Student ambassador blog: Interview time on campus

Posted 14 March 2014

Maddi Naish, 19, is a second year BSc (Hons) REALM student from Wantage in Oxfordshire.

Leaves are starting to burst through, the daffodils are blooming and campus is starting to look rather lovely at the minute.

It’s a good job, because this time of year is a busy one for us Student Ambassadors as the course managers are interviewing for the next lot of students.  Before an offer can be made to an applicant, they must have an interview with a senior lecturer from the course they are applying for. 

On days such as this I often think back to when I was applying to Harper Adams – around this time two years ago! 

Since I first set foot on Harper soil at an Open Day I knew that this was the place that could get me where I wanted to go in my career, and that Harper was the place I wanted to be.  Because of my determination to come to Harper, the interview seemed like a very important stage. 

If only they had told me beforehand how relaxed it would be I might have been less worried!  Interviews at Harper are much more of an informal chat than an interview: they’re just a chance to chat with a senior lecturer about the course and why you want to do it. 

The interview afternoons are one of my favourite parts of being a Student Ambassador as I love to meet all the prospective students and their parents.  Some of them are nervous like I was, but it’s great to see so much enthusiasm for the course and the university. 

New applicants to Harper mean new entrants to the industry – whether that is agriculture or related industries such as land management, food or veterinary.  New entrants are crucial to move forward and that is reflected by external companies wanting to invest in buildings at Harper, such as the recently completed teaching block – the Weston Building.

On the REALM course at the moment we are coming to the end of our assignments for the year.  With most of them being set at the start of the year to get them out of the way before exams, we only have two  left to hand in – both of which are group assignments. 

One of these is for the Rural Professional Practice module.  It is sponsored by Smiths Gore – a rural property advising firm, and the type of firm that REALM graduates or placement students might work for. 

The winning assignment team will receive some money as a prize and win the Smiths Gore Award.  We have a live case study – a farm where the tenant has left, and we have to look at the various possible options for the farm and decide what to do with it. 

Thank you for reading my first student ambassador blog, I hope you’ve enjoyed it and I can’t wait to start on the next one! 

To find out more of what I’ve been up, visit my blog - lifeasmaddi.wordpress.com or find me on twitter @maddinaish