Review: University of Southampton

Hi everyone, on the 4th July I visited the University of Southampton. I quite liked this uni and it is in my top 5, however it is not as high up on my list as I was expecting (it's 4th).

Positive

• EPQ: If you have done or are going to do an extended project Southampton is currently one of the only universities to lower their grades for it. For example my course (education and psychology) is AAB. However, if I get do an EPQ Southampton will lower it to ABBa which means I get ABB on my A-Levels if I get an A in my EPQ. Pretty cool right?
• Student Union: The SU is good at all the unis I'm looking at, however Southampton really stood out for me with over 300 groups to get involved in! Here is a list of all of them (sorry about the markings I did):

• Study abroad: Southampton offer students the chance to study abroad for a term or even a whole academic year and it still counts towards your course which is cool.
• Course - outline: Personally, I love the education and psychology course as it is so flexible but still covers everything you would want to learn. Also, I don't know if this is for other courses as well but in the education faculty they have a buddy system where you are mentored by an older student as well as having your personal tutor who is a teacher.
• Sports facilities: The sports facilities are amazing with loads of sports clubs to join or you get spend £165 and you get a gym membership for a while year which allows you to use the gym at the main site, at all the residential sites and one in town. This membership also allows you access to the pool and the license to book out the sports hall.

Negative

• Grade boundaries: The grade boundaries are very high but that is to be expected from a Russel group university and can be changed if you do an EPQ.
• Course - spaces: As with many courses at the uni they only take the best and have few spaces. Education and Psychology only have about 20 spaces per year for everyone who applies. Scary.
• Accommodation: The accommodation is not the greatest although I was debating where to put this as a positive or a negative. The accommodation was okay, I've seen better but it's something I could live with if I went there. However it is very confusing as at each site there are so many different types of accommodation and you get no say in which one you get apart from stating preferences.

Wessex Lane non en-suite category 2:

Wessex Lane non en-suite category 1 (catered):

This is shared between about 20 people with that tiny kitchen and those few toilets, sinks and showers. It may be catered but seriously?

Glen Eyre non en-suite category 3:

10 people - 2 showers/2 toilets

Glen Eyre non en-suite category 2:

Glen Eyre non en-suite category 3:

All this accommodation is nice but as you can see, even within the same category they are very different.

Also I did not look at any en-suite because it was not in my price range.

I do like this uni so if you are looking for a Russel group one where the grade boundaries are not as high as the others then I suggest you take a look at this one.

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*Disclaimer - these opinions are all my own*

Review: Liverpool Hope University

Hi everyone, my final stop on my 'university road trip' was Liverpool Hope University.

I did quite like this university however the negatives (particularly the first one) were too major for me to ignore.

Positive

• Accommodation - Space: All the rooms were very good sizes and you could fit a lot in them - no storage problems at this uni!
• Accommodation - Prices: All the accommodation is very cheap and affordable and to be honest (unlike UCLan) you could tell why. Here is the accommodation page for first year students.
• Joint: For a lot of the courses it has to be joint which I think is a good thing as it broadens your options and what you are learning.
• Study abroad: If that is something you are looking for that is a huge bonus however I am personally not bothered if a uni provides this or not.
• Campus: The campus is absolutely beautiful!
• Small university: The uni is really small which means everyone knows everyone and you have a really close relationship with your teachers which I think is really nice. However this does mean it would be quite hard to get in to as they have a strict number of students they let in to keep the uni small.
• Staff/Students: All the students and staff were really friendly and always up for a chat which I have only experienced at UCLan (must be the area). Spent most of the day with 2 third-year students who were lovely and really informative, wish I knew their names but for some reason it never came up in the 4 hours I was talking to them..

Negative

• Linear not modular: I don't know about the other courses but psychology is assessed in linear not modular. I don't know if you know what that means but basically rather then doing a module, being assessed, doing a module, being assessed, etc.. it means that you learn the entire year and are assessed on all of it at the end (apart from assignments) which I really don't like. I've been doing linear at school for 3 years now and it is not fun, trust me.
• Accommodation - continuing students: I got the impression that after the first year you have to find your own accommodation for second and third year and do not get assisted by the uni in this process.
• Accommodation - character: This is a more personal one but I didn't really like how old all the accommodation was and that there was no attempt to modernise them at all. I couldn't take pictures as the tour was very rushed and there was no time unfortunately.
• Course confusion: Again this is a personal one but I want to be an educational psychologist and the uni could not decide whether me doing psychology with early years or psychology with childhood & youth would be best as they are fairly similar.

I did like the uni and if the assessment was not linear I would actually seriously consider this and just deal with the old accommodation so that is a shame. If it was possible to give students the individual option to do linear or modular that would be great and I would definitely be applying here so if this does not bother you then I urge you to visit it and apply!

