My experience of Chemistry at Warwick (so far)

With half of the first term already gone, I thought that now would be a great time to talk about my first impressions of various aspects of the course, in hopes of giving someone more insight into what they could expect should they choose to join us in the near future.

Course structure:

My first year of Chemistry at Warwick has been split into four main modules: Inorganic, Organic and Physical Chemistry, plus a module for labs and assessments. Both Inorganic and Organic have been relatively similar to previous levels so far, with of course a little bit of added complexity in some places. Physical Chemistry has, however, doubled down on being maths-and-physics-related, and has become more specialised than previously. If the thought of this puts you off slightly, don’t worry! There is a ‘maths skills’ component designed to ensure that everyone has the basic knowledge of maths to succeed at Physical Chemistry. If, however, this is not helpful to you, there are likely to be plenty of students who have studied maths at A-level, so there will be someone who is more than happy to help you. The lab module consists of labs on a select few days of the week (mine are Thursday and Friday), and they begin with introductory labs to help you develop the skills required to succeed in the labs. These introductory labs do not count towards your final grade for the year, so people who have always been rubbish at practicals (like me) do not need to stress over these.

Academics:

Although I have not had the chance to meet all of the academics yet, and do not remember many of their names, I can say that the academics I have met are a great team, and have shown me (and hopefully will show you too) that I made a good decision coming to Warwick. All of the lecturers and laboratory demonstrators (some of which are current PhD students) I have had so far have been engaging, and have helped me stay focused. I have also been assigned three academics to lead tutorials (tutorials are basically small-scale ‘homework review’ type sessions), and a personal tutor, with whom I will meet with several times this year to discuss various things.

Building location:

Although my lectures are all over the main campus, the main Chemistry building itself is somewhat conveniently placed, only being about a five-minute walk from central campus (and no more than 15 minutes from any accommodation block). Furthermore, the building is attached to the library building via a bridge from the second floor, making popping to the library to study after lectures a real possibility.

Hopefully this has proven to be a helpful guide as to what Chemistry at Warwick may be like, and thank you for taking the time to read this.