WRITE ABOUT YOUR STUDENT EXPERIENCE IN THE UK

Thanks for taking the time to write about your student experience!

We use student feedback to promote our partner universities to prospective students. We will post this feedback on our website mainly, but it may also appear on social platforms, and in print material (it is unlikely, but it could happen).

Feedback from potential applicants show that they love reading about other students' experiences. Please make sure the information you share is relevant to future students. E.g. how student life was like during Covid-19 lockdown is not relevant. All mentions of or references to Covid-19 will be removed before publishing.

Thank you for helping other students who are currently considering studying in the UK!

WHAT IS THE DEADLINE TO SUBMIT?

Entries received from international students or alumni of our UK universities between 1 September and 31 August will automatically be entered into our prize draw.

WHAT ARE THE REQUIREMENTS TO SUBMIT A STUDENT EXPERIENCE?

The submission needs to meet the language requirements and follow the instructions on this page. The entries need to be submitted through the form on this page. We do not accept submissions that do not follow the instructions on this page or submission that are submitted outside of the form on this page. 

HOW MANY AWARDS ARE AVAILABLE?

We have a total of 6 x £500 awards available. 

WHAT ARE THE CHANCES OF WINNING?

Unfortunately, not a lot of people submit their student experience - so the chances of winning are high. If you want to increase your chances of winning, you can also submit several entries. If you do, you need to make sure the different texts cover different topics. 

Please see the section called Submit more than one student experience? (further down) for suggested topics or topic inspiration if you want to submit more than one entry to increase your chances of winning.

WHEN WILL THE PRIZE DRAW TAKE PLACE?

The prize draw will take place in September and winners will be notified as soon as possible and their submissions will be shared here. You can see all the winners from previous years listed further down on this page.

HOW LONG DOES THE TEXT NEED TO BE?

You can write as much as you'd like, but at least half a page is expected to enter the draw.

WHICH LANGUAGE TO WRITE IN

📍If you are from Scandinavia (Denmark, Norway or Sweden): Please send us two versions, one where you write in Norwegian, Swedish or Danish, and a second copy in English. 

📍 If you are from a Spanish speaking country (E.g. Spain or Latin America): Please send us two versions, one where you write in Spanish, and a second copy in English. 

📍 If you are from any other country than the ones listed above, please write in English.

WHAT TO WRITE?

Please make your own headlines throughout the text (and don't just use the below as your headlines). Make your headlines fun and interesting! Divide your text into sections with titles that describe the content you are including in that section e.g. “Comfortable Accommodation at X university”, “Exciting Nightlife in the city of X", "Student life at X university" etc.

You can use the below topics to help inspire you when writing your text:

🎓 Talk about studying in the UK and why you decided to study abroad. Was it the quality of education, international network/experience/perspective, getting to know people from all over the world, valuable work experience - or maybe all of these or something completely different?

🎓 Why you choose X university and how you find university life (campus, what facilities you use/like etc.)

🎓 Tell us about your accommodation / student housing 

🎓 How student life is different from life in your home country. Remember that students from all over the world read these, so it may be an idea to explain where you are from and provide some context! E.g. if you are from Norway or Canada, the UK winters are not considered cold (they are actually very mild!). If you are from Colombia or Mexico, the weather may have been experienced as more of a challenge. 

🎓 What you are studying and why  -  talk about your course and why you like it. Other students considering studying the same as you would love to hear about the course and what opportunities are provided!

🎓 Tell us about the town/city and what you love about it

🎓 What you do in your spare time, how you socialise, where your new friends are from etc.

🎓 If English is not your first language, tell us about how you found the transition into studying in English

🎓 Anything else you'd have liked to know before you applied, started university or went to the UK

🎓  If you applied through Across the Pond, feel free to talk about how you found the application process / using our services.

SUBMIT MORE THAN ONE STUDENT EXPERIENCE?

You are welcome to send us several entries!

 If you want to submit more than one student experience, we suggest you create them based on topics to avoid them all looking similar. You are more than welcome to be creative and submit several texts, just make sure they stand out from each other and are clearly different! 

