Interviews with the highest-scoring new students
17/07/2013
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ANNA CREUS, Medicine (13.790) Anna Creus has the highest entrance grade of all new Health Sciences students, 13.790, which is also the highest grade of all new students entering the UAB through the 0 track in 2013-2014. This July Anna has come up to the Bellaterra Campus to register for Medicine, after taking time to choose between this course and Biochemistry.
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“I'm fairly sure I want to do research in genetics so I had to choose between these two courses and another one in biosciences, but in the end I went for Medicine because I think it gives you better career options, in case I decide not to go into research after all”, explains Anna, who is from Sant Cugat, and went to the Escola Avenç there and then on to the Escola Frederic Mistral-Tècnic Eulàlia, in Barcelona. “There are a lot of things that made me pick the UAB instead of the UB, which was the other option, to do Medicine: recommendations from people who studied here, the rankings that show its quality in this field, the fact that it's near to where I live, and the lovely campus that it has", explains this future Medicine graduate. She hopes her time at University will help her define her future career more clearly. During her degree course she would like to spend some time studying abroad, before coming back to settle here. In fact, she has already spent two summers on courses at Yale and Toronto universities, taking subjects she had a particular interest in. Her level of English (she has the Cambridge English: Proficiency level), will be of great help to her. All the same, she intends to continue playing electric guitar now and again, and practising martial arts too. Her advice for getting good marks is to be persevering and not to leave things till the last minute: just what she herself has done over the years, and what has enabled her to achieve the highest grades out of all the nearly 8000 fresher students coming to the UAB next September. VIDEO OF THE INTERVIEW WITH ANNA CREUS |
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GEMMA MUÑOZ, Translation and Interpreting (13.77): "I hope this will be a unique experience, bringing changes and new friendships" Gemma Muñoz, who lives in Girona, and went to school at the Institut Montilivi, will come to the UAB to study Translation and Interpreting. Her grade to get into the Autònoma was the highest of all those in Humanities subjects. She says she picked the UAB after listening to some students from the Faculty of Translation, and because of its good reputation. "I liked the six-monthly teaching calendar and the fact that they give students more freedom", adds Gemma. Another deciding factor was "the life on campus and the good atmosphere there seems to be". |
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"I hope to learn not only about translation and interpreting, but how to put my skills to work", she explains. On a personal level, she hopes "this will be a unique experience, bringing changes and new friendships, and no regrets" From her own experience, Gemma believes that getting good grades is "a question of will-power and hard work". Without both of these ingredients "it's difficult to achieve what you're aiming for". Gemma has no doubt that "you need to be consistent, not leave things till the last minute and put everything into what you're doing". |
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SARA MARTÍN, Biomedical Sciences (13.636):
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Sara Martín will come to the UAB to study Biosciences after obtaining the highest grade in this area, a 13.636. She will be travelling every day from Montcada i Reixac, where she went to school at the Institut La Ferreria, to study the Bachelor's Degree in Biomedical Sciences. Sara explains that she chose these studies at the UAB because she considers that "in addition to its prestige and campus, I participated in the Campus Ítaca and Argó Programmes and that helped me become acquainted with the university better than just visiting the campus for one day. This made me feel at home." In the future "I want to work on research and a great majority of the degrees in biosciences give me this possibility, but as I looked at the syllabus of each degree, I realised Biomedical Sciences was the one that interested me the most". Sara Martín aims to benefit greatly from this new experience: "I especially hope that it is very different from what I've experienced until now. I want to acquire knowledge in an area that really motivates me and meet lots of people and enjoy what everyone says will be the best years of my life". Sara believes there is no secret to getting such good grades in school. "All you need is dedication, hard work and good study habits." This future graduate in Biomedical Sciences concludes by saying that "if you get used to organising yourself and making the most of it, with a bit of effort, you can achieve your goals." |
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JAUME SONET, Physics and Chemistry (13,626):
"I think University is a chance to broaden your horizons" Jaume Sonet, from Llorenç del Penedès, obtained the highest entrance grade for Science degrees at the UAB. He will study Physics and Chemistry as he liked both subjects taken separately, and his interest in Physics grew stronger as he progressed through the batxillerat course. |
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Jaume took his ESO and Batxillerat at the INS L'Arboç school in l'Arboç del Penedès. In his words: "The UAB was the only university to offer the double degree I was interested in, but I was also attracted by the fact that it's a campus university, all the services it has, the organisation, it's easy to combine schedules in a double degree like mine...." He did not have to give up his other interests to get such high grades. In his home town he is involved in folk-dancing and theatre groups, he plays the piano, and he studies English in his own time. "These activities have helped me to manage my time, work in groups and socialise, and look at things from different perspectives and use them in different contexts" Jaume explains. This may be why he thinks that he could be "a very good student without being totally committed to the academic world, but to do that you have to work really hard and efficiently, and have the right attitude to learning". Jaume believes that University is "a chance to broaden your horizons, a time when you learn a lot of new things and make good friends". He hopes September will be the start of a period in which he will meet interesting people to talk to about any subject, and get the chance "to view things from angles that I hadn't even thought of before". |
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MARINA MONTANER, Journalism (13.170): |
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In fact, she says she made her mind up to take journalism on listening to the words of a well-known Catalunya Radio journalist, when she visited the radio station with her schoolmates. “It was a real eye-opener to hear him talking about the skills and motivation you need to be a journalist, and it became clear to me that what he was describing was what I wanted to do". Marina never visited the UAB, but she decided to take Journalism here when she compared the syllabuses of different universities. "I liked the fact that the UAB gives you a general education in the first few years and then you can specialise". This journalist of the future intends to concentrate on cultural journalism and cyberjournalism.[ the UAB University second. Another thing she likes about the UAB is its great size, which means she will have to learn to stand up for herself, she thinks. Her tip for getting such good grades is "listen carefully in class, and be organised and responsible about the work you have to do". As she starts out on this new part of her life, Marina says "my dream is to find a job I like when I finish my studies; and be able to work somewhere where I'm free to express myself, though I realise that's not so easy". VIDEO OF THE INTERVIEW WITH MARINA MONTANER |
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DAVID LOZANO, Computer Engineering (12.592): David Lozano obtained the highest entrance grade for Engineering degrees at the UAB. This pupil at the CEIP Montseny and the IES Mollet schools in Mollet del Vallès, is keen to start Computer Engineering, a degree he has long intended to take. “I've always really liked computers and programming and so on, and I decided early on in secondary school that I wanted to take this degree". |
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He chose the UAB because a friend recommended it and because he likes "the American-style campus, with open spaces and greenery”. At first he was torn between the UAB and the UPC, but "in the end I went for the Autònoma because everybody spoke well about it and it's closer to home as well", explains David, who spends two hours a day on average in front of the computer screen. His tip for getting good grades is very simple: “pay attention in class and then go over what you did in class every day, whether there's homework or not”. Which explains how David joined his Computer Engineering course with the highest marks of all new engineering students. VIDEO OF THE INTERVIEW WITH DAVID LOZANO |
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