My Top University Choices

Hello Everyone,


Today's post is going to be a little throw back to when i was in the process of applying for university. After deciding what course i wanted to study I had to compile a list of five university choices i wanted to go to. It seems like forever ago when i applied for university now so i was actually struggling to remember which Universities i actually applied for. However, after a little trip down memory lane i figured out my top five Universities were….

My top 5:
University of Bedfordshire
University of Hertfordshire
London Metropolitan University
Kings College
Oxford Brookes University 

I was very fortunate and was accepted to study a Business Management course at each university i applied for. Narrowing down my choices to my firm and insurance choice was a little trickier for me, purely because i had to finally make the decision about whether i wanted to stay and study at home at the University of Bedfordshire or venture out to study at one of the remaining four.

After much deliberation i narrowed my top two down too…

Firm Choice - University of Bedfordshire

Insurance - University of Hertfordshire 

So, as you can see from the two choices above, i decided to stay local to study my Business Management degree. For me deciding to stay at home was the best choice. I know people who have gone to university and wanted to transfer back to a local university after the first semester. It's not a bad thing staying local because for me my timetables were so chippy choppy i could go home throughout the day in an environment i knew, study and relax and then head back into university. Sometimes when we think of a university that is on our doorstep we think it might not necessarily be any good but for what i wanted the University of Bedfordshire was perfect for me. I was still able to work and continue my blogging venture at home.

My insurance choice was Hertfordshire because it was the second closest university to home. However, to be completely honest i knew i was going to get into Bedfordshire University because i had over 400 UCAS points and I even got an academic scholarship bursary the first year i attended the university based on my grades.

Overall i am extremely pleased with my firm choice and i cannot believe on the 27th May my university journey will be over. Never the less i have already been thinking of studying a Master Degree at the university. I have spoken to countless students and lecturers who really suggest going straight into a masters as University life is still quite fresh in your mind. I will keep you all updated on that one though! So…the rest is history really…here i am handing in my dissertation tomorrow and ready to venture out into the real world soon.

Good luck with making your choices!

Keep Calm & Finish Your Dissertation

Hello Everyone!

Friday i had my last ever lecture as a Business Management Undergraduate…scary or what?! I cannot believe my University journey is slowly coming to an end. Here is a little update since my last post...

The last few days has consisted of myself and various others of my family reading through my dissertation to overall proof read and make sure everything is looking top notch.

The dissertation word count officially is meant to be 9,900 with the additional 10%. However, as of right now i have 10, 460 words which means i have to try and condense my thesis down by around 500 words. Never in my right mind would i ever have thought i would be over the word count for my dissertation. Like i have previously mentioned, a dissertation in general is a scary thing to me and reading through 94 pages of my own research work is such an amazing feeling! It has been one of the most stressful things of my life but it will be completely rewarding once it is all complete.

I am planning on doing a reflective post on my dissertation journey for you all but i highly recommend you use your eight-month or so time span wisely. My work is finished but the editing process has been such a lengthily task for me the past few days.

Dissertation hand in is Wednesday before midnight and quite frankly i cannot wait to submit my work and rid of the stress and anxiety of it haha. In regards to work i have remaining, i have one more assignment and then three exams across May.

I have been using the award predictor on e-vision a lot recently to see where abouts i am in terms of my grades and what i need to do to achieve the final degree i desire. I am not sure how accurate it is but so far so good. Have you used the awards predictor?

Speak soon

Update & Payments Via Mobile Number

Hello Everyone!

So it is back to reality this week after the Easter holidays. I had a meeting with my dissertation tutor this morning with the first full draft of my research and all went really well. I am not where near finished yet but i can see light at the end of the tunnel now. I have around a week to finish my dissertation with a weeks allowance for binding and prining…it has come round so fast!

Since being a business student i have regularly been watching and reading the news and i found an interesting article which i wanted to talk to you about. According to the BBC News consumers will now be able to use mobile phone numbers to make bank payments from 29th April 2014.

The changes mean that account holders will be able to pay friends, family or traders without having to ask for their bank details. In stead, they will only need to ask for their mobile number, according to the payments council. However, both parties involved within the transaction, will have to register to use the service, known as Paym-pronounced "Pay Em".

I don't know about you but it almost seems too good to be true and almost like an open opportunity for frauds to strike. However, the payments council, which supervises bank transactions in the UK, has rejected fears about fraud.

According to Neil Aitken, from the payments council,"the only thing that people would be able to do if they got you mobile number is pay you - it will be integrated in to your existing banking app so it;s password protected".

Those wishing to make payments via mobile phone numbers will still need to use their banking apps, which require customers to long on to their accounts. Account holders will need to visit their own banks website for more details. Similar systems have already been introduced by Barclays and RBS NatWest.

Hmm, sounds quite interesting right?! What are your thoughts on this new payments method?

Speak soon!

The Plan After Easter Break

Hello Everyone,

I hope you are all have a great Easter break…even though i am incredibly jealous as mine is none existent! I am currently in the University library writing up the remanding chapters for my dissertation and it suddenly struck me…what is the plan after Easter break? I know the main plan for my final 3rd semester is to complete my dissertation, hand in my dissertation, complete a handful of exams and then graduate! When written down it sounds so incredibly easy…the thought of everything is actually quite scary! But then what?!

