George chose civil engineering and applied to study at the University of Nottingham. Now in his first year, he is thriving in both his studies and the vibrant campus life, enjoying modules like Structures and looking forward to a future where he can design and create essential infrastructure. The Alumni Scholarship has played a key role in easing the financial pressures of university life, allowing him to focus on his academic and personal growth.
“I am from Bath, where I live with my mum who works in the admissions and marketing team for a primary school. I am an avid reader, reading everything from STEM and philosophic books too novels; I also love to cook and play guitar.
"I studied maths, applied science and music technology at A-level. When the time came around, I was unsure what I wanted to do after my A-levels. So, I decided to take a gap year to go straight into work. Initially I worked at an international summer school taking international teenagers on tours of Bath, Oxford and London. Whilst working full time, I enrolled in a level 5 TEFL language course - an English course providing the qualification to teach English as a second language.
“After passing the course around Christmas I was offered a job in Thailand offering to fly me there, an offer I couldn’t refuse! I was there until the end of their school year in April. It was a hard three months for me as it was a lot of firsts; my first time living alone, my first time teaching and my first time in a country so different. Whilst there I had the time to decide what I wanted to continue my studies in. After choosing between pure maths and civil engineering, I applied to study civil engineering at university.”
“Now I am in Nottingham I am very happy with my choice, both of university and course. Nottingham is a such a friendly and vibrant place, and University Park campus is amazing.
"I am glad I chose civil engineering, as I love the opportunity to solve real world problems and help design essential infrastructure. I look forward to hopefully one day seeing a structure that I helped bring to reality. I have been enjoying all my modules with Structures being my favourite module, partly due to the amazingly engaging lecturer.
"It took a few weeks to readjust from working to learning. I am proud of my first grades, having scored 70.5% in my course work 1 and 80% in my first submission for my portfolio module.”
Rooftop GNSS Calibration Facility, Nottingham Geospatial Building
“I am grateful for the generous scholarship as I use the money for my food shops and buses around Nottingham. I also recently took and passed my driving theory test, and have now booked a practical driving test. Having a driving license will really help me in the future when applying for jobs after university.”
