University of Stirling
Stirling University FAQs (Updated)
Starting a new thread so that this one doesn't get lost in the applicant thread. Please note, I do not work for the uni - I'm just a fourth year student lending you guys a hand so any inaccuracies in what I'm saying are mistakes or old informaton. A lot's probably changed since I was in your shoes!
Contents:
1. Before you go
2. Halls
3. The Campus
4. Classes and Workload
5. Stirling
1. Before you go.
2. Halls.
(Note, I lived in AKD so there may be some variations for different accommodations.) Each room comes with a single bed (with one duvet, one pillow and the relevant bed sheets), one wardrobe, one desk with drawers, one desk chair, one sink and one set of shelves (if in ASH, then you will not have a sink in your bedroom as you have your en suite). None of the furniture can really be moved around. The rooms are generally an alright size, though the rooms in ASH were bigger than AKD. As long as you keep it relatively tidy you should have enough room.
b. How many people will I be living with?
Loads. Obviously this varies hall to hall, but in AKD each floor had 26 rooms on it (except for the very top floor) and then each floor had an east and west wing. There will be literally hundreds of people there. You won’t meet them all and you won’t be expected to know everyone.
c. What will my kitchen look like/have/how many people do I have to share with?
This can vary widely. In AKD each floor had two kitchens (leaving 13 in each kitchen), however the top floor had only one kitchen and 8 rooms. The last I heard, halls still do not have a freezer. Each kitchen will come with cookers, a huge fridge and sinks. I don’t think they come with a kettle and they definitely didn’t come with a mircrowave when I was in first year (this may have changed, but if not you can get a micro for about £20 from Tesco which is only a couple of pounds between all of you). There will also be a few communal cupboards and drawers to share for storage as well as everyone having their own designated cupboard – they may or may not lock, it depends on the hall. No cooking or crockery equipment is supplied. There will be tables and chairs.
d. What will my bathroom look like/how many people will I have to share with?
This is again a very dependent question. If you’re in ASH with en suites, then your bathroom will have a shower, toilet and a sink. In halls there will be shower rooms, single toilets, full WC, everything. In AKD each floor will have a few shower/toilet rooms and then a couple of separate showers and separate toilets. There are more than enough to never really have to wait more than ten minutes to get in. In Murray, I’ve heard that they have two showers in one room in cubicles that don’t lock, but I can’t tell you if this is true or not. In general you will be sharing a shower with about 3 or 4 people (maybe not always the same people) and you can leave your things like shampoo in it. This does run the risk of other people using them however. The uni does provide toilet paper and bins in the bathrooms.
e. Can I come and go as I please?
Yes and no. If you have your hall card with you at all times then you won’t have any problems. You will get a set of keys when you move in – room key, kitchen key and cupboard keys. Your room key will open the front door of your halls when they have been locked at night. If you come in late, the porter on duty may ask to see your hall card to make sure you live there. Without the hall card this can be a bit problematic and they’ll give you a row like your mother would. If you’ve lost your hall card, get a new one – it just saves hassle.
f. Can I have people to stay?
Officially… no. Your room is for one person and one person only. You can sign people in but they should be leaving at 2am or so. However, what the porters don’t know won’t hurt them and providing that you’re not causing mayhem they probably won’t come looking for them.
g. Fire alarms and evacuations.
There’s nothing that will welcome you to uni more than a good old fire alarm. There will be a weekly fire alarm test where the alarm will sound for about 10 seconds – you do not need to evacuate during this time. It will usually be a Wednesday morning between 10.30 and 11. Any other time the fire alarms goes off, you must evacuate the building, wind rain or shine. If you are the one who set off the alarm you will be given a fairly public dressing down. They will go off during the night frequently so keep some shoes and warms clothes on hand for that.
h. Do I have to clean up after myself?
Yes, please do. No one cares what your room looks like, but don’t be the disgusting person who leaves their dishes for weeks on end. It is horrible. But besides from that, you probably won’t have to clean much else. Cleaners come in all the time to hoover the carpets in the hallway and to mop the kitchen. The bathrooms are cleaned regularly and the kitchen bin will be emptied pretty much every day. Your bedroom bins will also be emptied by the cleaner and they will just come into your room so don’t sleep naked if you know they’re coming! If the porters think your kitchen is messy they will wake up everyone at 6am to tell you so, so try and keep it reasonable.
i. Internet, TV and games consoles.
Internet is now included in the price of your rent. You will sign an internet usage policy that states that you cannot play online games (like Warcraft, not flash based games), look at anything that would be on the top shelf of a newsagent or use P2P programs. I did none of those things so I’m not sure if they are just blocked or if the usage is monitored and then IT will speak to you. No website I ever tried to get on was blocked though so… Use at your own risk, I suppose.
If you are watching TV in your room on a television set, you will need a TV license. However, I never got any TV signal in my room so never bothered – I used my TV for DVDs which does not require a TV license. If you are watching TV on a catch up service on your laptop then you do not need a TV license providing that your parents have one and you do not watch any live TV. TV Licensing will send you hundreds of letters during the year, but you can just ignore them.
If you want you can bring your Xbox or whatever to uni and use it in your room, however if it goes missing, it’s not really the uni’s problem so lock your doors at all time if you have something valuable in your room. I never heard of any issues when I was in first year, but you don’t know the people you live with so don’t expect the best from everyone.
j. How do I wash my clothes?
You can take them home to mum or you can do it yourself. Some buildings have laundry rooms in them, others don’t and you’ll have to go to other buildings. Some laundry machines take coins and others use prepaid laundry cards. AKD has its own laundry room, so I can only speak in regards to that experience. It had four washing machines and four tumble dryers. The washing machine costs £1.40 (exact chane) for a single wash (any setting) and takes approximately 36 minutes for a standard wash. The tumble dryers cost 20p for 12 minutes of drying time. The laundry room can get very busy on the weekends and during the evenings so please be courteous and move your laundry within about 5 minutes of it finishing or someone will just dump it on the floor whether it is clean or not. Pro tips: use an Ikea bag or big Tesco bag for life to cart your laundry about and fold it straight out the dryer to avoid ironing.
k. Will it be noisy at night?
Yes. Usually. During exams there is an enforced quiet curfew though.
3. The Campus.
Huge. The grounds are absolutely massive, the loch is beautiful and the castle is old. There are a number of residences on campus including halls, flats and chalets as well as the sports hall and national swimming academy being on the grounds. The main teaching buildings are Cottrell (which is where the Atrium is) and Pathfoot. Pathfoot is at the entrance the university grounds and tends to house the more… arty and essay based subjects like politics and English and journalism. Cottrell is full of everything else and most of the lecture theatres and is slap bang in the middle of campus.
This link will open a PDF map of the whole campus.
b. Where do I go for lectures?
