The University Diaries

Regularly I get questions on Instagram regarding working and earning money whilst being at university, especially when it comes to working alongside placement. Here is how I have made and continue to make enough money to survive university. Student Finance If you are taking out a tuition fee loan then you may as well get a maintenance loan too. My lecturer described student loan repayments as a tax as you are unlikely to ever pay your student loan back fully, and you only repay a small percentage each month. I started my first year without a maintenance loan, and decided in roughly March that I could do with it. I applied for the last term and to my surprise, received the whole yearly amount in a one-off payment! Since then I have used my parents information to receive a means-tested loan, however I do not receive much unfortunately. My parents earn enough money that I receive very little maintenance loan, and as I am not supplemented by my parents and I do not live with them, I hav...

Here are some of the most frequently asked questions that I received in the academic year 2018/19. I am so lucky to have such an interested and enthusiastic Instagram follower base, so this is where these questions come from as it is the best way to get hold of me! If you have any questions, please always feel free to send me a message! What year are you in and where do you study? Originally I was going to keep this on the down-low, however as every university is different it is probably quite helpful to let you guys know. I study at Anglia Ruskin University and I am now in Year 3, although these questions were asked when I was in Year 2! How do your ambulance placements work? Do you get paid? With the university route, you do not get paid unless you do a sandwich (placement) year, and I am not sure if any universities do that anymore (I know University of Hertfordshire used to but does not anymore). As you may not have your blue-light driving qualification and you are not employ...

You want to go to university? Go you! I applied to five universities to study BSc Paramedic Science, undergoing English and maths selection tests, multiple mini interviews (MMIs), individual interviews and group interviews, and I received five offers. This is how I prepared, practised and performed. Choose Your Choices Wisely Check what the requirements for the course are. Be aware of what you will require to get onto the course. Not being the strongest at English or maths should not reduce your chance for getting in, but speak to the university as they will be able to advise how you can revise, or they may say that the test is not selective and purely so they can gauge what and how much support you may need. Before ruling out a choice as you think you may not get in, enquire further and see what the university can do for you, so you can do the best for them. Practice Makes Perfect Practice for the English and Maths tests using your school/college or university resources. G...

Week four of hospital placements was based in a Cardiothoracics centre for my intensive care sign off.  The Cardiothoracics centre is important to me to understand as if I have a patient with a stemi that meets required criteria, I would likely be bringing them to this centre as there are only two PPCI centres in my area. Background I was required to be on this placement for three days, for 13 hour shifts.The centre is for planned procedures and emergency cases, whilst also having a really large ward for patients varying in severity from 'ready to go home' to high dependency. I was based in the high dependency part of the ward with the opportunity to end up in different departments throughout the centre, such as the waiting rooms, operating theatres and intensive care. Day 1 With another long day ahead of me, I woke up at 5am, left the house at 5.30am and arrived just before 7am. I went in and found the nurse in charge who directed me to get changed, and then to the staff...

I am now Year 3, and about to go into my penultimate ambulance placement block. Preparation for placement is important for making your life much smoother whilst on shift! A smooth home life definitely takes the stress off placement. Fortunately, I live with my boyfriend, so although we live in a house (with a garden which requires maintenance) and we are always busy keeping it ship-shape, we are able to share some of the housework. My boyfriend does a lot in the house, especially when I am on placement, so I am very lucky! Food Preparation In the couple of weeks prior to placement, I cook larger meals than my boyfriend and I can physically eat. I portion them up, label them and put them in the freezer so that we both have meals if we are both busy when it comes to cooking dinner. My boyfriend is a teacher, so most of his evenings are taken up with lesson planning so we have more time together at the weekend. This is far cheaper than take-aways and ready-meals, and much healthier...

Left to right: high vis trousers, purple stethoscope case, 2018/19 diary, deodorant, epaulettes, hand-cream, lip balm, hairbands, phone charger, PAD, tissues, pens and dried fruit. I have had two years now to work out what I need in my placement bag, and I think I have nearly got it down! My placement bag is a plain old rucksack, which is big enough to fit all my kit in it, but small enough to fit in the kit locker. Trust kit bags are usually long holdalls, and kit lockers were definitely not built for three of these! Here are my placement bag essentials. PPE So first off, we have our personal protective equipment.We get issued with a pair of high vis trousers and a jacket. I have never used the trousers, although I could see myself using them on a long job when it is cold, dark or wet. My trousers live in my bag (with most of the labels on them still... oops!) and my jacket lives in between my bag and just in the kit locker. I try to make sure my jacket it accessible at ...

The first term can be really exciting and really daunting, but do not worry, everyone is in the same boat. The important parts of the first term are to acquaint yourself with your fellow student paramedics, get settled into uni and university life and to learn the basics. Here is how to do that! At Home If you are living at university, normally universities will give you contact details for the people you will be living with so you can have a chat with them before you move in. They also normally try to put you in houses with people who are on a similar course or have common interests to you. There are also normally large group chats which are made by people on the course so that everyone can chat before they meet properly for the first time. Either look for a Freshers Facebook Group for your university or you can look on Paramedic groups on facebook, such as So You Want To Be A Paramedic. If you do not see anyone in there from your university, feel free to post nicely and people wil...

Hi Everyone! As you may know, I try to be a queen in passive income. It has taken me quite a few years through trial and error to choose the most effective ways to earn passive income. I am not saying this will pay for your £1,000,000 house, but this is a great way of supplementing your income either for savings or just a bit of pocket money. Make sure you check back on this page as this is an ever evolving post which I will keep updated! Let me know what works for you, and please follow the links on this post as some will provide bonuses for both you and I! Gener8 This is an interesting concept. It is an add-on on your toolbar which pays you every time you see ads when using your laptop. This is especially great when using your laptop for studying and writing essays and you will see a lot of ads in your time! They pay you back with giftcards for different sites (although I usually choose PayPal as then I can transfer it directly into my back balance). It is simple to introduce...

I've now had two years to badly prepare myself for night shifts. I have done it lots of different ways rightly and wrongly, but this is the way that works best for me! On my days off I try to bulk cook some food and portion it up so I always have a food option for me. I currently do not have much money and picking up unplanned snacks can really break the bank. I also try to get up on laundry, but I only wash laundry at night as we have an economy 7 meter which means I pay less for electric overnight. This makes it difficult as I do not spend a whole day doing laundry... It is a constant slog! 6am I get up nice and early normally anyway, but definitely on night shifts when I am aiming for an afternoon nap. I get up, get dressed (this is so, so important to set yourself in the mood for a productive day!) and have breakfast. Then I will wash up and make sure the house is in order. 7.30am Time to write a to do list! My most productive days are where I write lists that have smal...

I love pizza, but I realised I had no yeast (and I like to make everything from scratch if possible) so this is my scone-base pizza! Enjoy! Time taken: 45 minutes total Serves 2 to 4 people (depending on how hungry you are!) Ingredients Base   (Make sure you have a small amount of spare milk/flour to make it up if it is too dry or too wet) 250g self raising flour 50g cold (block) butter 100ml milk Topping   (You can put almost anything on your pizza! The only thing is I would recommend your sauce on the base, and enough cheese to cover the sauce. And the rest? The world is your oyster!) Tomato puree // BBQ sauce Cheese (enough to cover sauce 6 slices of pepperoni 1 onion Ham Jalapenos Method Pre-heat your oven to 200c fan 1. Sieve your flour to remove lumps and add the cold butter, cut the butter into small squares. 2. Rub the squares of butter until it resembles breadcrumbs. 3. Add your milk slowly and mix with a knife or spoon, stop adding the milk w...