University Life (with a heart condition).

An 18 year old member of Little Hearts Matter talks about starting university, and whether their condition has affected uni life. More posts to follow over the next three years!

Well, I’m done with 14 years of compulsory education!!!! Yet, I decided that I wanted to take my education further and get a degree in Welsh. Applying to Universities through UCAS was pretty easy. You basically put in your GCSE and AS Level grades, chose 5 universities that offer the course you want and applied for them. The difficult part was writing a personal statement, detailing your talents and experience. I don’t know about you but I find it really hard to write nice things about myself. So I wrote endless drafts… Luckily with a bit of help from my Dad and my teachers I managed to write an OK statement.

Once you’ve done all the applications you basically have to wait to be accepted or declined. Luckily, even though I hadn’t had the best results in one of the subjects I was applying for, I was accepted by Bangor, Swansea and most importantly, Aberystwyth!! (On the condition I got my grades of course). I did my best in all my exams and on results day, I realised I hadn’t got the grade in the one subject but had in Welsh. Aberystwyth changed the course for me and I accepted it as my first choice, it being my dream uni!! Nothing to do with it looking like Hogwarts of course ;)

But it does look a lot like Hogwarts...

So here I am, 2 months into the course, and I LOVE it!!!! The people, lecturers and social life are amazing!! It has been a little bit hard for me though. For a start, The University is on the top of the biggest hill ever!!! Bad planning on my part. However, the buses run frequently and the taxis are rather cheap. I do use my disability living allowance to pay for the taxis as an extra help. If you don’t receive DLA I’m sure Jon or Suzie can give you plenty of information!! Unfortunately, all my lectures happen to be right at the bottom of town so I don’t even have a chance to stay on campus. Ah well, I still love it here!!



The disability advisors at the university have been really helpful! They know all about me and have made provisions for everything. I get extra times in exams and also as my arms get really tired when writing, I get to use a computer in the exams. The disability advisors in all of the universities I applied for were really helpful. Swansea sent me a form to complete, explaining my condition and things that I may need to make my stay comfortable. Bangor gave me a call and asked questions again about provisions they could make for me. Aber didn’t do as much but now I am here they are very helpful and check up on me as often as they can!

So far, University has been an amazing experience, and hasn’t really been disrupted by my condition! As long as you make your university aware of your condition, they will do their best to make sure you feel comfortable as possible there.

Editor's note: UCAS have a page all about applying if you are a student with a disability: click here for the link. In many cases, provision and services for disabled students at university will be better than at secondary school, and it's always worth getting in touch with a university beforehand to talk about this. As Hannah mentions in her article, universities will always get back to you and make sure that they fully understand your needs, and explain how they may be able to help accommodate them. You don't have to wait until you're 18 to do this, and uni may be impressed with the organisational and initiative skills that you show by contacting them.