What is the University of Surrey like?

I want to find out more about Surrey, so could someone give me their ratings for Surrey for the following things(ratings to be out of 10)

Shops
Entertainment
Social life
Lectures
Accommodation
Sports
Girls
Safety
City life

..and anything else that could be important for me to know about the University and City.

Reply 1

lilangel890

Shops - 9, really everything you need from cheap to expensive (-1 for no peacocks hehe.)
Entertainment Off campus - 6. On campus - 9 Rubix and Channies are great. I've hardly been to town because of it. Umm lots of restaurants and bowling/skating etc
Lectures - Well that all depends on what you're gonna be doing...
Accommodation - 8. I live on manor park, huge rooms, not many people and new (though perhaps rather expensive next year!) On campus accommodation is generally good as well
Sports - 9. Surrey sports park is amazing. Say no more. (-1 as courts often get booked up by the county's netball and basketball etc team matches)
Girls - Lots of asian :/ People are from all over and again it depends on your course. Girls >>>> Boys on the maths course :P
Safety - 8 Safer than most places but I still won't walk home in the dark (plenty of people do)
City life - 6. Not sure on this. Guildford's a town, closeish to London though. It's just the right busyness. High street on a saturday is possibly not a good idea

University of Surrey

Guildford

Reply 2

KazMan

Tank you, so much! This has been really helpfull :smile:

Reply 3

The Beaver

Original post by KazMan

Shops - Good, some can be a little pricey/upmarket but hey that is Guildford, it is a bit like that. You can get to Woking very very easily and to London easily as well so you can have variety (or if you want go to Portsmouth, there is Wharf by the sea there as well, same trainline that goes to London but the opposite direction

Entertainment - Good however the local area's venues and activities are not the best advertised thing on the planet, but will all the sports, societies and groups on campus, networking and meeting new people and the activities

Social life - See Entertainment a bit as well as Rubix/Channies/Roots etc is all good, you will mainly go there, there is links to London as well and people go off in groups here and there to visit places so I know that happens. Town is alright, but not amazing.

Lectures - Depends on your course! (Which you have not mentioned)

Accommodation - Good, a little pricey but that is Guildford, if you look in the right places for 2nd/3rd year and contact people in years above you, you can get some good info on housing, just be organised and move quickly. Uni accommodation is good also a little pricey but it is good quality, every uni will have minor issues and I know they have been pretty good this year dealing with them.

Sports - Good, social, slight problems of getting people in and interested but beyond that barrier, good. You need to be proactive and throw yourself in or drag a mate along etc.

Girls - No comment as I find that question a little rude...

Safety - Really safe, I regularly walk around at 2/3am without a care in the world. Guildford is a safe town. (throw in a bit of I am a bit reckless and 'there are students here and that will attract crime as anywhere does' though it is relatively good)

~~City~~ TOWN life - Guildford is an interesting town, it is not extremely studentificated... (I'm twisiting the word Studentification here if you get what I mean), the community nearby is, generally, nice friendly, kind-of traditional middle class. As with anywhere you get people grumpy towards 'students' in general but that happens. They seem relatively good around here and this is from someone who has spent the last 2 years getting involved with the wider community of Guildford and the local area. It is a very nice place to be and has everything you need without be an overtly 'noisey' place to be.

Shops - 8 (9 when you consider access to other places but that does cost :/)
Entertainment - 9 (only not a 10 if your life revolves around drinking, clubbing and 'getting wasted')
Social life - 9
Lectures - .....
Accommodation - 7.5 (8 if it wasn't so costly in Guildford, but it is generally good)
Sports - 8
Girls - N/A
Safety - 9 (relatively), probs an 8
~~City~~ TOWN life - 8

Overall for the university - 8.5/9 (and could, with minor tweaks, be higher), I beyond recommend it :smile:

This is my short version :P

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 4

KazMan

The course I want to study is Electronic and Computer engineering, thanks for the info much appreciated :smile:

Reply 5

humphrey23

Original post by KazMan

The course I want to study is Electronic and Computer engineering, thanks for the info much appreciated :smile:

Applied for the course this year but the B******S cancelled it. It will be available for 2012 though. Looked like a better course. They offered me Computer Science instead.

