Maria’s experiences as a student in England – VB

To come round to something – phrasal verb – to accept a situation after a time of not accepting it; to change your opinion of something, sometimes influenced by another person’s opinion
The UCAS form is the application form which students usually fill in to apply for places at university in Great Britain. It is completed in the autumn before the summer when school-leaving exams (such as ‘A’ levels or some form of the various baccalaureats) are sat, and teachers give students’ predicted exam results and a detailed reference, while students write a personal statement which can carry considerable weight for some courses and universities, though very little for others. Over the following 6 months students receive acceptance / rejection slips, invitations to interviews and offers of places which are usually conditional on their gaining certain grades. If students are rejected by all 5 of their short-list of colleges / universities (which happens) they can wait until they get their exam results and apply to Clearing which has all the information about available places held centrally, so can advise students which departments have places available on appropriate courses.

The implication for university departments and organisation is considerable – typically, 700 ‘provisional’ places might be offered of which only 70 places might be funded. Once the university has offered a place conditional on grades it is obliged to accept a student who has gained that grade. This means that if university staff doing the selection procedure for entry misjudge their offers their university departments can in theory end up with far more students than they have staff and resources for. There has been ongoing discussion for decades concerning moving the selection process described above to the summer after results are known – but this would involve starting the university year later – about 2/3 months later than at present.
To kick someone out – informal phrasal verb – to force someone to leave a place or organization, to force someone to leave. Eg He was kicked out of university. She was kicked out of her flat / job.
A utility bill – eg a water / gas / electricity / telephone bill, utilities being public facilities
To go back on sth – to reverse a situation or decision.
To go off someone or something – informal – to lose the interest or affection you had initially for s.o. / sth. This is often used jocularly, when someone tells you some bad news, eg: "You owe me £5." "You can go off people, can’t you?"

eg: "Did you know John’s coming to Scotland too?" "Suddenly I’ve gone off the whole idea…."