Here is what I submitted in order to become a student blogger. Commence pointing and laughing.

I just thought I’d e-mail to apply to be a student blogger… one day before the closing date. Smooth. I’m honestly not that disorganised all the time; I was debating whether or not you’d want me to write for you. Let’s face it, I’m not very interesting. I’m not really into partying (I didn’t go out much during Freshers’ Week), and spend more time in the library squeeing at all the shiny books than can be considered healthy. I’ve joined the Sci Fi, Amnesty and Fair Trade societies and hope to take part in Chamber Music and the Pimlico Connection. I also do strange things like walking across London so I can see the Gay Icons exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery and cooking a week’s worth of meals in one go to save money.

I’ve lived in tiny places all my life, so coming to London is a big change that I’m well equipped to blog about – particularly since now almost NO ONE has heard of where I lived, even though our cathedral doubled as Westminster Abbey in that bastion of cinematic excellence “The Da Vinci Code”. Also, it’s very cool, after years of being considered odd for liking science, to be surrounded by thousands of other people who are all at least a little enthusiastic about what they’re studying. I can also blog about the big change from A-Level, where I barely did any practical work and was in a class with some people who really didn’t want to be there, to university, where labs last three hours and, generally speaking, people want to be here. Hopefully, I can reassure girls thinking of applying to Imperial who are put off by the high male:female ratio that it’s really not that bad (also, comprehensive school students)! I’m hoping to get involved in research as much as possible, through the UROP scheme or informally, as well as writing – my ambition is to be a science journalist.

I do have experience of blogging and Twitter (which I think should definitely be utilised). I recently attended the EU Contest for Young Scientists and have done research for the past two summers; my experiences are detailed in my blog at the Young Scientists Journal: http://www.butrousfoundation.com/ysjournal/?q=blog/70 I’ll be going to CERN next summer, so I can blog about that! I’m also an East Midlands Creative Spark, so am being funded to combine web design and writing to produce a resource to encourage more people into physics. I’m very interested in outreach and showing people what life at Imperial is like – from the experience of being taught by world-leading scientists to all the extra-curricular opportunities to life in London. Or, y’know, just the joys of finding reduced price vegetables in the Sainsbury’s on Fulham Road.

So, to summarise, my plans for this year are to take part in various extra-curricular activities (and research if possible), explore London and live on a budget, and once in a while do a bit of physics and German work. My blog would incorporate a whole range of things – from talking about science in general (for example, explaining about the Research Frontiers lectures given in the physics department) to what it’s like to study at Imperial (in order to encourage more people to apply here) to how to do your weekly food shopping for under £20 and still avoid starving, plus anything else I can think of. Hopefully I’ll be able to give a good picture of what it’s like to be a fresher, so that anyone thinking of applying to Imperial is convinced that it’s a great place to be.