This depends on where your lectures are. For most first year modules you’re lectures will be in either Logie Lecture Theatre, Lecture Theatre A3, A4, B3, B4 or Pathfoot Lecture Theatre. Please refer to this PDF map for the interiors of Cottrell. The main lecture theatres are not difficult to find (you come into Cottrell from the top of the map next to the newsagents (number 1), but don’t panic if you get lost – the whole building is sign posted. If you are in Pathfoot Lecture Theatre it won’t be hard to find as it’s the only Lecture Theatre in the building.
c. Where do I go for classes?
Most classes take place in the upper floors of Cottrell which can seem a bit of a maze at first. Just don’t panic and follow the signs. It is worth noting that the floor of Cottrell you come in on (the same floor as the lecture theatres) is actually the second floor. An easy way to think of the building is to imagine the two main corridors (A and B) as being the supports for a ladder and the connecting corridors (V-Z) being the rungs of the ladder. It will all make must more sense once you’ve seen it in person. Just remember – everything is sign posted!!!
d. Where can I eat on campus?
There are a few dining halls on campus where you can use your student card as a prepaid meal card. Personally, I’ve never went so can’t really comment on the food there, but there is one just on the edge of the Atrium and also one in Pathfoot. During the day, it’s probably cheaper to go home between classes and eat in your kitchen, but if you do fancy eating in the Atrium there are a number of option.
The Fast Food service provides all kinds at different times of the day – bacon rolls in the morning and burgers during the day. Chips and other munchies can be bought there as well. The prices are reasonable and the quality is a wee bit better than McDonalds.
The Sandwich Shop opens weekdays between 11am and 2pm and serves a variety of sandwich, subs and maybe even some salad pots (can’t remember, sorry!). For sandwiches, it’s a little bit expensive but they are good sandwiches and taste excellent.
Stir Café is also in the Atrium and serves all your usual coffee shop stuff. I’ve never been in so I can’t really comment on it I’m afraid.
The Union is connected to the Atrium and serves food for most of the day. The special changes every day (things like curry, pie, etc) and you can get macaroni and baked potatoes every day. You can also order chicken burgers, wraps and other things like nachos at the bar – they take a little bit longer than the other served foods. Prices are… ok (macaroni, chips and a can of juice is about £4.20 or so) and it is big portions.
Underneath the Union is a Starbucks franchise. I’ve never been in, but I hear they serve paninis!
The Campus shop also has on the go food in it, but it is very expensive for anything but fizzy juice and alcohol, so I’d avoid it for food.
There is also another on the go coffee shop between lecture theatres B3 and B4 – might be a Costa franchise, I’m not sure. It’s open from about 8am until 4pm.
e. What shops are there on campus?
There’s a newsagents (snack foods, cigarettes, papers and magazines), the union shop (Stirling hoodies, stationary and other junk), a travel agent (I don’t know if anyone’s ever actually used it), the campus bookshop (more on that later), a Halifax/Bank of Scotland and the Campus supermarket. There are two cash machines on campus and the MacRobert Centre (cinema which shows a few good films and is supposed to be quite cheap, also have live stage theatre on occasion).
f. Where can I access computers?
There are a number of 24 hour computer labs on campus which you can go to at any time (provided that there is not a class in session). They can get very busy during the day, so if you're only going to play on Facebook then it would be courteous to wait until they're quieter to let other people get in to focus on their work.
g. What else about campus?
Obviously, there is a lot of wildlife on campus including rabbits, swans and ducks. Please don’t antagonise them! In spring the rabbits will start having bunnies and they’re cute, but please don’t try and catch them or anything. Campus police will take anything like that very seriously. There’s the loch as well which will freeze in winter and is quite cool to look at. You can walk for miles around the grounds as well. It’s a pretty self-contained campus.
4. Classes and Workload
The standard contact time you will have with lecturers and tutors for each module is three hours – this is made up of two hour long lectures and one hour long tutorial. With three modules this means that you will be in uni for only 9 hours a week. This can vary from module to module with some modules have extra computer labs, practical labs or even language labs. These will be detailed on your module outlines (received during introductory meetings, on WebCT/Succeed (see later for more detail) and on the timetables (online from the 15th of August). The 9 hours will also be quite spread out – some days you might only have one class, others you may have three in a row.
b. How much work will I actually have to do?
That depends on you entirely. First year is not too taxing and you might be able to get away with an hours study per week for your courses whereas some people might like working for three hours per subject per week and the extra knowledge they get from it. As you progress through university the workload will increase (my third year modules probably required at least 6 hours work each per week and I wish I had bothered to put in the effort now!).
c. Will I be assigned tutorials and labs?
In most cases, no, you get to pick them yourself. There will be a few times for you to choose from and you will have to either sign up in person (very unlikely) or sign up online via WebCT/Succeed. Most classes will have a limit of 20 people and the best times can go quick so you might have to get up at 9am to get the time you want. In some cases you will be assigned labs and tutorials, but this is pretty unlikely to happen (I’ve had it happen once in three years!).
d. What are lectures actually like?
You know everything you’ve seen on TV where everyone’s typing away on laptops and the lecturer has a huge stick and he’s pointing things out on a diagram? Yeah, not like that.
Most lecturers will provide lecture slides or notes for you to print out prior to the class. Some people will print them out, some will read them, some won’t. It’s up to you how you want to learn. Most people print them out and then annotate them as the lecture goes on. Very few people actually take their laptops – they’re more of a distraction than a learning tool in a lecture (and to be honest they also tend to distract anyone around the person using it). I have seen a person or two actually using an iPad to annotate notes, but don’t go out and buy an iPad just to do this – it’s cool, but not really ideal. Other people will just use notebooks and pads of paper to take their notes.
For an hour, the lecturer will speak at you and how good the lecture is really depends on them. Some lecturers are really engaging and catch your attention. Some give you lots of extra info that isn’t on the slides. Some merely ready from the slides. No two are the same I’m afraid.
Some lecturers will record their lectures to put online for you to listen to later. If they don’t do this and you want to record them yourself, you usually are more than welcome to, but always ask the lecturer first.
e. What are tutorials and seminars really like?
I will say this now – if you want to get anything out of a tutorial, do the assigned work. I’ve fallen victim to this too many times. Otherwise you will get nothing out of them and just sit there for an hour hoping the tutor won’t notice you.
Most of your tutorials will be the same for a while. Everyone will file in, sit down and say absolutely nothing once the class has begun. The tutor will try in vain to get discussion and dialogue going but it will remain uncomfortably quiet. They will be the longest hour of your life. The only way around it is for everyone to get involved which can be a struggle.
f. When will my lectures and classes be?
This is entirely down to the timetable (which is released on Monday 15th August). It can be quite difficult to read the timetable, but the uni’s page on doing this is here and I’ll be more than happy to help anyone when they are released.
