How I secured a summer internship, and how the University helped…

Photograph of Katrina… by Katrina / from Northumberland / BSc Mathematics and Statistics / 3rd Year (UG)

After starting university, the once scary question of “what are you going to study at university and where are you going to study?” quickly becomes the even scarier question “so what are your plans after university?”. For many, including myself, starting university I didn’t exactly know what I wanted to do but what I did know was that studying maths gave so many opportunities upon graduating, which in fact can sometimes make it harder to choose! This is why I started to look for opportunities to explore and try different fields so I could start to rule things out!

I am going to go through a few of the different ways the University of Edinburgh helped me go from a confused 1st year, to a 2nd year with a spring week at JP Morgan, to a 3rd year with a place as a technology summer analyst at Morgan Stanley. Continue reading “How I secured a summer internship, and how the University helped…”

Living on the tails: studying as a mature student…

Photograph of Azfarul… by Azfarul / from London, UK / MSc Statistics with Data Science / PG (2020-21)

“Are you sure you want to do this?”

In addition to “Sorry, I was on mute!”, this is what I heard most throughout 2020. After a decade of working, leaving behind a fascinating job during global uncertainty to pursue a Masters might have seemed like foolishness. Fast forward more than a year and – after what felt like drowning in hundreds of hours of coursework, endlessly playing and re-playing recorded lectures, dealing with the eerie silence of virtually-conducted examinations, and three intense months of industrially-liaised project work – I still find it difficult to believe how this time flew as it did.

Continue reading “Living on the tails: studying as a mature student…”

Stress, exams and how I’ve survived this far…

… by Ginte / from Vieciunai, Lithuania / BSc Computer Science and Mathematics / 2nd Year (UG)

Exams and the “fun” that comes along with them was definitely not the main thing on my mind when choosing what and where to study a few years ago. After all, I had been in countless academic competitions, sat my Matura exams – the ones that would determine if I even get into university in the first place. I’d even managed to spend an hour gripping a steering wheel as hard as I could, trying to look calm (so the instructor didn’t suspect I was doing just that) and passed my driving test. Surely the exams at university couldn’t be any worse. I knew I could handle stress by now, why would I ever worry? Continue reading “Stress, exams and how I’ve survived this far…”