Essex University

Hello

My question simply is, How good is Essex University (particularly Colchester Campus) out of 10. It would be helpful if you could rank individually:
Facilities
Friendliness
Staff
Night life
Transport

Cheeeerss

Reply 1

studenty

From what I've researched it sounds like a good solid uni, but you do get some people who stereotype essex. Congratulations to him :smile:

University of Essex

Colchester

Visit website

Reply 2

WhatTheFunk

Facilities
They are good, the library is well stocked, you are plenty of PC labs, some hidden away which means they are much quieter

Friendliness
It is friendly, I dunno how to answer that

Staff
They are good and very helpful, those in the biological department where great, easy to talk too and get hold off

Night life
Its not London, or any other big city, but it is good I have seen some top acts while I was there Faithless live being one. Town is good during the week, you have your own club on campus

Transport
Its ok you know you are in the country side, you have buses that run into town and the station but they stop at like 11 I think, these no night bus, you have a national express buses that can get you up to liverpool, london and all that. You have good links to London with the trains being only 40mins- 1 hour away on a train

Reply 3

studenty

Yeah it seems like a pretty good one, i heard it was ranked 9th in the UK for research. Could anyone give me a rough percentage of how many people actually stay on campus during their first year, bit unsure what to do about that :/ i'm like a 45 minute drive away.

Reply 4

spasmos

Facilities
Lots of computer labs and things, I never really had a problem finding a computer apart from during exam period when everyone piles onto campus. Library is generally pretty well stocked. Plenty of spare seminar rooms if you need them. As far as I'm aware, all the departments are pretty up to date, but saying that, I do English Lit so I can't really speak for the science degrees that need lots of equipment.

Campus has everything you need - banks, post office, grocery shops, hairdressers and salon, cafes, restaurants, student pub and club ect. You could easily live on campus first year and never need to leave it. (That said, don't do this, Colchester is a lovely town and worth exploring)

Friendliness
Generally, a very friendly university. Lecturers and tutors tend to have your best interests at heart (though they do need pestering sometimes.) The other students are all pretty cool, I've never had any kind of problem making friends here. As always, the way other people treat you will depend on the way you treat them.

Staff
Like I said, the lecturers and seminar tutors are pretty decent, as long as you are prepared to pester them sometimes (these acadeic types get very wrapped up in their own work)
Other general university staff have always been very helpful in my experience.
SU staff are great, majority are students so completely get what it's like to be you! in addition to this, the SU president and vices are voted for by the students every year. Competition just keeps getting stronger and stronger, so you can erst assured that they have well and truly earned their position and, fingers crossed, they'll all put in a ton of effort for the current students.

Night life
The club on campus (sub-zero) is rated pretty highly as student clubs go, gets acts in every now and then (Past two years we've had Nero, Pro Green, Zane Lowe and a few more) also has some decent event nights fairly often like foam parties, chocolate parties, UV parties, various fancy dress themes ect. On weeknights Level 2 (the second, smaller student nightclub) is opened instead with the resident DJ's who are pretty decent for various themed nights (milk it (cheesy music), sports fed ect.) which are usually pretty popular.

Nightlife in town is shockingly bad, there's only two proper nightclubs, Liquid and Missoula, but plenty of lively bars and a few places that have a few decent live bands every now and then (if you're into live music or indie bars try Twisters Bar)

Transport
Good transport links, train station in town and a national express that lives from campus to London. Buses can be a bit crap I'm told, but I've never really had to use them (bought my car in my second year to get to and from work in town) There is a safety bus that runs from campus to Greenstead and Wivenhoe for student living off campus which is decent. Plently of taxi companies, means you can usually get one pretty quickly when you need it.

Loads of people stay on campus in their first year, a flatmate of mine did, despite the fact she only lived 45 minutes away, much like you. The experience of living on campus is not one to be missed if you think it's worth paying the extra for rent. Being within stumbling distance of the uni club is great, and it's so easy to make friends for life by living with them. Would def reccomend.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 5

CUFCDan

Original post by studenty

Facilities: 7
Friendliness: 8
Staff: 7
Nightlife: 7
Transport: 8

Reply 6

it's a secret

Facilities 8/10
Friendliness 9/10
Staff 10/10
Night life 9/10
Transport 8/10

Also, I don't live on campus (due to personal circumstances) and drive in each day but if I could live on campus I definitely would!

In all I LOVE Essex uni and would recommend it to everyone.