My experience and advice to future students
07/12/2021

Hello, my name is Joseph, I am the ripe old age of 27 and I am here to share my Cranfield journey with you all, maybe to help guide you in your own journey towards Cranfield too.
I am from the U.K and previously studied at Nottingham University. I chose Applied Bioinformatics MSc because of my experience at university from my undergraduate degree and fell in love with it instantly. Not only this, but the opportunities afterwards are vast and so I cannot wait to see what happens after university and where life takes me. I specifically chose Cranfield because of its connections to jobs and the fact it can provide me with a better opportunity than any other university can, as well as being a masters only university, the help I receive is far more than I expected.
My journey officially started when I first applied to the university and I was pleased to get my offer of study quickly so I could prepare. I am not the most wealthy of guys so I put in a lot of work at my previous job to get to where I am now and I also had struggles with family issues and caring for siblings, cousins etc. What most surprised me though was the help I got, from the first session I got to meet the Cranfield team they were always helpful and directing me to further resources to help me continue my journey. I even sat down with the course leader over zoom who reassured me of the situation that everything would be ok and helped me with the information I needed, to which I am extremely grateful. I think this comes down to the fact that this is a university dedicated to master’s students and the lecturers want to help and can help because there are a lot less students which makes this university an all-round happy place to be.
The induction week had to be mostly missed but the sessions I did take part in were fun, especially because I won the opening quiz and won a free Cranfield hoodie (comfiest hoodie I own by far). I would highly recommend taking part in these induction week events to meet your team and fellow course mates who are some of the best people I have met in my life.

As soon as the course starts you will notice how tough it is, don’t be put off though, put the work in and everything will be ok. Everything that is good in life is hard to get, at least that’s my motto. This is why I would also recommend the induction week and meeting others, everyone is in the same boat, from what I have seen everyone is struggling like you are and working together means you can get through this together.
Honestly Cranfield has been one of the best choices I have made in my life and being extremely hopeful of the future for the first time in a long time, let’s see where this year takes me and have fun with it.
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