Your basic timetable will look like a load of letters and numbers, but they do have meaning. The first line is always your module code followed by what the class actually is (eg lecture, seminar, lab). The second line is where the class will be held. The third line is which weeks the class will be held on. If in the module code like you see a .L then it is a lecture, if you see a .S(a) then it is a seminar for group (a). The letter in brackets are the seminar group and are all the times the class will be available so it’s a good chance to have a look and choose which classes you might want to sign up.
g. How do I access lecture slides, module outlines and other information for my module?
All information for the modules will be put on WebCT/Succeed (please note I’ll be using WebCT from here to refer to both. Succeed is only being introduced this year and it’s likely to completely replace WebCT but they are essentially the same) which you can access from your portal at any time (provided it is not down for maintenance). Each module will have its own section on your WebCT home page and you will only see modules for which you are registered. Depending on the lecturer each module will be neatly divided into folders for the relevant areas like lectures and seminars. Most information will be uploaded in .PDF, .DOC or .PPT format. If your computer cannot handle this you can access them on campus in any computer lab.
h. What will my course work consist of?
This varies wildly from module to module. Some course work is purely essays, some is presentations and others can be work sheets that are completed and handed in. Then within each of those categories it can once again vary wildly with some modules asking for 800 essays worth 20% with others asking for 2000 words at 20%. Please look at the module outlines when they’re available for more information for your specific courses.
i. How will my coursework be graded?
The university works on a common grading scheme with grades ranging from 1A – 1C, 2A – 2F, 3A – 3C, 4A – 4C, 5A – 5C and X. A 3A is a pass and is usually in the range of 40 – 50% with a 1C and above being roughly 80-85% plus. There are grade penalties for handing in work later (usually one grade per day up to a certain number of grades). Any essays which do not have a bibliography or correct layout or correct referencing may also be subject to grade penalties. Plagiarism is a big no-no and can cost you severely. All submissions are anonymous (you are identified by your student number).
j. How do exams work?
There are one set of exams per semester (December and May respectively) and each module will have one exam. Your exam will be worth up to 100% minus any course work or in class tests which count towards your grade (though commonly an exam is usually never worth more than about 75%). Exams take place in a number of places, the most common being Gannochy Sports Hall and Pathfoot Dining Hall. Exams run Monday to Saturday and can start between 9am and 4pm (first year exams rarely last more than 2 hours). The exam timetable will probably go up around about mid-semester.
You should arrive at least 15 minutes before your exam (late comers may be refused entrance) and should come with your student card, pens and any applicable tools (calculators, dictionaries or notes if open book). You must bring your student card or you may not be allowed to sit the exam. Bags will be left at the front of the room and mobile phones must be in them and turned off (because there is nothing more annoying that hitting your exam groove and then someone’s awful ringtone blaring for 10 minutes). There will not be assigned seating, but it’s always a good idea to sit near the clock which is being used as “official exam time”. Once the exam starts there must be silence. You cannot leave in the first or last half hour (usually). Make sure your identifying student number is on all of your booklets. If you do leave early take your answer booklets to the invigilators as you go. You will be allowed to go to the bathroom during exams and there are many ways they may monitor you if you do such as following you to the toilet or marking in your answers books that you went to the bathroom at this point of your answers. If at any time you feel unwell during your exam please tell someone (there is nothing more distracting that someone fainting during an exam, trust me!).
k. When will I get my results/what if I fail?
Results will be released during January and June – usually around the middle of the month. If you fail the exam marginally (4A – 4C) then you can resit the exam (usually around the 23 – 26th of January and June), but your grade will be capped at a 3C. But a 3C is better than a fail, obviously.
5. Stirling
Stirling is a city in central Scotland, about an hour away from Edinburgh Waverly and half an hour from Glasgow Queen Street by train. It has all the usual motorway links and train and bus services.
b. How far is Stirling from the uni itself?
The uni is about 10 minutes away from Stirling city centre by bus (more on bus services later), 5 minutes by car and about 30 minutes walking – this is of course all dependent on traffic.
c. What supermarkets are there in Stirling?
In Stirling there is an ample sized Tesco and a larger Sainsburys. There is a huge Asda and a Tesco Extra in Alloa.
d. What shops are there in Stirling?
There is a shopping centre in the city centre (The Thistles) and there’s pretty much one of everything: New Look, TopShop, Dorothy Perkins, Primark, Schuh, Debenhams, Warehouse, Oasis, Quiz, Marks and Spencer, Select, Republic, H&M, Superdrug, Boots, HMV, Waterstones, Fat Face, Ann Summers, Laura Ashley, Accessorize/Monsoon, WHSmith, River Island, H Samuel, Ernest Jones, Beaverbrookes, Argos, Game, Gamestation, Lush, Carphone Warehouse, Orange, Savers, Celtic Shop, Body Care, Jack Jones and quite a few more I’m sure I’ve missed. There are also quite a few independent shops (including boutiques, proper toy shops and pokey little gift shops.
e. What about hair dressers and things like that?
There is an entire street of hair dressers in Stirling and half of them seem to do beauty treatments as well (waxing, spray tans, etc). Avoid the chain hair dressers like Toni and Guy as they are expensive and most independent hair dressers will give you a student discount. I personally go to Lindsay Murray which is by Tesco and outside the city centre – good prices and they are really lovely in there. There are also quite a few tattoo and piercing studios here for those of you who want to go crazy and rebel when you move out from home.
f. Where is there to eat in Stirling?
A lot of pubs, is the answer to that to be honest. There’s a Frankie and Benny’s, a Nandos, a Filling Station, two McDonalds, all of the usual chain bakers, a Subway and then some pokey wee cafes. More recently, a by the slice pizza place has opened up. My favourite place for a greasy breakfast is a café called Victoria’s and I love Morrison’s Cold Beer Company for a pub lunch. There is a Pizza Hut somewhere and there’s a pick-up/delivery Dominos Pizza. There’s also loads of Chinese, Indians and a chippies. In the centre of town there’s a Jimmy Chungs and closer to Tesco there’s an Indian buffet which I can’t remember the name of.
g. What is there to do in Stirling that doesn’t involve drinking?
There’s a Vue Cinema just outside the centre of town and an AMF Bowling just along the road from that in Riverside. There’s also the historical attractions of the Castle and the Wallace Monument.
h. Tell me about the bus services!
To get from uni to the town and vice versa is really easy during term time. The bus journey is only ten minutes long is the traffic is clear and it costs 90p one way, £1.50 return, £7 for a week pass and £22 for a four week pass (prices correct from last semester – they might have gone up a wee bit) – but you need your student card for these prices. Some drivers can get really picky about you having your student card so have it ready before you get on the bus. The company who runs the bus services in Stirling is First.
