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MY THOUGHTS ON ROYAL HOLLOWAY UNIVERSITY OF LONDON

  • niamhcunningham123
  • Mar 25, 2023
  • 4 min read

Last weekend I attended my first university open day at Royal Holloway University of London, both a daunting and exciting experience. I wasn't entirely sure what to expect, and was honestly just looking forward to getting an insight into university life at Royal Holloway, but I took much more away from the day then I had initially anticipated.


When we arrived, I was amazed by the Founder's building. Opened by Queen Victoria in 1886, it is now home to over 500 students of the University. The iconic read brick was beautiful, a truly stunning building. We began by registering and then joining a general tour of the university. We visited the library, the chapel and explored the campus, learning about each department and having a brief look at some of the accommodation. It definitely felt like there was a good community here and part of that I imagine is from it being a campus university. I had assumed that I would like a campus university, but I have now realised that I'd actually prefer something more interconnected with a town/city. It's important to note that Royal Holloway is 40 minutes by train to London and it is a 20 minutes walk to the local Tesco. After my visit I realised how important location of a university is to me, especially if I'm looking for a more bustling atmosphere. Despite this, our tour guide mentioned how the majority of students head over to London on the weekends and have found the balance between the calmer environment on campus and the busy city of London to be just perfect for their needs. It's all down to preference, and personally, it made me reconsider the quieter, more distant aspects of some campus universities.


We then had a quick tour of the accommodation. I was really impressed by this aspect of the university. The rooms, both in catered and non - catered accomodation, were spacious and modern. The catered accomodation still provided access to a pantry with a toaster, sink, kettle and other fundamental kitchen appliances, but of course no oven. The students were happy for us to have a look in their rooms and all praised the accommodation. It was the generous size and access to facilities that really stood out ot me, nearly every room had an ensuite. The founders building accommodation was consistent with the rest of the university and you also have access to common rooms and communal areas here too. Seeing how it is at Royal Holloway definitely helped me to heighten my standards for university accommodation, afterall it is your living space for at least 3 years.


We then attended a subject specific talk on English at Royal Holloway, this was really useful to gage what the course would involve and how it compared to other universities. Pretty much the whole third year is students choice on what to study and the list to choose from was particularly interesting, ranging from 'on murder' to 'children's literature' to 'advanced shakespeare'. Despite this, I wasn't sure whether the course being this open ended really suited my working style as a student and I was looking for something a bit more structured. The lecturer was a lovely woman and she was happy to share about English at Royal Holloway and spoke very positively about her students. The enthusiasm from the departments was something that I noticed consistently around the university. We had a look in the Geography department and the lecturer on Human Geography was so helpful in providing everything we needed to know about the course, explaining how it suits all different types of geographers and letting us know about the amazing trips available to geography students, for example to Nerja, New York and Sicily. She gave us all the relevant information booklets and encouraged us to explore the subject more online. I definitely got the impression that at Royal Holloway the lecturers genuinely care about their students and provide ample opportunities to get involved in all aspects of your chosen subject.


Other elements of the campus involved, food trucks stationed at different locations around the site (the crepe one looked especially good), a Starbucks, a one stop shop (to help students buy what they need due to the distance of Tesco), and a large Student Union hall that, from what I understand, is huge aspect of the university, promoting student inclusion and wellbeing.


Overall, Royal Holloway is a lovely University, there is definitely a good sense of community, the accommodation is ideal and the enthusiasm of the teachers is something to keep in mind. The campus has a good balance between more modern elements and the historical founder's building which highlights the rich history. However, I didn't really feel like the university suited me. I wasn't too sure about the more quiet location and the course was not really what I was looking for. The trip really helped me to understand what I wanted and didn't want from a university. I really recommend that you attend open days to help you put things into perspective, you might find something you like about a university in theory does not feel practical in person.


Niamh


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