My experiences of university...

where you went?

King's College, London

why you chose there?

I chose King's mainly because it had a good reputation, had the course I wanted to study and was in the heart of London on the Strand. Lot's of my friends from home chose the same university so that they could all be together but I chose the university that was the best fit for me. Most of the people who went to the same uni found that they made new friends and grew apart over the 3 or 4 years that they studied so I would recommend choosing the course that fits your aspirations best and not just following your friends.

what you enjoyed?

I wrote for the University paper and the London Student paper as a music and gigs reviewer and I got to see and interview a lot of bands and artists for free! A highlight was interviewing Pete Doherty from the Libertines just after a performance, I also met King's of Leon, Franz Ferdinand and the Pixies because I worked for the paper.

I also found the societies and sporting clubs were a great aspect of university life. I was a member of the Film Club where we watched a classic film once a week in a huge auditorium and had visiting speakers from the industry. Although I am not religious I was also a member of an inter-faith debating society, where we discussed the differing stances of the main religious faiths. In this capacity I was very lucky to be able to meet Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who is an alumnus of King's and a Nobel Peace Prize winner.

what you studied?

I studied War Studies and Philosophy as a joint honours course. War Studies is King's version of International Relations and is a mixture of History, Politics and Development Studies. 

any negatives /positives of that uni

The negatives of my course were the organisation between the two faculties because I studied a joint honours course, I think if I could do it again I would have just dealt with one faculty as there was a lot of conflict between the two timetables and some of my course options were limited.

The positives of King's are that you are right in the heart of London; this is a huge bonus academically as you have access to all of the university of London libraries and can join clubs and societies in most of the other London colleges, including SOAS, LSE, UCL, Goldsmiths, Royal Holloway... and many more. There are also a wide variety of intercollegiate courses and activities and you can go to events at all of the other Student Unions in London which is great for cheap nights out. There is also a huge amount of camaraderie amongst the colleges especially when it comes to sporting events. 

A slight negative was that King's is not a campus university so you are not living on the same site as your university buildings. This said there was some excellent college owned accommodation; in my 1st year I lived on Stamford Street which is just behind the National Theatre on the South Bank. The other problem is that London is very expensive and I found that when I visited friends in Cardiff, Manchester and Sheffield, despite a slightly larger student loan, they seemed to be getting a lot more for their money!