University Open Day 2019: St George’s, University of London

Last Saturday, I visited St George’s University of London as part of my 2019 University Open Day Venture, and I enjoyed it! St George’s is located in South West London, in Tooting which is quite close to Wimbledon. Tooting has excellent tube and bus links into central London, it takes only 20 minutes or so on the Northern Line.

St George’s is also unique because the university itself is situated INSIDE St George’s University Hospital. They are literally in the same building, which you can imagine is great for medical students. I went there with my eye on their Diagnostic Radiography course

St George’s University of London

I’ve already mentioned so many great things about St George’s – but there’s more! Did you know, St George’s is the only UK university dedicated solely to medical and healthcare sciences. If you were looking to do Economics, sorry sis, you’re out of luck! The fact that the university is solely dedicated to one subject area means that there is such a great community feel among the students and they all jump at the chance to help each other out. This is also aided by the fact that the university is really quite small as well, so it’s not too overwhelming and there is a familiar ‘family’ feel to the place.

Aforementioned, the campus is situated in its own wing of the hospital. There’s a great variety of lecture theatres, cafes, shops, teaching spaces and labs within this space – you almost forget that you’re actually in the hospital because it feels a lot like a ‘normal’ university building. Surprisingly, there are also outdoor spaces for students as well.

When I arrived there, the first thing I did after registering is visit the ‘Information Hub’. This is where you could collect leaflets on the different subjects and talk to students. Here, I spoke to the Student Union and some students at the Radiography desk. Of course, I also managed to bag some freebies! I also tried out some clinical skills using a resuscitation dummy with the help of a Global Health Student!

After that, I headed up to the Student Union bar as this is where the accommodation tour was leaving from. The accommodation for St George’s, Horton Halls, is not located on site but it is only a few streets away, just towards Earlsfield. It was about a 10/15 minute walk but you’d probably be able to do it quicker if it wasn’t so hot (it was 36oC in London!).

The halls were very nice and very modern, and they were all en-suite. I was shown a ‘premium room’ and a ‘standard room’ but there was virtually no difference. The premium room had a small double bed and a slightly wider bathroom, but this sacrificed floor space making the room feel smaller. Within the accommodation there are also student social spaces, laundry rooms and a post box area. There is also a One Stop very close by!

When I headed back to the campus, I went and had a look at a couple of the Biomedical Science labs. I can’t do BioMed at St George’s as I don’t have an A Level in Chemistry but I am looking at foundation years elsewhere so it gave me a great insight. One of the students let me have a go with a cool pipette thing!

After exploring the labs, I had a peek at the library. It is open 24 hours and has various zones such as a group work zone and silent zone. There was also computer suites as well!

Then, I went and had a look in the student union shop and I grabbed a Krispy Kreme donut and a packet of crisps as a snack. I then wondered around campus for a while, which of course then led me to grab a quick drink from one of the two Pret A Manger’s within the university!

In the afternoon, I visited a talk/lecture on the Diagnostic and Therapeutic Radiography courses. It was very interesting and I was engaged throughout! They also ran a little ‘lab’ tour where they took us to the X Ray scanner that students use and a Radiotherapy machine! I found it quite interesting especially as I have done work experience in Radiography at a different hospital!

That lasted a couple of hours so after that I left and I visited the big Primark just down the road at Tooting Broadway! I enjoyed my day at St George’s and I think that it is one I will apply for. I’m looking at radiography at Portsmouth as well, to compare, but St George’s is looking strong at the moment!

I hope you enjoyed my post on St George’s University of London! If you’re more interested in the Primark at the end, I posted a haul on my Youtube Channel if you want to check that out.

Thanks for reading!