The subject prospectus is a good place to start: this is usually available in more detail online, through faculty websites. If you’re at school or sixth-form college, you will probably also have access to a careers and further education office with stacks of this kind of info. Read about the course, what it focuses on, the kind of books you’ll be reading, and the teaching methods. Does the course mainly use formal lectures, or smaller tutorial sessions? If you hate exams, look into how courses are assessed – lots offer some opportunity for coursework or a dissertation, and some wont have any exams. Other things to look out for are opportunities to study abroad and to participate in industry work placements.

Search beyond the smiling photos on university-made documents: those hot students adorning university websites or prospectuses will probably have left by the time you start anyway! The tutors, however, are far more likely to still be on campus, so read a bit about their interests, and note down names of faculty members that you might like to talk to at open days. If you have any other questions at this stage, most tutors and admissions staff are easy to track down online, and happy to respond to a polite email.

You can also use the internet to help you to “experience” academia without leaving your room. A lot of institutions offer free podcasts of lectures and tutorial recordings via their individual websites or Apple’s portal iTunesU. Oxford University, for example, offers downloadable lectures and tutorials at PodOxford, where prospective students can also listen to discussions about courses, colleges, how to apply and what happens in the often-dreaded Oxford interview.

If you’re a bit of a keeno, once you have a university place in the bag, you could even listen to a few lectures to swot up before you arrive. But before you set your heart on a particular course, make sure you find out about entry requirements. There’s no point wasting one of your few
slots on a course that requires three As if you’re predicted a much lower result. Also, check whether you need to do any extra admissions tests, like the BMat for medicine courses, for example, so you can book and prepare in advance.