There are a number of services which go between the uni and town. The one you’re most likely to get on is the Uni Link (UL) bus. They just loop from the uni to the town centre and back and are roughly every 15 minutes between 8.30am and 6pm. The double deckers are hard to miss as they are usually bright blue and purple. They can get busy at certain times of the day (on the hour from the uni and on the half hours from town) so if you want to go into town at 4pm or 5pm I’d try and go in a wee bit early or a bit later as those are when the buses are rammed and the traffic is at its worst.
Other services that run between the uni and town are the 62 (from town to uni), the 63 (from uni to town), the 54 and 54a (go through Bridge of Allan and Cornton so try and avoid) and anything that says City Centre/Stirling Town Centre on the front. If you’re in town and the bus says MacRobert Centre then it’s going to the uni.
i. Stirling is so tiny though, it’s got to be rubbish, right?
To be honest, if that’s how you think then Stirling probably isn’t for you. It is small and sometimes it can feel like you know everyone but then you can always escape for the day on the train to Edinburgh or Glasgow. I personally prefer the ability to walk from one end of town to the other in 10 minutes.
Contents:
1. Before you go
2. Halls
3. The Campus
4. Classes and Workload
5. Stirling
1. Before you go.
Spoiler
2. Halls.
Spoiler
(Note, I lived in AKD so there may be some variations for different accommodations.) Each room comes with a single bed (with one duvet, one pillow and the relevant bed sheets), one wardrobe, one desk with drawers, one desk chair, one sink and one set of shelves (if in ASH, then you will not have a sink in your bedroom as you have your en suite). None of the furniture can really be moved around. The rooms are generally an alright size, though the rooms in ASH were bigger than AKD. As long as you keep it relatively tidy you should have enough room.
b. How many people will I be living with?
Loads. Obviously this varies hall to hall, but in AKD each floor had 26 rooms on it (except for the very top floor) and then each floor had an east and west wing. There will be literally hundreds of people there. You won’t meet them all and you won’t be expected to know everyone.
c. What will my kitchen look like/have/how many people do I have to share with?
This can vary widely. In AKD each floor had two kitchens (leaving 13 in each kitchen), however the top floor had only one kitchen and 8 rooms. The last I heard, halls still do not have a freezer. Each kitchen will come with cookers, a huge fridge and sinks. I don’t think they come with a kettle and they definitely didn’t come with a mircrowave when I was in first year (this may have changed, but if not you can get a micro for about £20 from Tesco which is only a couple of pounds between all of you). There will also be a few communal cupboards and drawers to share for storage as well as everyone having their own designated cupboard – they may or may not lock, it depends on the hall. No cooking or crockery equipment is supplied. There will be tables and chairs.
d. What will my bathroom look like/how many people will I have to share with?
This is again a very dependent question. If you’re in ASH with en suites, then your bathroom will have a shower, toilet and a sink. In halls there will be shower rooms, single toilets, full WC, everything. In AKD each floor will have a few shower/toilet rooms and then a couple of separate showers and separate toilets. There are more than enough to never really have to wait more than ten minutes to get in. In Murray, I’ve heard that they have two showers in one room in cubicles that don’t lock, but I can’t tell you if this is true or not. In general you will be sharing a shower with about 3 or 4 people (maybe not always the same people) and you can leave your things like shampoo in it. This does run the risk of other people using them however. The uni does provide toilet paper and bins in the bathrooms.
e. Can I come and go as I please?
Yes and no. If you have your hall card with you at all times then you won’t have any problems. You will get a set of keys when you move in – room key, kitchen key and cupboard keys. Your room key will open the front door of your halls when they have been locked at night. If you come in late, the porter on duty may ask to see your hall card to make sure you live there. Without the hall card this can be a bit problematic and they’ll give you a row like your mother would. If you’ve lost your hall card, get a new one – it just saves hassle.
f. Can I have people to stay?
Officially… no. Your room is for one person and one person only. You can sign people in but they should be leaving at 2am or so. However, what the porters don’t know won’t hurt them and providing that you’re not causing mayhem they probably won’t come looking for them.
g. Fire alarms and evacuations.
There’s nothing that will welcome you to uni more than a good old fire alarm. There will be a weekly fire alarm test where the alarm will sound for about 10 seconds – you do not need to evacuate during this time. It will usually be a Wednesday morning between 10.30 and 11. Any other time the fire alarms goes off, you must evacuate the building, wind rain or shine. If you are the one who set off the alarm you will be given a fairly public dressing down. They will go off during the night frequently so keep some shoes and warms clothes on hand for that.
h. Do I have to clean up after myself?
Yes, please do. No one cares what your room looks like, but don’t be the disgusting person who leaves their dishes for weeks on end. It is horrible. But besides from that, you probably won’t have to clean much else. Cleaners come in all the time to hoover the carpets in the hallway and to mop the kitchen. The bathrooms are cleaned regularly and the kitchen bin will be emptied pretty much every day. Your bedroom bins will also be emptied by the cleaner and they will just come into your room so don’t sleep naked if you know they’re coming! If the porters think your kitchen is messy they will wake up everyone at 6am to tell you so, so try and keep it reasonable.
i. Internet, TV and games consoles.
Internet is now included in the price of your rent. You will sign an internet usage policy that states that you cannot play online games (like Warcraft, not flash based games), look at anything that would be on the top shelf of a newsagent or use P2P programs. I did none of those things so I’m not sure if they are just blocked or if the usage is monitored and then IT will speak to you. No website I ever tried to get on was blocked though so… Use at your own risk, I suppose.
If you are watching TV in your room on a television set, you will need a TV license. However, I never got any TV signal in my room so never bothered – I used my TV for DVDs which does not require a TV license. If you are watching TV on a catch up service on your laptop then you do not need a TV license providing that your parents have one and you do not watch any live TV. TV Licensing will send you hundreds of letters during the year, but you can just ignore them.
If you want you can bring your Xbox or whatever to uni and use it in your room, however if it goes missing, it’s not really the uni’s problem so lock your doors at all time if you have something valuable in your room. I never heard of any issues when I was in first year, but you don’t know the people you live with so don’t expect the best from everyone.
j. How do I wash my clothes?
You can take them home to mum or you can do it yourself. Some buildings have laundry rooms in them, others don’t and you’ll have to go to other buildings. Some laundry machines take coins and others use prepaid laundry cards. AKD has its own laundry room, so I can only speak in regards to that experience. It had four washing machines and four tumble dryers. The washing machine costs £1.40 (exact chane) for a single wash (any setting) and takes approximately 36 minutes for a standard wash. The tumble dryers cost 20p for 12 minutes of drying time. The laundry room can get very busy on the weekends and during the evenings so please be courteous and move your laundry within about 5 minutes of it finishing or someone will just dump it on the floor whether it is clean or not. Pro tips: use an Ikea bag or big Tesco bag for life to cart your laundry about and fold it straight out the dryer to avoid ironing.
k. Will it be noisy at night?
Yes. Usually. During exams there is an enforced quiet curfew though.
