a pain having to worry about catching the last train so I couldn't join in the late-night socials, but I found during the foundation year that didn't affect me too much. We were such a small class and the nature of the course means you spend all day together so it felt like hanging out with my friends all day. If we had a long break between lectures we'd go and hang out, usually in someone's halls or I'd go to the library and catch up with some reading.