By Kirstie Moffat (Lower Sixth)

Last Thursday (25th June), Lower Sixth participated in the Higher Education Day run by the Careers Department.

In the morning, we listened to Jade Wheeler from the University of Surrey (pictured) who gave us top advice for writing our personal statements, as well as telling us what universities look for in an ideal applicant.

During the afternoon sessions, we split into groups and participated in workshops, ranging from first impressions to personal branding and building confidence to looking at LinkedIn.

I really enjoyed the building confidence workshop run by the Artemis Network, which is a charity that help young women, like us, to develop employability skills and confidence.

In the evening, we listened to guest speakers from the University of Leeds and the University of Bedfordshire, with our parents, who talked about personal statements, student finance and what to expect from university.

There were also opportunities to view presentations about alternative things to do next year, one being a gap year and another studying abroad.

The day was very informative, giving us all lots of ideas of how to make ourselves stand out in the application and selection process, when we begin applying for university upon our return to school in September.