In my previous post i briefly mentioned how i wouldn't be having much of an Easter break and so far this has been 100% true. I have lugged my way into University everyday with bags full of books (very good exercise) fully determined to get a full 9am - 6.30pm hour shift done packed full of dissertation work and revision. I find working at the University is so much better and i have less distractions. There is a library full of books within walking distance and some staff on hand to ask for advice.

It's the final week of Easter break and it has literally flown by so fast. I have literally had to make a full schedule for myself to make sure i stay on track. I promised myself i wouldn't be one of those student how finishes the work hours before the submission deadline…for a dissertation that sounds crazy! I mean if you get the work done appropriately good on you but it would seriously stress me out…eeek!

Looking at my calender i only have 3 weeks remaining to complete my dissertations….2 of which are for writing and editing and 1 week is to get my dissertation bound looking all pretty and professional. Then after that i have three exams scattered throughout May which we are still waiting on the timetable for (we were told it would be released last week…tut tut) and then GRADUATION in just over 12 weeks.

I can't believe the last three years have just flown by.

Speak soon!

Easter Break = No Break

Hello Everyone!

Yay! It is finally Easter break, which means lots of relaxing, enjoying the sunshine and doing pretty much anything other that University work right?! NOPE! Easter break for me = No Easter break. 

I am currently writing this post up from the Learning Hub at the Bedford campus. It is officially Easter break but unfortunately I will not be having an Easter break due to the growing amount of work i need to finish. I need to completing the remaining chapters of my dissertation, this is worth 70% of my final dissertation grade and they consist of the Methodology, Findings, Analysis, working on my Literature Review, Appendices and a reflective report and so on.

I think the thought of writing a dissertation is still quite daunting to me. Essentially it is 9000-10,000 word report but the word Dissertation is just so scary. I really cannot believe i am three years into my degree and i will be graduating in a few months time. The 1st draft and final deadlines are approaching and i am in a slight panic mode and want to make sure i get everything finishing within good time. I am hopefully working towards a 2:1 or 1st degree which means a lot of hard work is needed.

I have been University all day everyday for the past few weeks. I am determined to not get everything on top of me and fall behind…that would not be good. I think if i work constantly hard the next few weeks hopefully it will all be worth it and then i can enjoy the Summer and being a graduate!

I will fill you in on more dissertation antics soon!

Project Management Event - Practice Week

Hello Everyone,

I can't believe it's the 1st April today?! Where has the time gone?! The thought of having to submit the first full draft of my dissertation at the end of the month is absolutely frightening. For todays post I thought i would update you on my goings on recently…one of which was conducting a real life event for my Project Management Unit.

Last week myself and my Project Management team had to conduct our Business Management Battle with the first year business student during their third and final practice week of the year. We had been planning this event for the past four plus months and it was great to see it all come together and be such a success. Our event consisted of three major events which spread out across the week…A scavenger hunt, quiz and Dragons Den experience. Even though we planned three events, during the actual event we had to use our initiative and create a fourth event to spread over the time table which the lecturers issued to us…so as a team we decided on a SWOT analysis which would aid the first years in creating their pitch for the Dragons Den experience at the end of the week. Amongst all of this myself and my Project Management team were keeping a scoring systems which the students were aware of but had no idea on the criteria. It was an element which we thought really motivated the students to get involved and that element of competitiveness amongst the students really shone.

Overall the event went really well and the students were more involved out of all of their previous practice which was great to hear. Our event required a little more work and consideration as it was across a longer period of time but also because the University was our client (no pressure). We have had great feedback from the lecturers and they are considering using the event plan for future students which is quite exciting. The next stage is to complete a 1500 - 2500 word reflective report on the event and answer a few questions about how it went, how it could have been improved, how well the team worked together and so on.

The Project Management reflective report will be my last assignment of the year minus the remaining chapters of my dissertation. Once all of the written work is complete all i have left to do is three exams during May, wait for results and graduate in July! Ahhh!

Thanks for reading - Speak soon!

WhatsApp sold to Facebook

Hello everyone,

Whenever i have a free moment from my dissertation writing i always like to check what news is going one in the world. As a business student this is something i need to constantly be checking up on and keeping up to date with.

Recently i saw an article online about how Facebook has confirmed a deal to purchase WhatsApp. Facebook seems to be diving into all routes these days as a few years ago they also purchased the ever so popular Instagram App. Facebook announced that purchase of the purchase of the mobile message service WhatsApp in February, in a $19 billion deal that represents the social media company's biggest acquisition yet. I was interested to give the article a read not only because i use the App myself but also because it is something that can be raised in my Strategy and Change Management unit as Facebook are strategically changinging themselves to be dominate in their field. Clever clogs or what!

Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, described five-year-old WhatsApp as an 'incredibly valuable' service that was well on its way to connecting 1 billion people around the world. The deal is a big bet for Facebook, which has until recently struggled to convince investors of its strategy for mobile. WhatsApp has more that 400 million users around the worlds and claims it is adding more that 1 million new registered users a day. To be honest, there is not one person i know who does not use the App themselves, i regularly use it and if you are connected to wifi abroad you can easily communicate around the globe. It allows unlimited free text-messaging and picture sending between users and is among the worlds most downloaded mobile apps. Facebook's successful bid comes after Google reportedly made a $1 billion offer for the company last year.

I think i need to start designing my own app…who knows, Facebook may want to purchase it from me in the future! Who wouldn't want over $1 billion in their bank account?!

What are your thoughts on the new acquisition.

Speak soon