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*Disclaimer - these opinions are all my own*

Review: Durham University

Hi everyone, the second university I visited on my 'university road trip' was Durham University.

I didn't particularly like Durham University and therefore will not be applying to it. The reasons why are listed below.

Positive

Although I didn't like this uni there were still some positives:

• The college system: I really like the way this university has different colleges and you belong to one college. Although it is a pain to decide which one to go to. I decided to look around Collingwood and really liked their 'family' system similar to Cambridge (where you have 'parents' and 'siblings' and such within your college who you get to know really well. If you want more information on the colleges check out their accommodation page here. Also, I recommend doing their college quiz to get an idea of what colleges would be best suited to you and your needs.
• Course - Education: I really liked the education part of my chosen course (education and psychology) as the course was well thought out, the presentation was interesting and I really liked how they assessed.

Negative

And here we go into the long list of negatives I have compiled together:

• Course - Psychology: The psychology side of my course I did not like largely due to how the course was set out (it was quite repetitive), also that was the first course presentation I actually felt bored which is never a good thing; if I can't sit through an hour presentation how would I survive 3 years?!
• City campus: Like with UCLan the campus is in the city and even more spread apart - you can't really walk from one to the other quickly and I want a uni where everything is pretty much in the same place.
• Accommodation - Rooms: As I said I only looked at one college because that's all I had time for, however I did not what I saw. It was OK but I have seen much better and I didn't like how the college was set out. Here are some pictures I tool of the non en-suite accommodation at Collingwood:

• Accommodation - Prices: I personally thought the prices where a bit too expensive. I know they are catered but 1) I don't want fully catered which is what most of Durham is and 2) I don't have that kind of money. Here is the price list for 2015:

• Accommodation - Catered: As I said just before most of the accommodation at Durham is catered (only 2 colleges are self-/part-catered).
• Grade boundaries: It is a Russel Group uni so a lot of the courses have really high grade boundaries (such as mine is AAA) and although I have the potential to get that it's unlikely that I will because I am crap at exams...
• The area: As I drove through Durham to get to the main site I didn't really like what I saw. If you are one who likes character and culture then this is the city for you but I personally don't really like that.

I hope this was useful for you and helps you decide although I recommend that you do visit on an open day.

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*Disclaimer - these opinions are all my own*

Review: University of Central Lancashire (UCLan)

Hi everyone, last month I went on a 'university road trip' and the first uni I went to was UCLan. I was quite impressed with UCLan overall so I thought I would give you a run down as to why I have decided to apply for this one as one of my 5 choices.

Positive

• Studying abroad: UCLan give students doing (I think) any course the option to spend a term or even a year abroad studying at another university. They also have lots of students come to UCLan as part of the programme so the diversity of students at UCLan is very wide. If that is something you are into at a university or have ever wanted to go to another country this uni offers you the best opportunity to do so. If you want more information on this visit the page on their website here.
• Accommodation: The accommodation here is really cheap - like the cheapest I have found! Here is a price list of all the accommodation:

4 of the accommodation blocks where open on the open day (two non en-suite and two en-suite). These are the ones that were open and where they were:

I was very impressed with all the accommodation I saw and you definitely get more then your money's worth. However, my favourites were the en-suite rooms I saw (IQ Preston and Roeburn). The en-suite Boatmans/Bowran I was told are the nicest although they have more advanced equipment and a but further out than the rest so those are usually given to mature students.

I took some pictures of each of the accommodation I saw which I will show you now:

Whitendale

Ribble

Roeburn

IQ Preston

As you can see the en-suite bathrooms have been updated already as has the bedrooms (the showers now have a curtain rather than a shower door apparently for safety reasons) and I was told the other rooms will soon be receiving the upgrade as well although the prices are fixed apart from the annual increase so these upgrades won't make it really expensive. 

The accommodation is randomised but you can request a certain hall (however it's not guaranteed you will get that hall).

If you want more information of the Halls of Residence visit the page on their website here.

• City campus: It is a positive as it means the uni is pretty much surrounded by shops.
• Course: Of course I am just talking about the course I am interested in (psychology) so if you wish to study psychology then read this point. The professors were really nice and it's great how they do things there - for the first couple of assignments they provide you with a template of how to write it and the sorts of things to include to help you where as at other universities they tell you briefly then leave you to it. Here is the course structure for the psychology courses at UCLan:

Negative

• Cars: Not a negative for me as I don't have a car but for those of you who do they do not allow cars on-site so you can't bring it with you basically.
• City campus: Although I put this in the positives I also think this has some negatives: as you are near the shops it is a lot easier to spend more money then you should, and also I like it when the university is kind of a bit away from the near-by town.

