Students obtaining their A-level Results Today will be showered with USB Sticks at University
Today is a huge day for 300,000 (ish) sixth-formers in England Wales and Northern Ireland because it’s the day that they finally get the results of their A-level exams. Nerves will be frayed and emotions will be running high because in many ways today’s results will shape the future of many young peoples lives.
Inevitably there will be moments of high drama as students check on the Ucas website to see if their university place has been confirmed and then again when they finally get to open their results and see how well (or badly) they have performed in each subject.
With 50,000 places up for grabs via Clearing for those students looking for a last minute course the next 24hrs or so are going to be pretty highly charged.
As the dust settles and the University places are confirmed the next stage for students and families will be preparing for what in most cases will be the first time they have left home to study. The logistics of sorting rooms, deciding what to take/not take and getting everything to their University in time for the start of the first time can be equally fraught not least for many of the parents who in many cases will have to get accustomed to their son or daughter leaving the family home.
One of the few things they are unlikely to have to worry about (albeit it’s pretty low on the worry scale anyway) is equipping themselves with a decent USB memory stick to save and carry their research and coursework on. It’s not that they won’t need one because despite the use of other solutions like DropBox they are incredibly handy, it’s because when they start at University they are likely to be given several USB sticks during Freshers Week!
Freshers week tends to grab the headlines because of the amount of partying and drinking that goes on but alongside these “getting to know” you sessions there is also the chance for the students to sort out some of the more mundane but nevertheless important aspects of student life like a bank account, a credit card, mobile phone contracts, insurance and so on. Lots of the companies attending Freshers Week will be desperate to secure new business so they’ll have lots of tempting offers and plenty of freebies to attract the students to their booth or stand – don’t be surprised if lots of the freebies on offer are USB memory sticks!
Companies like to give branded USB memory sticks away because research has proven that they are a really popular promotional tool. They tend to get kept, get used and anyone given one tends to remember the brand of the company that gave them the USB stick (helped of course by the fact that the brand is typically printed or engraved on the USB stick!).
Good luck to everyone getting their results today and good luck in Clearing if you don’t quite get what you wanted.