Why I Chose Warwick.

With the new year well and truly underway and the current lockdown restrictions preventing prospective Warwick students attending open days I wanted to take this opportunity to share some the key reasons why I chose Warwick as my firm choice back in 2018. I hope that this can help some of you out and I’d be happy to answer any questions you may have about choosing universities or about Warwick itself. I’ll include some links at the end of the post that might be useful to prospective students, or that I reference in the post.

Distance

When it came to certain criteria in choosing a university, distance from home was pretty important to me. I was well aware of the homesickness I would inevitably experience (something that made me certain I would never go to uni when I was much younger), but I also wanted to make sure I had the room to grow as a person away from home. Living in Northampton, Warwick was the perfect distance away, particularly with the great transport links (which I’ll discuss later) that meant I could always pop home as and when I needed, under normal circumstances of course. This was particularly useful in my second year when I struggled severely with my mental health.

Transport

As I’ve just mentioned it, I may as well address the transport links in and around the university next. Locally, there are plenty of options in terms of public transport to get you on and off of campus to the university’s surrounding areas, like Leamington or Coventry City Centre. Coventry also has great train links that make for a smooth journey to Birmingham or London. My friend and I got to Durham to visit a friend quite easily in our first year, and I was able to visit my Dad in London plenty of times with ease. This also helps to combat the feeling of being stuck in a bubble which some may experience attending a campus uni, although this isn’t something I had a problem with.

Campus or City?

I knew quite early on that I wanted to attend a campus university, although my insurance choice was a city uni. I loved, and still do, the idea of having a self-contained, safe community, with everything you could possibly need as a student within walking distance. As I said, the Warwick bubble can feel restrictive for some, but it’s easy to go out and explore the local areas, integrate with the non-student community, and you’re only living on campus for the first year anyway. For me, though, someone who feels very comfortable in a bubble, a campus university was best.

Halls

Accommodation is a key aspect to consider when choosing a university. You’ll be living in halls for at least your first year, so you need to be sure you’ll be happy and comfortable. Warwick has a great range of accommodations, in terms of price and the number of students sharing a kitchen, so there’s bound to be something for you. Although you can’t visit the halls of residence right now, I would highly recommend visiting Warwick’s website and YouTube, where there is all the information you could need about halls, including video tours, as well as browsing these student blogs as there will probably be a student review for each choice.

I was apprehensive about making friends at university and, while I still don’t have many, the ones I have made were primarily due to my first year flat. Warwick allows incoming students to fill out a survey so that they can match flatmates together as best they can in terms of lifestyle preferences. Of course, this isn’t foolproof, but it certainly put me at ease when moving in.

Placements

When I say placements, I specifically mean study abroad opportunities. When I was choosing a uni, this is an experience I really had my heart set on and, although I never followed through (see my post about turning down my year abroad), I fully stand by the fact that Warwick offers one of the best study abroad programmes out there, particularly with their connections with Monash University, Melbourne.

Course

No matter how much you love to party and socialise, you’re paying for your course at the end of the day, and that will be the foundation of your uni experience. If you don’t like your course, you’re in for a rough ride. I’m going to do a separate post in a couple of weeks on why I love the history course at Warwick and why I chose it but, for now, know that it has been the best thing about my university experience and far exceeded any of my expectations.

I hope that some of this has helped anyone unsure of what they want from a university or who doesn’t know what to look out for. I’d be more than happy to answer any questions to the best of my ability and wish you the best with choosing your uni!

Until next time

Sam.

Links:

Warwick Accommodation: https://warwick.ac.uk/services/accommodation/

University of Warwick ‘Accommodation at Warwick’ Playlist (includes virtual tours of accommodation blocks): https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLm0heW_lk6eciXDBWvowLTKtNmqStravl

My review of Lakeside Halls of Residence: https://our.warwick.ac.uk/warwick-university-accommodation-lakeside/

Student Mobility website (relating to study abroad and placement opportunities): https://warwick.ac.uk/services/studentopportunity/studentmobility/