Although there are negatives I don't see these as big enough to put me off the university.

I hope this helps some of you

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*Disclaimer - these opinions are all my own*

Review: Northampton University

Hi everyone, so yesterday was the Northampton University Open Day 2015 and I thought for my future reference and for you guys who are thinking of going there in the future I would compile a list of the positives and the (very few) negatives that I have about the place.

So first I feel like I should tell you that I am hoping to start university in September 2016 and want to do the developmental and educational psychology degree.

Anyway, lets get on with the review :)

Positive

• Small campus: Ok so for me I much prefer the smaller campuses where everything is close together (literally from one side of the campus to the other is about a 15 minute walk. For me this is great because everything is easily accessible and it is difficult to get lost, I had spent 2 hours there after having a campus tour with my dad and a third year student and the course talk and then I was able to show my mum around with no problem at all and didn't get lost once. Obviously if you prefer the bigger campuses then Northampton University is not for you.

• Cheap accommodation: At Park campus there are twin rooms (but I didn't look at those) and also three types of single rooms at three different levels (all for a 42 week contract btw): Small Standard Single for £3,444 a year, Standard Single for £4,326 a year (this one is just larger) and a Single En-suite for £5,082 a year. 

Both standards are really nice, here are two pictures I took of the Single Standard.

If I had to choose between the three I would go for this one as it is very cheap and there is a bathroom with a toilet, a shower room and another toilet all shared between only 6 people with a rather large kitchen with two fridge-freezers and lots of cabinets.

The en-suite was also very nice with a very similar bedroom but you had a bathroom that consisted of a shower, a toilet and a sink. However it was very small and you had less storage in your bedroom and a smaller kitchen, still shared between 6, with only 1 fridge-freezer. Here are some pictures:

If you want to read more about the accommodation visit the website here. 

• Lots of clubs to join: There are so many sports or societies to join that I don't know if i'd be able to fit them all in! The students' union provided me with some brochures that you will get if you go to an open day but I'll tell the clubs I am interested in to give you an idea of the types of things they offer. Societies: Disney Society, Psychology Society, UNICEF on Campus Society. Sports: Cheerleading, Dance Club, Swimming, Trampolining. Those are my personal preferences but if you want to know more about the societies, clubs or about the stundent union visit their website here. Also, all the clubs are free to join, one of only two in the UK, and the gym membership is only £100 for the year which is very good value!
• Great course/professors: Ok so this is more of a personal one as, obviously, I only got to experience the talk for my course, developmental and educational psychology, but there was no welcome talk which I liked (they can be bloody boring!) but was kind of incorporated into the first 10 minutes or so of the course talk. The modules for my course is everything I am looking for and was very impressed with how they presented the talk. First they talked about the modules and what is in each one, then two students took us round to see the psychology facilities then we had a kind of mini seminar to see what it is like. I found it very impressive and interesting. Yeah, very impressed :)
• Good location: Northampton University Park Campus, I think, is in a good location quite close to the town and have all the necessities like a huge ASDA, Boots, Waitrose, and so on.
• Great facilities on campus: If you don't like the idea of going into town every week to get your groceries there isn't a huge need as there is a shop on campus with all the necessary things. There is also several launderettes that are very cheap. The library is huge with plenty of 'silent areas' for quiet study and LOADS of books for all the subjects.
• Free bus pass: To get from Park Campus and Avenue Campus there are frequent buses between the two and in between is that huge ASDA I was talking about, why not pop in?

Negative

• Unclear grade requirements: Again, this is, I think, is quite personal to my course but my requirements is 280-320 points. I personally don't like this as I am worried that if I put my target as 280 points (then when I, hopefully, surpass that I will look like a bloody genius) and someone puts their's as 320 points I would imagine that they would be the ones offered the place, even if I am hoping for 320 points or higher anyway.
• Not guaranteed accommodation: Like most universities if you do not put Northampton as your firm choice you are very unlikely to get the accommodation you want or even accommodation at all! This worries be a lot because you are never guaranteed the accommodation you want even if it is your firm choice and I am always worried that I might land with accommodation that I can't afford. However, this is the case for many universities so I wouldn't let that be a huge negative if I were you, it will most likely be the case at all the universities you look at.

As you can see there are, in my opinion, many more positives then there are negatives and overall I could definitely see myself going there; it is definitely a contender in my eyes!

I hope some of you have found this helpful as I know some of you are looking at universities as well, if you would like to know more about the university you can visit their website here and I hope you like it just as much as I did!

Always make sure you go to Open Days as it is a really good way to see what the university is like and it is always good to see the facilities and professors irl.

Anyways, I am hoping to do this for all the universities I go to so you can look forward to that! Have a great day and I'll see ya'll soon :)

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*Disclaimer - these opinions are all my own*