Last Friday, I visited the University in Surrey in Guildford as the second-to-last university to visit in this year’s application venture (but not the second-to-last open day, I’m going back to one I visited last year too)! Again, it’s another local university to me and so it very easy to me to get to on the bus or the train. They also happened to offer the course I want to do as well, so what did I think?
University of Surrey
I went to the University of Surrey to have a look at their Biomedical Science course. I’ve been looking at the same course at other universities as well, but I have to choose carefully as many require A Level Chemistry which is something I do not have. Luckily for me the entry requirements for this course are BBB including Biology and one other science, which for me would be Psychology. If I get the correct grades, I wouldn’t even have to do a foundation year!
When I entered the campus, I instantly saw the sheer amount of greenery there is around campus, despite being in the middle of a large town. There’s a huge lake with a fountain on campus and it reminded me a little of a National Trust place. Many of the buildings are fairly modern too, which brought me to conclude that the University of Surrey is a very aesthetically pleasing place.
The main campus, Stag Hill, is fairly large but it is all contained in one area and has a strong community feel. It is totally separate from the town of Guildford which is literally a 10 minute walk away or a very short bus ride! This is the campus I visited first.
After checking in at the main Piazza and having a photo taken with a official photographer, I grabbed a quick drink and headed towards the Information Fair. Stands from all subject areas and things like accommodation and admissions were based here. I had a quick chat with a guy about foundation years, which was very helpful and had a peek at a mock up room that the accommodation team had created within the fair. I then headed to a Biomedical Science talk!
The talk was very exciting and engaging and the lecturer even gave us Jelly Babies! There were also some students there and they had a very good rapport with the lecturer which felt very nice and family-like. Immediately after, I booked onto a laboratory tour/talk, but for about an hour’s time so that I could do some other things!
I headed back to the information fair to talk to the Student Union and Biomedical Science students, and also admissions to check a few things – they were all very very helpful.
After that, I headed on my lab tour which was very fun! The lab I visited was very big and could fit about 200 students at full capacity! I thought that the teacher was very nice and she gave me some useful information about the course too. I even got to wear a snazzy lab coat and look in some microscopes.
Then, I decided to have a look at some accommodation. Firstly, I looked at Twyford Court which was a slightly older accommodation block but I thought that it was very nice. The room was ensuite and there was a large kitchen that was shared with up to 11 other people. Twyford had rooms known as Band D rooms, which were the rooms I was looking at. These are standard en-suite rooms. There weren’t any other suitable accommodation open on the Stag Hill Campus on the day as many of the buildings, I noticed, were undergoing maintenance.
After having some very yummy fish & chips for lunch. I ventured over to the Manor Park campus, which was about 10 minutes away and situated next to a large Tesco superstore. Manor Hill was also the home of Surrey Sports Park. I spoke to some students there about their cheer and gymnastics clubs and I also had a quick look at the swimming pool. Of course, I also grabbed a frappuccino from the Starbucks that resides there too.
Manor Park is much smaller and newer than Stag Hill. It houses the Vet School and the vast majority of Band D accommodation rooms! There’s a likely chance that I would live on this campus if I went to the University of Surrey. The room I saw there was very nice and spacious. It was quite similar to Twyford, just newer, and the kitchen wasn’t shared between as many students.
The shuttle bus was the way to go coming back to Stag Hill as it was a very hot day! It took roughly 3-5 minutes! Back at Stag Hill I had a look around the large library and the Student Union building. I also found the shop where all the university merch is sold!!
That was pretty much all I did at Surrey, it was a very exciting day and I enjoyed it a lot. I really liked Surrey and I think that it is currently my number one choice for unis so I’ll definitely be applying there!
Thanks for reading – what did you think?
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