Rating my overall Warwick experience
I have wanted to write this blog ever since I first started University and my role as a student blogger. Thus, without any delay, I will be providing an honest and personal review of my entire university journey and experience at Warwick. Before I get started let me just highlight that everyone’s personal experience is different and that this is not a fact-based blog, but rather a reflective one of my 3 years at Warwick. I study under the home department of PAIS as a Politics and International Studies student and am scheduled to graduate this July. I also wanted to quickly highlight that the Covid pandemic greatly changed my expected university experience but that issue was out of everyone’s hands so I will attempt to provide a fair review of my experience excluding the pandemic if possible.
Before reviewing anything in life, it is always important to have our expectations clear: my expectations for Warwick were very simple. I wanted a campus-based university experience where I could grow, learn, and challenge myself academically and socially. I wanted to study an interesting degree and be pushed to adapt to a new critical lens of thinking and learning. But, I also wanted to grow as an individual to make new friends, become part of different societies, and learn more about myself. As an international student, I also wanted to become more independent as I would be without my parents and the comfort of home; I wanted to learn to do things for myself and to understand the responsibilities of living alone. Now that my expectations for university have been effectively outlined, the following portion of the blog will respectively review my experience in comparison to my expectations.
My biggest belief about university is that your experience is only what you make of it, if you do not push yourself to leave the comfort of your accommodation, you will not make as many friends and become part of different societies. Since the start of my degree, I have tried my best to always say yes, and say yes to all opportunities to connect with people: from attending career fairs and academic workshops to society events and social events. Saying yes does not always work out perfectly but it does mean that you are constantly able to push yourself to try new things and embrace new experiences for yourself.
Overall, I do honestly believe that my university experience was how I expected it to be. Of course, the pandemic was a little setback as it meant I had to go back home and was not able to connect with everyone on campus through in-person learning and social events. But, I have accepted that these things happen and even though the pandemic did hinder many things, with the support of the university’s career team, I was able to find 2 great online internships and gain many transferable skills during the time. I also interestingly enjoyed the combination of in-person and online learning as it enabled me to study at my own pace and in my own time.
Truthfully, Warwick has provided me with many incredible part-time job opportunities such as blogging, becoming a research assistant, and working as a student ambassador. The university has also helped me find great summer programs and opportunities alongside helping me academically grow into a more critical student of politics and international studies. I really hope that your experience is as amazing as you hope it would be and please remember to push yourself out of your shell as you are the person who will have the biggest impact on your own experience. All the best and thank you so much for reading.
