By Polly Allen

As a postgraduate, how do you make your CV stand out among everyone else's, and how do you boost your career right now to set yourself up for the future? Follow these tips and you'll be well on your way to success.

Get a mentor - either face-to-face or virtual

Find a mentor who already succeeds in your chosen career, and make it your business to learn from them. Keep track of relevant events on websites like meetup.com and Eventbrite to find out when your industry is hosting networking drinks, talks or book launches.

Also look at membership schemes in your sector - for example, Women in Journalism is perfect for UK female journalists, and it runs an annual mentoring scheme. In the US, hugely successful real estate professional Goldie Wolfe Miller cites mentorship as the key to her success.

If you're unable to meet people face-to-face right now (perhaps you're travelling, or just knee-deep in your dissertation), webinars are a great interim solution. All you need to do is Google “find a webinar” plus the name of your industry, then you can listen live or later to the entire thing.

Intern and volunteer as you study

Interning is easy to pair with education, either during the holidays or - if you find a part-time internship - during your course. If you're not going straight into permanent paid employment when you complete your studies, lining up a postgraduate internship is a smart move, especially if you struggle to fit in work as you learn.

Volunteering locally is also worth considering, as it has much in common with interning: you're helping a company, but also learning from them, without the commitment of a permanent contract. Many volunteering opportunities in your community will have CV-boosting qualities, such as marshalling a charity event, where you'd need to be an organized and responsive member of a team, and they're often one-off commitments.

However, some volunteering opportunities can also keep you fit and save the cost of a gym membership - check out The Conservation Volunteers' Green Gym scheme for inspiration. These kinds of schemes are also handy to bring up in job interviews, as they're unusual and character-building.

Look at working or travelling abroad, with a purpose

You should also look at the international job market, especially countries where postgraduate qualifications are rare, as your CV will stand out even more. For example, only 8.3% of Australians hold a postgraduate qualification.

Use your advantage to gain short-term experience in Australia, in a higher position than you might find in your own country, then return home already a rung higher up the career ladder. The fact that you upped sticks to a new country also counts in your favor, because it shows you're not afraid to step out of your comfort zone.

If you're hoping to combine travel with some stopgap work, think carefully about what you do. Many voluntourism (volunteering abroad) schemes, such as working in orphanages, are frowned upon for their dubious ethics, so always do your research first. Many graduates prefer more reliable projects like WWOOFING, where you work four-six hours a day for free on organic farms around the world, in exchange for bed and board.

Get a hobby with a career-enhancing twist

Having a great uni experience is about blending work, parties and discovering the delights of student discounts, but sometimes you don't have the time or energy to keep up with CV-worthy hobbies on the side. While hobbies aren't the be-all and end-all of CVs or résumés, they are handy to bring up in interviews, so be prepared.

For example, yoga, Zumba and Pilates all involve control, discipline and stamina; the Evening Standard recommends yoga as a good hobby for your CV. However, if you include this, make sure you've actually been to a handful of classes, in case you're interviewed by a yoga enthusiast.

If there's a way of tying your hobby to your career, this can help gloss over a lack of practical experience. For example, if you’re interested in marketing but have never had any work experience in the sector, try starting a marketing blog or help organize your local library's displays and their social media presence. By doing things like this, you'll have valuable experience in no time.

As you reach the end of your university career, there's a whole world at your feet. Go out there and get involved.

Polly writes for Inspiring Interns, which specializes in recruitment for interns and job seekers. It provides graduate careers advice to help you make the most of your postgraduate job prospects. Check out their website to see the graduate jobs and internships they have available.

By Sabrina Collier and Mathilde Frot

It should be the case that, after endless nights and days spent revising, each of your exams goes nice and smoothly. Unfortunately, that's not always the case. Every year, horror stories emerge of university staff setting exam questions which are impossible to answer or exam invigilators causing a disruption, events which threaten the academic record of hundreds of hard-working students.

Depressingly, this year has been no different. If any of the following stories happened to you, we're really, truly sorry. If they didn't happen to you, take comfort from the fact that, even if you feel your exams went terribly, they could have been a hell of a lot worse.

Wait, I didn't revise any of this

We’ve all been there…you open the exam paper and prepare to start, only to look down at the questions and realize it may as well be in a foreign language as you don’t recognize any of it. Well, a more extreme version of that panic was felt by Language Science and Psychology students at the University of Reading, who were left baffled after they were accidentally given the wrong exam paper, as the Reading Chronicle reports.

