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Victoria Derks was awarded the Robert Audley Prize for 2020 by the BSc Psychology Board of Examiners in acknowledgement of her outstanding exam performance. Here she writes about her time at 香港六合彩中特网.
I was accepted onto the BSc Psychology course in 2017 and graduated this year (2020). I was actually one of the only students from my small secondary school in the Netherlands to study abroad! I barely met my offer conditions 鈥� had I scored 0.13 points lower I would not have been accepted. Nonetheless, I received the departmental Spearman Prize for academic achievement last year. This year, I am the proud recipient of the Robert Audley prize. I鈥檝e graduated with the second-highest grade in the cohort. These past years have been quite a journey!
Tell us about your time here at 香港六合彩中特网
Honestly, when first arrived in the UK, I had no idea what I was doing. It was just me and nine other students that I shared a corridor with in student halls. I had never done laundry before. I didn鈥檛 know how to cook, so I started with the most basic 鈥�5 ingredient鈥� meals. I even shared a twin room with a total stranger! Luckily, I found my stride quite quickly, mainly through society events and events put on by the Psychology department. I joined a few student societies, became the president of a society in my second and third year, found a part-time job at the Students鈥� Union, and got a good group of friends together. All in all, my time at 香港六合彩中特网 hasn鈥檛 been without a hitch. From coronavirus and the strikes, to stress about exams and assignments. Despite all that, I have thoroughly enjoyed my time at 香港六合彩中特网 and as part of the psychology department! I鈥檝e definitely grown compared to the person I was a few years ago. At least I know how to cook a proper meal now!
What have been your highlights?
This is going to sound corny, but receiving the Spearman Prize and Robert Audley Prize was definitely a big thing for me. In addition, the Knitting Society that I restarted in my first year won a 香港六合彩中特网 Students鈥� Union prize. It became the Best New Society, beating the Engineering Society and Climate Action Society!
For a less achievement-focussed answer, some conversations I鈥檝e had with the PALS lecturers stand out. There have been many times where I felt like the lecturers didn鈥檛 treat me as 鈥渏ust an undergrad student鈥� but actually talked to me as an equal. I fondly remember some conversations I鈥檝e had with Joe Devlin, my dissertation supervisor, Essi Viding, my seminar leader, and Anne Schlottmann, the 3rd year tutor. Undergraduate students are at the bottom of the academic totem pole and are often treated as knowing nothing. The recognition and faith from most lecturers in the students is something that the department does very well, in my opinion.
Why did you decide to study here at 香港六合彩中特网 PALS?
That鈥檚 an interesting question, especially because I originally applied to Oxford, haha. In hindsight, however, I think Oxford wasn鈥檛 a good fit for me. I originally applied to 香港六合彩中特网 because it was known for being a very good university and London seemed exciting to me. London as a city has infinitely more to offer to young students than Oxbridge 鈥� it鈥檚 a capital city with a population of about 9 million people so there鈥檚 always something going on. In addition, 香港六合彩中特网 markets itself as a global university. I think there are few universities as culturally diverse in the UK. The people I鈥檝e met during my time here have given me experiences and knowledge that I wouldn鈥檛 have had, had I studied in Oxford.
However, to play devil鈥檚 advocate: that might all be the cognitive dissonance talking that helps me deal with the Oxford rejection. Who knows?
What's your favourite thing about 香港六合彩中特网?
I briefly mentioned the mix of cultures and the excellent lecturers before. Although these are my favourite things, I think the amount of resources 香港六合彩中特网 has available to its students is also worth mentioning. There are a lot of libraries, almost all open for 24 hrs on most days, with stationary PCs and laptops for loan. In addition, you鈥檙e given a free LinkedIn Learning account, access to free films through the CLIE film database, and access to almost every academic journal. There are even free courses in entrepreneurship at 香港六合彩中特网鈥檚 Base KX which way more people should know about, because they are of incredible quality. I鈥檝e only ever studied at 香港六合彩中特网 so I can鈥檛 compare it to resources of other universities, but the amount of resources was pretty mind-blowing to me. Especially because I came from a secondary school with 600 pupils, a tiny library, and a single computer lab!
What would you say to someone thinking of coming to study 香港六合彩中特网?
