Adjustment profile - Abigail Upton, BA Geography

I had originally planned on going to another university as I liked the course there and they gave me an unconditional offer, so I thought I’d just play it safe.

Deep down, I kind of expected that I’d get the grades to get into the University of Sheffield but because Sheffield guaranteed accommodation no matter when you applied, I decided that I’d put an unconditional offer from another university as my first choice and then swap to Sheffield once I knew that I could definitely get in.

Choosing Sheffield was simple for me. Other than the guaranteed accommodation, which also looked pretty nice, I liked the course and it was a Russell Group university, so I knew it had a good reputation.

I applied through Advance Registration and had spoken to the University’s Department of Geography around March, so I had planned ahead. The department had let me have a look round and told me about how I could Advance Register my interest for it. I didn’t get the chance to go on an open day, so I was grateful that they could show me around. I read up a lot about Sheffield before exam results so that I felt prepared and ready.

I thought the actual Adjustment process itself was alright. There was a call queue but obviously that was to be expected and it was nowhere near as bad as I thought it was going to be. The people on the phone lines at Sheffield were really helpful.

One of the reasons I chose Sheffield was because I wanted to stay in halls and it was the only University I had found that let you apply late and still be guaranteed a spot. This was important to me in order to settle into university life and the halls are really nice too! I didn’t get a chance to look at the halls on an open day before choosing Sheffield but I had a virtual tour online and people reassured me that they were all really nice and well located near the city centre.

One of the reasons I chose Sheffield was because I wanted to stay in halls and it was the only University I had found that let you apply late and still be guaranteed a spot

Abigail Upton

BA Geography

My time at Sheffield has been brilliant and I love it here. I’ve enjoyed being part of the Geography Society and I even got the chance to go to Lisbon, which was a great trip and so much fun. The course is really good too, I’ve really enjoyed it. It’s very different to A Level but in a good way and is more challenging.

I’ve enjoyed the social side of University too. My best experience in Sheffield has definitely been Varsity, which is where we compete with the city’s other university, Sheffield Hallam, on various sporting events. Even though I’d heard of Varsity before, I didn’t realise just how big it was and I really enjoyed going to see the matches.

My advice to students as we come up to exam results day would be don’t be put off by call queues for Clearing and Adjustment because that was something that really stressed me out. I remembered thinking ‘I’m never going to be able to get through to someone’ but I did and it’s absolutely nothing to be worried about.

My other piece of advice would be to contact the department before results day, just to let them know that you are thinking about Adjustment because they can help reassure you a little bit. Overall, aim high and look forward to what lies ahead!