Holly Hourston

"I'm a 5th year Joint Honours student at the University of Glasgow, and I study Physics and Astronomy. I love working in small groups in labs, and bigger ones on large projects or team building activities. I feel it's really important to listen to as many people as possible when working on a project, and I like being the person who compiles the ideas and helps to come up with a fair solution. I feel the personality types do fit me quite well, and it comes in handy when doing physics to be a person who is comfortable taking the lead (because a few other physicists I've met can be a bit shy sometimes!). Clear communication is also useful in any science subject, because you deal with really complicated ideas sometimes so being able to put this into your own words and explain these concepts is really helpful in labs, and also when doing presentations! "

"My degree covers a lot of lectures and some really interesting subjects, like Galaxies (my favourite!) or Stellar Structure (how stars form and why they form the way they do, etc). We also do physics and astronomy labs, which are usually enjoyable (but at times are stressful- but nothing good happens easily!) and occasionally write reports or presentations. I'm also on the committee for the Women in STEM society, so we hold outreach days and run science, technology, engineering and maths activities in schools, hold social events for students at my university, organise panel discussions and Q&As for our members and more! The society has given me so much experience I couldn't get from just doing my degree- if you want to go to university, I really recommend joining a society and making the most out of the experience! I love my degree, it's the thing that's always fascinated me the most (although I often thought in school about doing other sciences or even music as my degree instead!). My junior honours project involved creating a map of the sky from actual telescopes, and it was super rewarding carrying out my own project and learning so much about how real scientists do their jobs. My degree is really inspiring, and I feel very lucky to be doing it and to be surrounded by quite a few incredible scientists at the university, especially having such great female role models!"

"I always loved visiting science centres, or going to museums to get cool stones, or quartz and things from the gift shops, and I grew up in the countryside so I always had a sort of appreciation for nature. As I got older it became an appreciation for the physical sciences (so anything from biology to physics to earth science!). In primary school I was about 10 when we did a topic on Space, which was my main inspiration. I remember realising how big Jupiter was compared to Earth, and then how huge the Sun is compared to Jupiter, and thinking about how far away it all is from us, and just being completely stunned by how big the universe actually must be (I was also a huge fan of Doctor Who growing up so I think that might have had something to do with it too!). Through school, I always wanted to understand how planets could just sit there in space, and how the Earth could move around the Sun forever, and why the Sun will eventually explode, and allllll these different questions, and I eventually applied to do Physics and Astronomy at Glasgow. I also applied to Neuroscience, as I thought the brain was pretty cool, but in the end Physics was the thing I knew I needed to be doing. I had a lot of wobbles in university, everyone has a few, but joining societies and meeting people who feel the same way has really helped with my confidence! "

"In my spare time I really enjoy seeing my friends, but I also love playing music or going to gigs. I play the cello, and was so close to applying to music school! Usually people who like physics or maths tend to be quite musical. I also used to perform at school concerts and local music festivals, which was quite scary but always really rewarding afterwards. I've also enrolled in some online courses lately, because I have quite a lot of interests but obviously you can't do degrees in everything you find interesting, especially if you're like me and like a lot of varied subjects! Don't be afraid to take initiative- if you miss out on an opportunity for any reason, try your best to find it elsewhere! You can never have too many experiences."

"As a university student, my days are fairly varied! But a typical day, say a Monday for me last year, would involve getting up around 8:30am, walking to university for 10am and going to my morning lecture (so I'd go to a lecture, take notes and see all my friends). I worked part-time with the Careers Service, helping run events or promote events, so I'd sometimes work with them for an hour or two between classes, putting up posters and going to an event and showing people around. If I didn't have to work, I'd either the lecture I just had, reply to emails/apply for internships, catch up on other studying or work on any assignments due, but only for 1 or 2 hours. Then I'd see if any of my friends wanted to go for a coffee or get lunch, or go home for lunch if I didn't have much spare cash!! Then back to university for around 2pm or 3pm, depending what lectures I had. I'd usually be in lectures until 4pm or 5pm. I'd try to study some more for another hour or two on campus, and then head home for my tea, or go to a meeting for the society I'm on. Of course, university social life is really important so I might go meet up with friends at night, whether it was to go out or have a movie night, but if I'm not in the mood to socialise or have too much work I'd study for a couple hours at home too."

"I went to a Scottish school, and took 5 Highers (slightly easier than A-Levels) in my fifth year of secondary school education (aged 15-16), and some more Highers as well as 1 Advanced Higher (which are slightly harder than A-Levels) in my sixth year (when I was 16-17 years old). My Highers are; Physics, Chemistry, Music, English, Modern Studies, Human Biology, Mathematics. My Advanced Higher was in Physics. I got a C in Higher Maths the first time I sat it, which was really gutting because I needed an B at least to get into Glasgow for Astronomy, so I chose to sit it again in Sixth year, which was really tough for me because I was sadly used to being the \"clever friend\", so it really grounded me and taught me the value of hard work, as well as not taking yourself too seriously! It all worked out well in the end obviously, but it did mean I got a rejection from one university. Glasgow gave me a conditional offer, so I needed to get an A in Maths the second time around, as well as one other A, which I thankfully achieved and so they let me in! I'd also like to mention I applied for other courses, and really wasn't sure what route to go down, biology or physics. If you find yourself unsure what to do between two courses, just ask yourself, think of a time when you've learned something new about a subject- did you ask yourself more questions afterwards? Did you think, \"Hm, so I wonder if this happens because of that?\" or anything like that! That's how I realised I wanted to do physics."