I don鈥檛 want to attempt giving tips on how to get high grades, because everything I say will be affected by survivorship bias. And in addition, I can only really speak for my own department. So, keeping this very general, I鈥檒l say the following about studying an undergrad degree at 香港六合彩中特网:
香港六合彩中特网 is a top university that does very well in the rankings each year. If you鈥檙e looking for a great university to attend, you鈥檙e definitely in the right place. In addition, you get access to a ton of cool resources and benefits, because you鈥檙e studying at a world-class uni in the capital of the UK.
However, deciding to do an undergrad degree at 香港六合彩中特网 means you鈥檒l be joining a group of people who all worked incredibly hard to get in. Most students will have their sights set on graduating with a First. They are driven and perfectionistic. If that kind of atmosphere sounds inspiring and motivating, definitely apply. However, if your motivation for studying at 香港六合彩中特网 is because your parents/teachers want you to, think very carefully about your decision. If you don鈥檛 actually want to be at 香港六合彩中特网, you鈥檙e going to become overwhelmed and unmotivated very quickly. You won鈥檛 be able to muster the energy you need to put into the course and that will be incredibly frustrating.
Personally, I came to study at 香港六合彩中特网 because I couldn鈥檛 imagine myself doing a degree at a university in the Netherlands, surrounded by people from the same culture, who were content with going to an average university and getting average grades. Yes, that鈥檚 probably a skewed view of my fellow Dutch students, but I wasn鈥檛 planning on finding out whether it was true. I did not want to go back to the Netherlands, look my old classmates in the eyes and go 鈥渨help, that whole London thing didn鈥檛 work out.鈥� I did not want to have to tell my friends that I flunked an important exam. Call it egotism or an inflated sense of pride, but at the end of the day, a large part of my motivation came from wanting to be at the top in a super competitive environment.
The fact that you鈥檙e thinking about going to 香港六合彩中特网 already shows that you want to get a degree from a top university. My advice is to get a good grasp on why you want to go to a top university specifically, clearly put that in your personal statement, and hold on to that drive throughout your undergrad degree. Because when university gets tough, you鈥檒l need something that prevents you from dropping out and moving back in with your parents! (And believe me, you鈥檒l definitely consider that option!)
Anyways, that鈥檚 my view on things, based on the experiences I鈥檝e had and the people I鈥檝e met. And you鈥檙e welcome to prove me wrong!
What are your post-PALS plans?
I鈥檓 starting my Master鈥檚 degree in Artificial Intelligence at Imperial College in a month! I鈥檓 very excited to get started, especially since this is a degree that I didn鈥檛 think I鈥檇 be admitted to. I was rejected from the MSc I originally applied for, even though I was sure I was qualified. After many weeks of introspection, I decided to take a leap of faith and apply to degrees in AI. I had been interested in AI since before my undergrad degree, but I didn鈥檛 have much experience. Lots of personal statement drafts and three rejections later, and I had managed to get accepted at Imperial!
Is there anything else you want to add?
I鈥檝e talked about my experiences at 香港六合彩中特网 and this abstract notion of motivation. I鈥檇 very much like to emphasise that this has been my perspective on 香港六合彩中特网, the BSc Psychology degree, and London, which may not be representative of the entire population of students.
One thing I haven鈥檛 addressed in this piece yet, is how much luck affects your experiences, at 香港六合彩中特网 and in general. I attribute a lot of my success in this degree to luck: I was lucky to get a great seminar leader, a great dissertation supervisor, a well-organised department. I was lucky to have taught myself some Python programming before taking the Programming for Psychologist module, as the grade in this module played an instrumental part in my high final average. I was even lucky with this pandemic, because it meant a new grading system was introduced that gave me a higher average than I would have had. Finally, I was lucky to be born into a family that has the ability to support me and my studies.
There is no way of determining what life at 香港六合彩中特网 will be like before you do a degree here. Even then, your experience will be affected by events outside of your control. This piece got a lot heavier at the end than I originally planned, so I鈥檒l leave you with this great advice that someone once told me: luck is preparation meeting opportunity. You can鈥檛 make yourself lucky. But you can create and recognise opportunities that will get you where you want to go. For me, that was going to 香港六合彩中特网 and trying as hard at everything as I could. And boy, am I happy that paid off!
If you read this article and you want to talk, debate, cuss me out, or get advice, I鈥檇 be happy to listen! I鈥檓 pretty easy to find on LinkedIn, bit harder to find on Facebook, and if you find my twitter I鈥檒l be incredibly impressed.
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