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Duration at BRGS Sixth Form: 2000-2002 |
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school: BRGS Date of submitting these answers: October 2006 |
| University
you are at, why you chose this university,
and give one interesting fact about your university: |
|
| I'm at Queen Mary, University of London. As the name suggests, it's one of the colleges of the University of London (other ones are UCL, King's, LSE, Imperial etc.) The colleges don't have much to do with each other apart from sharing the University of London Union (ULU) and QMUL isn't as high in the league tables as some of the others, but it's excellent for languages and linguistics which is why I chose it. | |
| Best things about your university city: | Worst things about your university city: |
| Erm..being
London, basically! It's just great that pretty
much everything you can ever think of can
be found somewhere here, and that it's so
big that there's always something
to do and new things to see. But it's also nice that
each area is almost like it's own
little town, so you can get everything you need
without venturing into the city centre. My
uni is in East London, which is multicultural,
exciting and very cheap compared to most
other areas - and the food's amazing! |
Expensive, noisy, busy, dirty and crowded! Really depends how much money and time you have and how you're feeling as to whether all these things are just part of the buzz of a big city, or drive you absolutely mental! |
Social
scene/nightlife in your |
Favourite places to shop in your university city?: |
Everything you could possibly want and more (if you have the cash to pay for it!) Even then, there are cheap places to go if you do your research! At QMUL the union has a pub and nightclub, although I think part of this is soon to close in favour of a new student sports centre. The social life is pretty good but not amazing, because a lot of people (from my course at least) live at home just outside London, and so they're only here during class hours... |
Everywhere! East End for nice colourful earrings and bangles, and local shops for really good, cheap food. Brick Lane and Spitalfields market on a Sunday morning for vintage clothes and all kinds of funky stuff! And then for all the shops you can ever dream of, there's the whole of central London! |
| How
much on average per week do a) Halls of Residence,
b) Renting a house, cost in your university town/city? |
What is the accommodation like in your university town/city? |
| A
fortune! My current rent is £3700
for an academic year, although that's
for an en-suite room in a 6-person
flat in brand new halls on campus.
Intercollegiate halls, which are
shared between all the University of
London colleges and are in central London,
are even more expensive (can be £115/wk!)
but are usually catered.
Sharing a flat in the area around uni is probably about £70-£80 a week inc. bills, and gets cheaper the further east you go! |
The
new halls in QMUL's student village are fantastic! The village is right next to the Arts Building
on campus, and has a bar, shop and launderette
as well as lots of accommodation, all pretty
new.
It's expensive for this area (and for University of London halls) but is secure and includes bills and internet etc. so I think it's bearable! |
| How much on average do you spend on food shopping per week? | |
| Erm...far too much! But you can eat very cheaply here if you shop in local stores and markets for meat, fruit and veg etc. There's a Sainsburys nearby and it's a 15-minute bus ride to a huuuge ASDA where you can stock up! | |
| What is the course you are studying? - Was it your original choice when applying for university? | |
| I originally applied to do French and Spanish, but I'd done 7 years of French at school and I got a bit bored of it at uni! I really wanted to do linguistics anyway, so I changed half-way through my first year and now am in my final year of BA Hispanic Studies and Linguistics. | |
| How many years does your course last? | |
| 4 years, including year abroad. I'm in my final year now. | |
| What you enjoy most about your course/ what impresses you about it?: | |
| The year abroad! I've just come back from it and I can't even begin to describe how amazing it was! It's really made a huge impact on me and I'm probably going to go back to the place where I spent my year after I graduate. | |
| What you enjoy least about your course, and what could be improved : | |
| I just felt that the second year of Spanish was a little bit pointless and not very exciting. In first year everyone is consolidating what they learned at school, and making sure they're all up to the same level. But by second year you've been taught all the standard grammar, and I just feel like it didn't really move my level on at all. Looking back, I'd have made just as much progress - if not more - having just one year before the year abroad. But that's the way almost all langauge courses work, so it's not really a specific problem with this one... | |
| How
do you rate the teaching standards on your
course, and do your tutors/lecturers/the university give you the right support for your studies?: |
|
| I
think the teaching here is fantastic, and there's
generally a really good, relaxed relationship
between staff and students. When I changed
courses the linguistics department in particular
were so welcoming and enthusiastic, and the
French department were really kind too - I
felt sad to leave them! I go to the
pub with my Catalan class and teachers to practice while
having a drink, so can't really get much better
than that! |
|
| What A Level Grades/UCAS points did you have to achieve to be accepted onto your course? | |
| I'm not sure to be honest because I already had my grades when I applied, but I think it was about BCC or CCC. I do know that they offer some really good bursaries for people with A grades at A Level! | |
| Best thing about being at university: | Worst thing about being at university: |
| Learning about stuff I'm really interested in, meeting lovely people, partying, getting to go on a year-long holiday paid for by the EU and generally just lounging around and having a great laugh! | Being poor, worrying about money, working all the time, worrying about money, travelling to and from work, worrying about money, being poor... |
| What do you plan to do after you graduate? | |
| I think I might teach English in Spain for a little while, and then possibly do a Masters in something like Linguistics or Translation. | |
| If you were to recommend going to university, what would you say? | |
| Do it, it's fantastic! | |
| Do you get homesick? If so, how do you deal with it? | |
| Nope, I'm heartless! Haha. | |
| Do you think you made the right choice? Or looking back, would you have gone to a different university/started a different course? | |
| I'm
absolutely certain I made the right choice.
When I first applied to uni I just chose six
universities from the top ten of the league
table I think! It was quite strange after my gap year, applying to unis that aren't so well-known and successful, but I feel 100% comfortable at QMUL and I know I made the right decision in coming here. |
|
| What have you achieved whilst being at university? | |
| Well I'm more or less fluent in Spanish now, I've learned a whole new language (Catalan) and I've studied something I've been interested in my whole life (Linguistics). I've also had the opportunity to travel, study and work abroad and expand my horizons in ways I never imagined. | |