The students reacted in different ways: some simply walked out, while some brave students attempted to answer the questions. This would have probably proved difficult – the exam paper they were given was from last year, and the syllabus had changed completely. Students were understandably annoyed with the mistake, with one saying: “Knowing that I have paid tens of thousands of pounds in tuition fees just rubs salt in the wound.”

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Remember when we said you passed? About that... 

An IT engineering student in India at the Yadavrao Tasgaonkar College of Engineering & Management has been asked to resit an exam she took over two years ago, having initially been told online she had passed the exam. After delays in receiving her marksheet, she was then told by the university she had accidentally been allocated the same seat number for the exam as another student, and his result was the one being shown in their online system. She had, in fact, failed the exam and would need to re-sit it before continuing with the exams she was meant to be sitting this summer. The issue still hasn't been resolved. Read the full story here.

You have three hours...I mean, two hours

Earlier this month, final-year history students at the University of Warwick were given two hours to complete an exam instead of the three hours they were expecting. Although the reduced time limit meant they were allowed to only answer two of the three essay prompts instead of all three, several students expressed concerns their marks would be affected. Fortunately, it didn’t very long for the department to rectify the situation, and students were emailed later that day and told they wouldn’t be penalised for the invigilator’s mistake.

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There's a few pages missing...

Over 300 final-year business students at the University of Leeds were told their strategic management exam, worth 100% of their module, was postponed because the department forgot to print out six pages of the case study. Read the full story here.

The ultimate revision tool – the exam paper itself

There were red faces at the University of Bristol earlier this month, as third year history students were accidentally given access to their summer exam paper on Blackboard (the university’s virtual learning system). Unfortunately for students, the history department realized their mistake and swapped out the exam paper, which was about the history of South Africa, for an alternative set of questions.

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A question that doesn't make sense

An exam paper at Lucknow University made the type of blunder you'd expect from a student in their first week of university, asking students a question which was completely factually inaccurate. As the Times of India reported, law student Gursheen Kaur noticed a question in her sixth semester exam on the meaning and importance of service tax under the Service Tax Act. The problem? There is no Service Tax Act, as Kaur was quick to point out on Twitter.

Dear #LucknowUniversity
There is no separate Act for Service Tax, it finds its enactment under The Finance Act, 1994 (Chap V and V-A) #LLB pic.twitter.com/QthzQ7p0lO

— Gùr§hèéñ (@Gursheen23) May 20, 2017

Finally, a project deadline with a difference

It's not just universities making mistakes over exams and essays this month. Several global news outlets were duped into believing a viral video, which allegedly showed a student submitting his project from the middle of a nightclub one minute before the deadline. As it turns out, business student Lawrence Kemp, studying at the University of Gloucestershire, appeared in the video as a favour for his friend Danny Cotter, who had to try and make a viral video for a film project.

After the duo's ruse was eventually rumbled, Danny said: “It’s the end of our student year so everyone’s under pressure with work and exams – we thought why not play on that and try and get the video on a platform like LadBible?”

It certainly worked, and the university has had to explain it was never their intention for students to mislead the media. Maybe some journalists should have done their homework? Watch the video below.

Lead image: Wikimedia Commons

The UCAS personal statement strikes fear into most sixth formers. Sculpting the perfect personal statement is an arduous an unavoidable process. With approximately 600,000 people applying to university each year, admissions officers need a way to filter stronger candidates from the rest of the pool.

As daunting as this task may seem, it’s also your only real opportunity to share your personality and suitability for your chosen degree program. Follow our top tips, and you can make a success of your personal statement.

Understand the UCAS personal statement guidelines

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There are specific requirements for your personal statement which you absolutely cannot ignore. You cannot exceed 4,000 characters, or 47 lines of text (including blank lines) – whichever is reached first. If you do, universities won’t receive your entire statement.

Because of this, make sure your personal statement has a strong, definitive conclusion. It will look poor if you’ve obviously cut it off mid-sentence after realizing you’d surpassed the text limit. Instead, plan your piece thoroughly and give each section adequate attention, time and characters.

Plan your time and write it well in advance

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Given how important it is, the UCAS personal statement can take a while to perfect, so give yourself time to work on it. Most schools probably won’t let you leave it until the night before – but try to even be slightly ahead of your internal deadline. The more time you allow yourself, the longer you can take to edit your ideas and strengthen your application.