Reply 6

marvino

I will start Electronic Engineering in surrey in september this year! (or i might change it to physics)

Reply 7

thegodfatherofball

i'm doing computer science as of september and i've already accepted the fact that my course is going to be one crazy cockfest. i think its time that you do the same.

Reply 8

10ryasmi

Not trying to put people off but I thought it was absolutely dead, and dropped out after a few months, and am now at the University of Birmingham and am loving life.

Shops - 7 - There are plenty of little shops about with your standard retailers, urban etc. which are in the Friary shopping centre. But the rest of the shops are smaller ones on the high street, which are quite expensive.

Entertainment - 5 - Guildford is a Town, not a city. I can’t stress this enough. There’s an Odeon Cinema (£14 for a student ticket), an ice skating rink and a bowling alley in a sports centre out of town. If you want concerts etc. then you’ll have to go elsewhere (London). However it usually takes well over an hour to get to London by train, and then add on your time travelling within London to get to where you want to be so bear that in mind.

Social Life - 2 - Rubix is the SU club, which in three words can be described as hot, crammed and sweaty. Drinks are cheap and the music is alright, to be honest I quite enjoyed nights out at Rubix. Apart from that, you have a Spoons (can’t go wrong with a spoons), Popworld (no explanation needed) and Bar Thirteen which is expensive but fun. Apart from these all you have are a few pubs dotted around the place. So basically if you’re on a night out, you have a choice of 4 places, all with very similar music, and all absolutely packed, because there’s nowhere else to go. Talking of Popworld, if you see posters for ‘Raves’, they’ll be in Popworld, not my idea of a rave at all. Although to be fair, the societies and clubs are always doing things and occasionally going off to places which are all pretty well organised and are pretty fun.

Lectures - n/a - depends on the course, but all of my faculty staff were on the ball and were more than happy to go out of their way to help me which is really nice.

Accommodation - 5 - Uni accommodation is of good standard although quite pricey. Whatever you do, don’t end up in Hazel Farm unless you’re looking for a retirement home vibe, an hour away by bus and a small costcutter. Also bear in mind that 2nd/3rd year accommodation is limited as there’s a housing crisis in Guildford, it’s also very expensive as a result of this, so I’d advise on sorting out accommodation for next year ASAP and definitely before Christmas.

Sports - 10 - The Sports Park is without a doubt amazing, with lots of sports clubs doing things all the time and their socials on top of that.

People (what kind of cretin would ask for people to rate women and turn them into sexual objects?) - Bear in mind that Guildford is a VERY white, conservative and middle to upper-middle class area, with more private schools than there are postboxes. Whilst the students are mixed in terms of ethnicity, you’ll find lots of people that go to Surrey are from wealthy backgrounds and are looking for a quiet, happy life whilst they knuckle down to get a First. I was none of these things, and have never felt so isolated in my life during my time there. That’s why I ended up in brum, it’s the exact opposite and I love it here. Basically, the type of people that go to a certain uni are the type of people that would be more than happy to have grown up there, as well as see themselves staying there for a few years after.

Safety - 10 - I’m pretty sure I could leave my car unlocked with the keys in the ignition and come back a few years later and it would still be there.

Town Life - For a white, conservative and middle class town it’s a lovely part of the world. Just think about your options, what type of person you are, what type of people you want to meet at uni, and what you want to get up to whilst you’re there. I guess I didn’t think this through properly, and that’s why I ended up dropping out and going to Brum.

To clarify, I’m not trying to be disrespectful to anyone who studies or wishes to study at Surrey. But when I looked around, all I saw was positive things, and it really was too good to be true in my case. But that’s just me, we’re all unique and all we can do is be ourselves. If you’ve read this and like the idea of surrey, then go for it, I’m sure you’ll have a lovely time. But if you want somewhere where there’s lots going on and there’s a mixed student base from a socioeconomic point of view, then maybe think about other places. Just be yourself and take your time, even consider a gap year maybe?