Some suggestions/examples for inspiration:

• Why study Business at X University
• Why study X subject in the UK
• Sports and Societies at X University
• Five Reasons to Study at X University
• Why study in X city
• Must visit/see/do in X city (what would you recommend your friends do when visiting the city/town?)
• Celebrating X holiday in X city
• Student Accommodation at X University (or in X city)
• Explore X region in the UK
• Day trips around X area/from X city
• My weekend trip to X from the UK
• Internship/Work experience/Work Placement when studying at X university
• Student Support at X University
• A semester abroad in X country while studying at X UK University

I SUBMITTED LAST YEAR, CAN I SUBMIT AGAIN?

Yes, you can! We do know if you have submitted your student experience previously, so if you do want to submit a new one, please make sure that your second (third, forth or fifth!) is topic based! You can submit as many times you want, and we understand if you want to take part in the price draw several times - and as long as your content is different every time (e.g. covers a different topic) that is not a problem at all. 

Please see the section called Submit more than one student experience? (above this section) for suggested topics or topic inspiration!

PROFILE PICTURE

We would love it if you submitted a photo of yourself (please do not include other people), either in front of the university, in the city/town or similar. 

It needs to be a picture that you or someone you know has taken to make sure we're allowed to publish it (copyright). 

‼️ IDENTITY THEFT AND PRIVACY RULES AND REGULATIONS ‼️ 

In order to make sure you do not fall victim to identity theft and to make sure we follow and adhere to all privacy rules and regulations in Europe, we only publish: 

a)  your first name (no full names or surnames)
b)  the profile picture you've submitted
c) the university/course you attend(ed)
 

 📌  For security and privacy reasons we will not post any mentions or indications of which month/year you attended the university/course. Please avoid using any date stamps of any kind that will share when you studied in the UK. Hence any references to months or years will be removed before the content is published. 

📌  All mentions of or references to Covid-19 or other historic events providing a timestamp as to when you were at a certain university doing a specific course will be removed before publishing for privacy/security reasons.

📌  Please note that we remove any specific mention of our advisors by name, but feel free to refer to them as 'my Across the Pond advisor' or similar. We will make sure your advisor get a copy of your submission - and they love hearing about your experience as much as future UK students do! So rest assure, your advisor will get your positive feedback 💙

Below you can see the winners of the prize draws:

PRIZE DRAW 2025 (deadline 31 Aug 2025)

Entries received from international students or alumni of our UK universities between 1 Sept 2024 and 31 Aug 2025 will automatically be entered into our prize draw.

The submission needs to meet the language requirements and follow the instructions on this page to be added to our website and the prize draw. The entries need to be submitted through the form on this page.

We have a total of 6 x £500 awards available. 

Note: the prize draw will take place in September 2025 and winners will be notified at the time and their submissions will be listed below in September 2025: 

1:
2:
3:
4:
5:
6:

PRIZE DRAW 2024 (closed for new entries)

Entries received from international students or alumni of our UK universities between 1 Sept 2023 and 31 Aug 2024 will automatically be entered into our prize draw.

The submission needs to meet the language requirements and follow the instructions on this page to be added to our website and the prize draw. The entries need to be submitted through the form on this page.

We have a total of 6 x £500 awards available. 

Note: the prize draw will take place in September 2024 and winners will be notified at the time and their submissions will be listed below in September 2024: 

1: Moving to a new country was totally worth it
2: I feel more confident than ever about my future
3: Going abroad was always on my mind
4: The UK educational system is renowned
5: Why I wanted to study in the UK
6: This is an incredible experience

PRIZE DRAW 2023 (closed for new entries)

Entries received from international students or alumni of our UK universities between 1 Sept 2022 and 31 Aug 2023 will automatically be entered into our prize draw.

The submission needs to meet the language requirements and follow the instructions on this page. The entries need to be submitted through the form on this page.

We have a total of 6 x £500 awards available. 

Note: the prize draw will take place in September 2023 and winners will be notified at the time and their submissions will be listed below in September 2023: 

1: Exchange studies actually changed my life
2: Four reasons to study in Southampton
3: There is plenty to do in Belfast
4: The professors genuinely care about the students
5: Studying in the UK was one of the best decisions I have ever made
6: Experience university through my eyes