3. The Campus.
Spoiler
Huge. The grounds are absolutely massive, the loch is beautiful and the castle is old. There are a number of residences on campus including halls, flats and chalets as well as the sports hall and national swimming academy being on the grounds. The main teaching buildings are Cottrell (which is where the Atrium is) and Pathfoot. Pathfoot is at the entrance the university grounds and tends to house the more… arty and essay based subjects like politics and English and journalism. Cottrell is full of everything else and most of the lecture theatres and is slap bang in the middle of campus.
This link will open a PDF map of the whole campus.
b. Where do I go for lectures?
This depends on where your lectures are. For most first year modules you’re lectures will be in either Logie Lecture Theatre, Lecture Theatre A3, A4, B3, B4 or Pathfoot Lecture Theatre. Please refer to this PDF map for the interiors of Cottrell. The main lecture theatres are not difficult to find (you come into Cottrell from the top of the map next to the newsagents (number 1), but don’t panic if you get lost – the whole building is sign posted. If you are in Pathfoot Lecture Theatre it won’t be hard to find as it’s the only Lecture Theatre in the building.
c. Where do I go for classes?
Most classes take place in the upper floors of Cottrell which can seem a bit of a maze at first. Just don’t panic and follow the signs. It is worth noting that the floor of Cottrell you come in on (the same floor as the lecture theatres) is actually the second floor. An easy way to think of the building is to imagine the two main corridors (A and B) as being the supports for a ladder and the connecting corridors (V-Z) being the rungs of the ladder. It will all make must more sense once you’ve seen it in person. Just remember – everything is sign posted!!!
d. Where can I eat on campus?
There are a few dining halls on campus where you can use your student card as a prepaid meal card. Personally, I’ve never went so can’t really comment on the food there, but there is one just on the edge of the Atrium and also one in Pathfoot. During the day, it’s probably cheaper to go home between classes and eat in your kitchen, but if you do fancy eating in the Atrium there are a number of option.
The Fast Food service provides all kinds at different times of the day – bacon rolls in the morning and burgers during the day. Chips and other munchies can be bought there as well. The prices are reasonable and the quality is a wee bit better than McDonalds.
The Sandwich Shop opens weekdays between 11am and 2pm and serves a variety of sandwich, subs and maybe even some salad pots (can’t remember, sorry!). For sandwiches, it’s a little bit expensive but they are good sandwiches and taste excellent.
Stir Café is also in the Atrium and serves all your usual coffee shop stuff. I’ve never been in so I can’t really comment on it I’m afraid.
The Union is connected to the Atrium and serves food for most of the day. The special changes every day (things like curry, pie, etc) and you can get macaroni and baked potatoes every day. You can also order chicken burgers, wraps and other things like nachos at the bar – they take a little bit longer than the other served foods. Prices are… ok (macaroni, chips and a can of juice is about £4.20 or so) and it is big portions.
Underneath the Union is a Starbucks franchise. I’ve never been in, but I hear they serve paninis!
The Campus shop also has on the go food in it, but it is very expensive for anything but fizzy juice and alcohol, so I’d avoid it for food.
There is also another on the go coffee shop between lecture theatres B3 and B4 – might be a Costa franchise, I’m not sure. It’s open from about 8am until 4pm.
e. What shops are there on campus?
There’s a newsagents (snack foods, cigarettes, papers and magazines), the union shop (Stirling hoodies, stationary and other junk), a travel agent (I don’t know if anyone’s ever actually used it), the campus bookshop (more on that later), a Halifax/Bank of Scotland and the Campus supermarket. There are two cash machines on campus and the MacRobert Centre (cinema which shows a few good films and is supposed to be quite cheap, also have live stage theatre on occasion).
f. Where can I access computers?
There are a number of 24 hour computer labs on campus which you can go to at any time (provided that there is not a class in session). They can get very busy during the day, so if you're only going to play on Facebook then it would be courteous to wait until they're quieter to let other people get in to focus on their work.
g. What else about campus?
Obviously, there is a lot of wildlife on campus including rabbits, swans and ducks. Please don’t antagonise them! In spring the rabbits will start having bunnies and they’re cute, but please don’t try and catch them or anything. Campus police will take anything like that very seriously. There’s the loch as well which will freeze in winter and is quite cool to look at. You can walk for miles around the grounds as well. It’s a pretty self-contained campus.
4. Classes and Workload
Spoiler
The standard contact time you will have with lecturers and tutors for each module is three hours – this is made up of two hour long lectures and one hour long tutorial. With three modules this means that you will be in uni for only 9 hours a week. This can vary from module to module with some modules have extra computer labs, practical labs or even language labs. These will be detailed on your module outlines (received during introductory meetings, on WebCT/Succeed (see later for more detail) and on the timetables (online from the 15th of August). The 9 hours will also be quite spread out – some days you might only have one class, others you may have three in a row.
b. How much work will I actually have to do?
That depends on you entirely. First year is not too taxing and you might be able to get away with an hours study per week for your courses whereas some people might like working for three hours per subject per week and the extra knowledge they get from it. As you progress through university the workload will increase (my third year modules probably required at least 6 hours work each per week and I wish I had bothered to put in the effort now!).
c. Will I be assigned tutorials and labs?
In most cases, no, you get to pick them yourself. There will be a few times for you to choose from and you will have to either sign up in person (very unlikely) or sign up online via WebCT/Succeed. Most classes will have a limit of 20 people and the best times can go quick so you might have to get up at 9am to get the time you want. In some cases you will be assigned labs and tutorials, but this is pretty unlikely to happen (I’ve had it happen once in three years!).
d. What are lectures actually like?
You know everything you’ve seen on TV where everyone’s typing away on laptops and the lecturer has a huge stick and he’s pointing things out on a diagram? Yeah, not like that.
Most lecturers will provide lecture slides or notes for you to print out prior to the class. Some people will print them out, some will read them, some won’t. It’s up to you how you want to learn. Most people print them out and then annotate them as the lecture goes on. Very few people actually take their laptops – they’re more of a distraction than a learning tool in a lecture (and to be honest they also tend to distract anyone around the person using it). I have seen a person or two actually using an iPad to annotate notes, but don’t go out and buy an iPad just to do this – it’s cool, but not really ideal. Other people will just use notebooks and pads of paper to take their notes.
For an hour, the lecturer will speak at you and how good the lecture is really depends on them. Some lecturers are really engaging and catch your attention. Some give you lots of extra info that isn’t on the slides. Some merely ready from the slides. No two are the same I’m afraid.
Some lecturers will record their lectures to put online for you to listen to later. If they don’t do this and you want to record them yourself, you usually are more than welcome to, but always ask the lecturer first.
e. What are tutorials and seminars really like?
I will say this now – if you want to get anything out of a tutorial, do the assigned work. I’ve fallen victim to this too many times. Otherwise you will get nothing out of them and just sit there for an hour hoping the tutor won’t notice you.
