What made me choose YSJ

Hello, my name is Melody and I’m a second-year creative writing student here at YSJ. In this blog, I want to talk about how I came to accept my offer from York St John. You see, originally, whilst preparing to submit my UCAS form, York St John was second. So as a result, my journey to accepting my offer was a unique one.

How YSJ Became My First Choice

During the summer, my college decided to take a trip to look at York St John’s Film and Television Production course. Although I was not interested in pursuing film and TV, the visit did make YSJ stick in my mind. There was something about the uni’s atmosphere that greatly appealed to me. Unfortunately, as interested as I was, my thoughts were consumed by a university that was much closer to my hometown. As a disabled person, university felt like a massive step for me, and I was focusing on looking for a university in a familiar town that had a fun, accessible course. So at the time, YSJ didn’t feel right.

That was until, in November 2023, where I attended an open day. I had settled on what five options I was going to put on my UCAS form. Now all I had to do was attend open days so I could pick my definitive options. The problem was that three out of the four unis I picked, I couldn’t afford to get to.

Imagine my shock when a staff member for YSJ explains they can help fund travel if I want to go. So that’s how I found my mum and me on a train to York.  When they say that attending open days make a difference, they weren’t joking. If I hadn’t been able to attend that one open day, I definitely wouldn’t have changed my mind on YSJ.

The open day showed me something better than what I was after. A small, easy-to-navigate campus with loads of support and friendly faces. Not only that but the creative writing course looked like an amazing course with loads of opportunities to develop my writing.

So after deep contemplation, I said goodbye to my original choice and decided to go with YSJ.

Accepting My Offer

After submitting my application, I did not expect to receive an offer from all five of the universities I applied to, but to my luck, I did.

This meant for me that I had unlimited offers to where I could, but in the end, since that open day, my heart had been set on York St John, so that’s what I went with. Although the thought of leaving home and moving to a completely new town filled me with dread, YSJ seemed like the perfect place to help me thrive and so I accepted my offer. I still remember how both excited and nervous was once I’d accepted. However, those nerves quickly evaporated once I got settled in my first year. I hope sharing my journey has helped inspire you.

To learn more about the application process, please visit the dedicated page for applying for an undergraduate degree.

You can discover the different support available at YSJ by clicking the link for student support.

You can discover more about all things student life on our Student Voices page.