Choose which universities you’re applying to before you start

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The academic level of the university and course you’re applying to will have an impact on the tone and content of your personal statement. If you’re not sure of the kind of universities you should be aspiring to, you can use the UK University Search Tool, which will generate a list of universities based on your UCAS Tariff points. If you are unsure what your qualifications equate to, you can just pop them into our UCAS Tariff Points Generator.

Once you have made an informed decision about where to apply to, you’ll be able to cater your statement appropriately. As a general rule, the more traditional and academically acclaimed the university, the less time you should spend in your statement talking about non-academic activities.

Find out what admissions tutors are looking for

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Speaking to university representatives can be a really great way to discern what faculties may want to see from applicants. Remember, universities are looking for the right students just like you’re looking for the right university. This information won’t be written in their prospectuses, but if you attend higher education events, like the upcoming UK University Fairs in Autumn 2017, you’ll find that representatives love engaging with students and speaking to them frankly about the application process. Click here for more information about the Autumn fairs hosted by UK University Search.

Draw on your enthusiasm

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You need to saturate your UCAS personal statement with your desire to embark upon this course. Obviously, don’t allow your interest to descend into a cheesy mockery – you need to convey sincerity. Three years (minimum) is a long time, and the independence of university means that those who aren’t really invested in their course may struggle. Admissions tutors are searching for students who have a genuine interest and who will relish three years of education. Show that you’re one of these people.

Carefully select your extra- curricular activities

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Knowing how much of your well-rounded self to present can be mystifying, especially if you’re worried that everyone will have the same things to say. If you’re not sure what to mention, a good idea is to focus on extra-curricular activities that tie into the course you’re applying to. So, if you’re interested in studying hospitality, mention any events you’ve worked or volunteered at. This might seem trickier for more traditional subjects, but you should be able to think of something. A math student could share their enthusiasm for chess, a budding geographer might describe physical landmarks and features they’ve seen when travelling, and a humanities student may be able to give examples of writing they’ve had published.

Avoid rambling and vacuous statements

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You only have 4,000 characters to persuade admissions tutors why you are the perfect candidate for their course. Don’t waste any of them. Leave out any rambling stories about why you’re interested in a particular course. If something is particularly interesting, a brief overview may be relevant. Avoid clichés too. Saying you’re a “committed and hard-working individual” has no weight and detracts from any personality you’re trying to express.

This might seem obvious, but don’t lie

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There is a very fine line between presenting yourself in a better light and simply lying. You should never lie – not only is it immoral, but, if caught, your application could be reconsidered and come back to bite you. This is particularly true if you are called to interview. There are many horror stories of applicants being interrogated about their favorite book, only for it to become apparent they never read it.

Finally, don’t copy

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Reading personal statements used by older siblings or friends can be a really useful exercise, but don’t be tempted to re-use somebody else’s words. Aside from the fact it doesn’t demonstrate your uniqueness and personal drive, there are also programs used by UCAS to prevent plagiarism. Copycatch reports suspicious activity to universities, so don’t risk your application being rejected. Your personal statement needs to be your own.

Lead image: Jisc.ac.uk

What’s it like to study at the best university in the world? Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has been first in the QS World University Rankings three years in a row and has produced some of the brightest minds of our generation, but what’s it like to brush shoulders with the world’s next Kofi Annan or William Reddington Hewlett?

To try and capture some of the struggles and small triumphs of everyday life at the Ivy League university, here is a selection of some of the best entries on MIT Confessions…

1. Hang in there, little bird

Remember: just because he’s basically already a lawyer doesn’t mean he’s better than you.

2. Oh god, that’s triggering

I mean...aren’t we all?

3. Because we can all be Sexy or Beastly if we believe

*sobbing intensifies*

4. NEWS FLASH: Some MIT students feel overworked and inadequate.

If you haven’t heard of the Imposter Syndrome, it’s something that primarily affects high-achievers who can’t believe their success, so they live in the constant fear of being exposed as “frauds”.

5. Life goals…

And did you?

6. The professor thing was already bad enough…

Just move on. It’s best really.

7. It gets easier…

Enough said, really.

8. M.I.T. students are a bunch of nerds? Who’d have thought?

What’s wrong with rats?

9. Omg yes

What a brilliant idea. Mark my words: this kid will go far.

10. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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