Most of your tutorials will be the same for a while. Everyone will file in, sit down and say absolutely nothing once the class has begun. The tutor will try in vain to get discussion and dialogue going but it will remain uncomfortably quiet. They will be the longest hour of your life. The only way around it is for everyone to get involved which can be a struggle.
f. When will my lectures and classes be?
This is entirely down to the timetable (which is released on Monday 15th August). It can be quite difficult to read the timetable, but the uni’s page on doing this is here and I’ll be more than happy to help anyone when they are released.
Your basic timetable will look like a load of letters and numbers, but they do have meaning. The first line is always your module code followed by what the class actually is (eg lecture, seminar, lab). The second line is where the class will be held. The third line is which weeks the class will be held on. If in the module code like you see a .L then it is a lecture, if you see a .S(a) then it is a seminar for group (a). The letter in brackets are the seminar group and are all the times the class will be available so it’s a good chance to have a look and choose which classes you might want to sign up.
g. How do I access lecture slides, module outlines and other information for my module?
All information for the modules will be put on WebCT/Succeed (please note I’ll be using WebCT from here to refer to both. Succeed is only being introduced this year and it’s likely to completely replace WebCT but they are essentially the same) which you can access from your portal at any time (provided it is not down for maintenance). Each module will have its own section on your WebCT home page and you will only see modules for which you are registered. Depending on the lecturer each module will be neatly divided into folders for the relevant areas like lectures and seminars. Most information will be uploaded in .PDF, .DOC or .PPT format. If your computer cannot handle this you can access them on campus in any computer lab.
h. What will my course work consist of?
This varies wildly from module to module. Some course work is purely essays, some is presentations and others can be work sheets that are completed and handed in. Then within each of those categories it can once again vary wildly with some modules asking for 800 essays worth 20% with others asking for 2000 words at 20%. Please look at the module outlines when they’re available for more information for your specific courses.
i. How will my coursework be graded?
The university works on a common grading scheme with grades ranging from 1A – 1C, 2A – 2F, 3A – 3C, 4A – 4C, 5A – 5C and X. A 3A is a pass and is usually in the range of 40 – 50% with a 1C and above being roughly 80-85% plus. There are grade penalties for handing in work later (usually one grade per day up to a certain number of grades). Any essays which do not have a bibliography or correct layout or correct referencing may also be subject to grade penalties. Plagiarism is a big no-no and can cost you severely. All submissions are anonymous (you are identified by your student number).
j. How do exams work?
There are one set of exams per semester (December and May respectively) and each module will have one exam. Your exam will be worth up to 100% minus any course work or in class tests which count towards your grade (though commonly an exam is usually never worth more than about 75%). Exams take place in a number of places, the most common being Gannochy Sports Hall and Pathfoot Dining Hall. Exams run Monday to Saturday and can start between 9am and 4pm (first year exams rarely last more than 2 hours). The exam timetable will probably go up around about mid-semester.
You should arrive at least 15 minutes before your exam (late comers may be refused entrance) and should come with your student card, pens and any applicable tools (calculators, dictionaries or notes if open book). You must bring your student card or you may not be allowed to sit the exam. Bags will be left at the front of the room and mobile phones must be in them and turned off (because there is nothing more annoying that hitting your exam groove and then someone’s awful ringtone blaring for 10 minutes). There will not be assigned seating, but it’s always a good idea to sit near the clock which is being used as “official exam time”. Once the exam starts there must be silence. You cannot leave in the first or last half hour (usually). Make sure your identifying student number is on all of your booklets. If you do leave early take your answer booklets to the invigilators as you go. You will be allowed to go to the bathroom during exams and there are many ways they may monitor you if you do such as following you to the toilet or marking in your answers books that you went to the bathroom at this point of your answers. If at any time you feel unwell during your exam please tell someone (there is nothing more distracting that someone fainting during an exam, trust me!).
k. When will I get my results/what if I fail?
Results will be released during January and June – usually around the middle of the month. If you fail the exam marginally (4A – 4C) then you can resit the exam (usually around the 23 – 26th of January and June), but your grade will be capped at a 3C. But a 3C is better than a fail, obviously.
5. Stirling
Spoiler
Stirling is a city in central Scotland, about an hour away from Edinburgh Waverly and half an hour from Glasgow Queen Street by train. It has all the usual motorway links and train and bus services.
b. How far is Stirling from the uni itself?
The uni is about 10 minutes away from Stirling city centre by bus (more on bus services later), 5 minutes by car and about 30 minutes walking – this is of course all dependent on traffic.
c. What supermarkets are there in Stirling?
In Stirling there is an ample sized Tesco and a larger Sainsburys. There is a huge Asda and a Tesco Extra in Alloa.
d. What shops are there in Stirling?
There is a shopping centre in the city centre (The Thistles) and there’s pretty much one of everything: New Look, TopShop, Dorothy Perkins, Primark, Schuh, Debenhams, Warehouse, Oasis, Quiz, Marks and Spencer, Select, Republic, H&M, Superdrug, Boots, HMV, Waterstones, Fat Face, Ann Summers, Laura Ashley, Accessorize/Monsoon, WHSmith, River Island, H Samuel, Ernest Jones, Beaverbrookes, Argos, Game, Gamestation, Lush, Carphone Warehouse, Orange, Savers, Celtic Shop, Body Care, Jack Jones and quite a few more I’m sure I’ve missed. There are also quite a few independent shops (including boutiques, proper toy shops and pokey little gift shops.
e. What about hair dressers and things like that?
There is an entire street of hair dressers in Stirling and half of them seem to do beauty treatments as well (waxing, spray tans, etc). Avoid the chain hair dressers like Toni and Guy as they are expensive and most independent hair dressers will give you a student discount. I personally go to Lindsay Murray which is by Tesco and outside the city centre – good prices and they are really lovely in there. There are also quite a few tattoo and piercing studios here for those of you who want to go crazy and rebel when you move out from home.
f. Where is there to eat in Stirling?
A lot of pubs, is the answer to that to be honest. There’s a Frankie and Benny’s, a Nandos, a Filling Station, two McDonalds, all of the usual chain bakers, a Subway and then some pokey wee cafes. More recently, a by the slice pizza place has opened up. My favourite place for a greasy breakfast is a café called Victoria’s and I love Morrison’s Cold Beer Company for a pub lunch. There is a Pizza Hut somewhere and there’s a pick-up/delivery Dominos Pizza. There’s also loads of Chinese, Indians and a chippies. In the centre of town there’s a Jimmy Chungs and closer to Tesco there’s an Indian buffet which I can’t remember the name of.
g. What is there to do in Stirling that doesn’t involve drinking?
There’s a Vue Cinema just outside the centre of town and an AMF Bowling just along the road from that in Riverside. There’s also the historical attractions of the Castle and the Wallace Monument.
h. Tell me about the bus services!
