Review: Edge Hill University

Hi everyone, last weekend I went to the applicant day at Edge Hill University (open days and applicant days are a little different, but i'll get into that in a different post) and I was very pleased with what I saw and I will explain why in this blog post.

However, first I would like to highlight the importance of planning ahead; by this I mean think of questions beforehand, along with other preparations (I have plans for a blog post on this as well), but I also mean looking up traffic before you leave as I did not and got stuck in over an hours traffic on the motorway meaning I missed over half hour of the applicant day. However, since I also went on a university residential there last year I am going to put my views from both together to form this review.
Right, enough waffling, here's the review:
Positives:

• Accommodation: The accommodation here is really nice and there is one for everyone, from the back halls (the cheapest of the accommodation) to the new and more pricey halls. If you wish to know more about each accommodation along with a rather useful little video of each click here. I personally like the look of Forest Court as it was the middle accommodation but still very nice and has a mixture of shared bathroom and en-suite (en-suite being more expensive of course). Also, I found that not just at this university, but at all the others I have gone around, that the bedrooms with shared bathrooms are much larger with more storage so it depends what you're looking for. Unfortunately, I was unable to take pictures as applicant days are during term time so I was looking in people's actual bedrooms so it seemed  bit rude and inappropriate to  take photos. However the videos are very good :)
• Campus: I absolutely love the campus at Edge Hill, 160 acres with all the buildings really close together and then just loads of tracks/pitches and fields perfect for revising on or exercising in. I have put an extremely bad quality picture of the campus map below (sorry if you can't read my writing!). 

• Scholarships: There are loads of scholarships available at Edge Hill, and cater for a variety of people's backgrounds. If you wish to know more about their scholarships click here.

• Societies: There are loads of fantastic societies and sports to join and there is a huge variety. There are so many I like the sound of that I fear I'm not going to have enough time for anything else! If you wish to see what societies they have on offer click here.
• Location: For me personally the campus is in the perfect location; in the countryside with a little town called Ormskirk nearby and Liverpool 20 minutes away. This means that you are away from everything but night clubs and great shopping areas are close by.

Negatives:

• Cohort: This is just a negative for me and others on my course really (although it may apply to others) but for Educational Psychology the cohort is no more than 30 and the head of this course told us that there is a possibility that they may have to turn people away after they have firmed it which of course is a big negative. I only hope they will tell us before the beginning of May if this is the case so we can ask UCAS if we can firm another.

Despite this negative I really really like Edge Hill and i'm 90% sure that I am now going to put this as my firm choice. I can definitely see myself going here and it really is a lovely university. Hope this has helped some of you and has given you some useful information however I would still suggest going on an open day to get a feel for it yourself as this is just my opinion.

Review: Bath Spa University

Hi everyone, last weekend I went to the Bath Spa University Open Day for the applicants of September 2016. I did a review of Northampton Open Day a few months ago, which you can click to read here if you would like to, and it was such a great success that I have decided to do a review of each of the universities I visit, not just for you but also for myself to look back on in a few months to help me decide which unis to apply for. So lets get started with the review shall we!

Positive

• Nice place: Now I know this probably isn't the best way to start off a review but it's true; Bath Spa is set in the gorgeous countryside and all you can see is fields and trees and lakes and it is honestly beautiful. If you are looking for a university which offers amazing nightlife such as clubs then this is not for you but if, like me, you want to be surrounded by nature where you can go on long walks and revise in the sunshine in the summer then this is definitely a university that you should check out.
• Great facilities on campus: There is an amazing gym near the Gardens (the new) accommodation and lots of buildings each having classrooms but also offices full of staff ready to help you.
• Accommodation: Not the prices, which I will get to later, but the actual accommodation is very nice. At Northampton I was able to get pictures of each accommodation to show you but they did not have showcase rooms for each of the choices at Bath Spa and I didn't feel comfortable taking pictures of people's actual rooms with all their stuff in. However, the en-suite at the Commons was a showcase so I managed to sneak some sneaky pictures for you:

As you can see the desk is very large; stretching from one end of the room to the other so there is no problem work-space wise. 

The bed is also quite large for a university bed and quite comfy, I'm one for a soft mattress and I would say this one is a medium/firm but it's still quite soft. Probably from the amount of people that have slept on it over the years.

The wardrobe is a double with lots of space and some shelving on the left hand side, a lot bigger than I was expecting so no problem with clothing storage either which is great.

The bathroom is a good size as well, plenty of room to fit everything in and it is not cramped. Some en-suites that I have seen it's less than a step from the toilet to the sink but this is not the case. Okay you couldn't do some pirouettes in it or something but it is just the right size for what you need out of an en-suite in your first year at uni.

This is the kitchen-diner and although it is not the biggest of kitchens, I can't remember how many it's between... I think it's 8.. Anyway, each student has their own cupboard which can be locked and there is one shelf in the fridge and one in the freezer for each student. There is also a lovely view and the design allows for lots of natural light to come in. Lovely.

However, I only showed you Commons accommodation and cannot talk about the Gardens accommodation for I did not visit it for reasons I will go into now.

Negative

• Accommodation prices: The one main problem I have with this uni, and the reason it will most likely not be in my top 5 that I apply to in a few months is how ridiculously high the accommodation prices are. If you would like to check out the accommodation page click here to go to the accommodation page on their website. I can only talk about my experience of the Commons as I did not even bother going to the Gardens knowing that I could never afford it which leads me on to my next negative:
• Accommodation allocation method: For those of you who don't know, whilst I was there I found out that when you apply to Bath Spa university, if you put it as your FIRM CHOICE you get to apply for accommodation. However, Bath Spa require that you put 6 accommodation choices down and you randomly get one of those. This means that, for people like me who can only afford 2 of the accommodation types, I have a less than 50% chance of getting accommodation I can actually afford. Ridiculous.

• Staff: I know this may sound horrible but some of the staff that I encountered either where not friendly or where not helpful at all. I will use two examples: the accommodation lady that I spoke too is the person who allocates the first year accommodation and when I explained to her my situation (only being able to afford 2) she said, and I quote, "everyone gets into debt at uni", she didn't even try to understand nor reassure me that she would do something about it if I got accommodation I physically couldn't afford, even with a loan. The other example is the psychology professor who did the psychology talk, he didn't really seem to know much about the course and the 2 students who were there as well ended up answering most of the questions!
• The course: Now this is just a personal one for me but when I listened to the talks, the course doesn't sound 100% what I want to do which, at Bath Spa, is the accredited major in Psychology and a minor in Education. However, when I spoke to each subject I found out I would have to do the core in each which I don't mind in the Psychology but I don't like the core Education and would much prefer to take some of the optional ones available. However, this means I am not eligible to graduate that course which sucks.

I realise there are more negatives than positives which is what has led me to believe this is not one I will be applying to.

HOWEVER, if you have the money to be able to afford the accommodation here and you like the course IT IS A GREAT UNIVERSITY, just not for me personally.

I hope this helps some of you :)

♥
*Disclaimer - these opinions are all my own*