To get from uni to the town and vice versa is really easy during term time. The bus journey is only ten minutes long is the traffic is clear and it costs 90p one way, £1.50 return, £7 for a week pass and £22 for a four week pass (prices correct from last semester – they might have gone up a wee bit) – but you need your student card for these prices. Some drivers can get really picky about you having your student card so have it ready before you get on the bus. The company who runs the bus services in Stirling is First.
There are a number of services which go between the uni and town. The one you’re most likely to get on is the Uni Link (UL) bus. They just loop from the uni to the town centre and back and are roughly every 15 minutes between 8.30am and 6pm. The double deckers are hard to miss as they are usually bright blue and purple. They can get busy at certain times of the day (on the hour from the uni and on the half hours from town) so if you want to go into town at 4pm or 5pm I’d try and go in a wee bit early or a bit later as those are when the buses are rammed and the traffic is at its worst.
Other services that run between the uni and town are the 62 (from town to uni), the 63 (from uni to town), the 54 and 54a (go through Bridge of Allan and Cornton so try and avoid) and anything that says City Centre/Stirling Town Centre on the front. If you’re in town and the bus says MacRobert Centre then it’s going to the uni.
i. Stirling is so tiny though, it’s got to be rubbish, right?
To be honest, if that’s how you think then Stirling probably isn’t for you. It is small and sometimes it can feel like you know everyone but then you can always escape for the day on the train to Edinburgh or Glasgow. I personally prefer the ability to walk from one end of town to the other in 10 minutes.
(edited 11 years ago)
I’ve written a new FAQ along the lines of the old one (see the opening post), as it was a bit out-of-date, and, being away from uni for the winter break at the moment, I've got a lot of time on my hands.
If anyone is wondering what I study/where I live: I’m a first-year, studying History and Politics. I started the year in Alexander Court, but moved to Geddes Court after 5 weeks, as Alexander Court was too quiet. Everything I’ve written in here is correct to the best of my knowledge at the time of writing, January 2013. I don't have any affiliation to the University apart from being a student there; this is an entirely unofficial guide to give applicants for September 2013 and onwards an idea of what to expect. If you want to ask a question, just quote me. The FAQ is in the next post
If anyone is wondering what I study/where I live: I’m a first-year, studying History and Politics. I started the year in Alexander Court, but moved to Geddes Court after 5 weeks, as Alexander Court was too quiet. Everything I’ve written in here is correct to the best of my knowledge at the time of writing, January 2013. I don't have any affiliation to the University apart from being a student there; this is an entirely unofficial guide to give applicants for September 2013 and onwards an idea of what to expect. If you want to ask a question, just quote me. The FAQ is in the next post
(edited 11 years ago)
University of Stirling
Sections 1-5
1. Before you go.
a. What will I need to take with me?
You won’t want to be bothering with having to do washing for your first fortnight or so, so take enough clean clothes to last you that long. When you’re going through the excitement of packing all the nice new clothes you’ve probably bought for uni, it’s easy to forget some of the more basic wardrobe-based things, so here are a few that I know a few people forgot:
-underwear
-socks
-towels
-swimming stuff
-an array of footwear: pack some more casual shoes and some trainers/sports shoes alongside all your more glamorous ones.
-some fancy dress stuff, if you’ve got any.
Make sure you also take an array of toiletries, from shaving foam to shower gel. The University shop is a real rip-off for toiletries, so try and get some beforehand – you don’t want to have to make a trip into Stirling to go to Tesco just to get some shampoo in your first week. That includes your toothbrush and a couple of tubes of toothpaste. Don’t forget any nice fragrances you’ve got as well.
Kitchen stuff: The University provide each kitchen with an oven (of course), a microwave, a bin, and a fridge. If you’re living in Alexander Court, you’ll get a fridge-freezer, but all the halls only have fridges. That means you’re going to have to take a lot of stuff for the kitchen. Take 4-5 forks, knives, spoons etc, along with all the other kitchen utensils, including 3 or so glasses, mugs, and the usual tin opener and bottle opener. Take some pots and pans, but don’t go nuts buying a new set, your parents will probably let you take a few. Most kitchens end up sharing their kitchen utensils, and if you’re sharing your kitchen with 15 other people, you can pretty much guarantee that you’ll have at least one of everything!
Stationary: Go relatively light on this. You’ll find you don’t have a huge amount of space to store it all, and so it’s best to just take a pencil case, a few folders and a couple of refill pads. Unless you’re an LLB student, end-of-semester exams in your first semester won’t be so bad that you need reams and reams of post-it-notes, and boxes of revision cards.
Digital stuff: If you want to be able to connect to the internet from the moment you move in, bring an Ethernet cable. You can buy them from the shop for £2-3, but you want to minimise the number of tasks for yourself in the first few days, as it’s a bit of a mish-mash of friend-making, and you want to be able to spend as much time as possible meeting people.
Of course, bring your laptop, camera, phone (REMEMBER THE CHARGERS!), and I’d also recommend bringing a telly if you have a flat-screen one. You won’t be able to watch TV on it as Scotland is all digital now and you’d need a TV licence anyway, but if you’ve got a VGA cable, you’ll be able to hook your laptop up to it and have a second screen. When you’re writing essays, this is very useful, as you can have a source up on one screen, and your essay up on the other, so you don’t have to keep switching been windows. This isn’t a priority however, and if you’re struggling for room in the car, the 40” plasma should be the first thing to go. If you want wireless, you can get wireless access points from the library for £25 – or you can wait for someone in the surrounding rooms to get one; their range is about 15 feet and their owners can’t password-protect them. You should get a CampusNet CD in your welcome pack, which you get when you pick up the key. If you have a netbook, and thus don’t have a CD drive, download the installer off the Stirling University website before you go! If you have a spare printer, bring this, as the queues to print off work on deadline days can be mental! Most people also bring their games console as well. This isn’t really important for girls, but if you’re a lad, and you have a TV, an XBOX/PS3 and the latest edition of Fifa, you won’t have to worry about being included.
-Documentation: I’d advise bringing about half of your documentation with you. You’ll need photo ID to get into the clubs in Stirling (they ID absolutely everyone), and if you get a job in the town, you’ll probably need either your passport or your birth certificate to prove you have a right to work in the UK. Of course, if you’re an international student, bring all your VISA documentation. Also bring a copy of your accommodation contract, as you need this to get your key. Don’t panic if you forget that though, as they’ll probably accept some form of ID when you go to collect your key. You should also have sent off passport photos beforehand, so that the Residential Services staff can make your hall card.
-Miscellaneous stuff that could be useful anyway:
-Coat hangars
-Air freshener
-Toilet roll (the stuff they provide isn’t the smoothest, and it’s in locked dispensers that often get stuck)
-Speakers for your iPod/MP3/phone. Pre-drinks are always better with music on, and if you’ve got a dock, you’re going to get invited to pre-drinks.
-Food! Make sure you have enough food on moving-in day to last 3 days at the minimum!
The shop at the University is a rip-off, and you don’t want to be forced to make a trip to Tesco in your first few days!
-A few DVDs for the down-time.
-a fan, if you’re living in Geddes/Murray. These are technically forbidden, but you’re very unlikely to get caught, and the bedrooms in Geddes and Murray can get incredibly warm.
-White tack. Blu-tack is technically not allowed, but white-tack is fine, and it’s something plenty of people will forget, so it’s another opportunity to break the ice with people you’re living with.
-A laundry bag, that’s big enough to fit two weeks’ worth of washing in it.
b. What will I need to know about my degree subject?
Not much. Pretty much all of the courses take you back to the start for a bit, so there’s not much crucial knowledge, especially in the arts subjects.
c. Should I add people on Facebook that go to the uni (from groups and event pages)?
It depends on the context. If you meet someone who’s going to be sharing your kitchen, or thereabouts, then definitely, as it’s always nice to know a few people you’re living with before moving-in day. Also, people looking to make friends naturally gravitate towards groups, so if you know someone else before you move in, other people will see you getting on and try to make friends with you. However, I’d caution against adding people willy-nilly. I ended up with about 90 friends on Facebook before I even got to the University, and whilst I’ve met probably half, the other half ended up being purged because it was annoying having so many people on my friends list who I’d never seen nor spoken to. It also looks a little sad to have loads of Facebook friends to whom you’ve never spoken
d. Should I get a full loan/overdraft?
I’d agree with the author of the last FAQ on this one, and say you should get as much as you can. If it’s your first time living away from home, a budget of, say, £80 a week will seem like a lot, but you’ll be very, very surprised by how the costs mount up when you’re not living with your parents. Food will probably cost you a minimum of £30 a week (that’s if you’re being stingy!); buying books and stuff will add up to a lot; and clothes don’t come amazingly cheap either. If you sell yourself short on your budget, you’ll find yourself having about £10 a week to go out with, which will not be a fun experience. Get the maximum loan, and save what you don’t spend.
Overdrafts are slightly different. They are potentially very dangerous, as it’s very easy to see it as money you already have, when in reality it’s money that you’re borrowing. I would advise having one, as there may be times when you have to dip into it to meet the next rent payment, or if you face a sudden big expense, but remind yourself constantly that it’s NOT YOUR MONEY.
2. Halls
a.What will my room have/look like?
The rooms are fairly average university study bedrooms. Every room has the following:
-A hand basin, with a mirror and shaving light (if you’re in ASH, this will be in your en-suite bathroom, not in your bedroom).
-Overhead light (of course!)
-A desk, including drawers
-A wardrobe
-A desk lamp
-Some kind of shelf.
-A bed, complete with mattress, pillow, quilt, bed sheets, pillow covers and quilt covers
-A bin
-A chair
-Some kind of storage space
Note on bedding: The University provide you with all the stuff you need for your bed, unless you need more than one quilt/one pillow. At the end of the year, you are not allowed to keep the quilt, mattress or pillow, but you can keep the covers and sheets they give you for them, which are all the same blue pattern.
In general, the rooms are very average. They’re not small, but not large either, and all the walls are breeze-block, unless you’re in Alexander Court.
b. How many people will I be living with?
This depends on which accommodation you’re in – here’s a quick breakdown, with the cost-per-year of rent for each (when I refer to ‘your kitchen’, I mean either the people you’re living with, or the self-contained facilities you share. I might also mean the kitchen itself :P ) :
-Geddes/Murray (£2648) : In general, 16 to a kitchen. Each kitchen will also have a shower room with two showers and a room with a bath in it (no one uses this). It will also have a toilet with two cubicles; some kitchens also have a smaller toilet that’s just a toilet with no cubicle. The kitchens in Geddes/ Murray are very small.
-AKD (£3259) : About 14-17 to a kitchen, which are reasonably sized. 3 showers per kitchen.
-ASH (£4192) : En-suite, so obviously you have your own shower/toilet. In general, about 10-11 to a kitchen
-Alexander Court (£3285) : Slightly varied, but in general, 6-7 to a flat, each flat having 2 toilets and two showers; the kitchens are big, with a seating area kind of like a lounge.
c. Can I come and go as I please?
Pretty much, yes. You’ll get a hall card with your photo on it, which you’ll need to get into your halls after 10pm or so. The exception to this is Alexander Court, where, because it’s not all in one building with a single entrance, the porter does not monitor people coming or going. Each block in Alexander Court – of which there are four – has a front-door where you can buzz any flat to buzz you in, and each ground-floor flat (four in each block) has a fire escape door in the kitchen which can be opened freely. Be careful who you let in though, if you’re in Alexander Court – on my fourth night after moving in, another flat let in a violent drunkard who kicked down my room door and defecated in our kitchen. It sounds funny - and seeing as he was caught and arrested, it is pretty funny in hindsight - but given that he was threatening to bottle people, and was extremely aggressive, it could have ended very, very badly.
d. Can I have people to stay?
Yes, although there are restrictions. If we’re talking about staying overnight, you’ll need to sign them in earlier, and you can have a maximum of two people to stay in your room overnight. However, the porters don’t come round checking, and if your friend comes into your halls in the daytime, when entrance isn’t restricted, no-one is going to catch you unless you make a lot of noise. It’s also a good idea to work out which porters are more lax about the rules, and which porters are quite strict, as the more lenient ones will generally let people in later as long they don’t look like trouble. The exception to all of this is Alexander Court, where you can let anyone into your flat at any time.
You should note, however, that if you have someone illicitly staying in halls overnight, and the fire alarm goes off, they will struggle to get back in. You are also not allowed any guests whatsoever during the exam period.
e. Fire alarms and evacuations.
These will happen, and you just have to get used to them. There will be a brief test of the fire alarm system each Wednesday morning, where they just test the alarm (you don’t have to evacuate). Each hall will, several times per semester, experience a full evacuation at a God-awful time in the morning because someone has set off a smoke alarm or smashed a fire alarm. You’re supposed to evacuate immediately in whatever you’re wearing, but some people take 5 or 6 minutes to get out, and nothing’s ever said, so one would assume you’ll get away with changing into something warmer (you’re going to be outside for up to half an hour). Each hall will also have a full drill where you have to evacuate toward the start of the year; they like to do this early in the morning (mine was at 6am).
f. Do I have to clean up after myself?
Yes, you do. There’s no University rule to say you have to, but people will hate you if you leave a mess in the kitchen constantly, or leave the shower in a state. You can keep your room however you want it – there are no room inspections – but I’d advise to try and keep it reasonably tidy, because with no parents about, once it gets into a bit of a state, it will look like too much of a job to handle, and will just get worse and worse.
g. Internet, TV and games consoles.
Internet is included in your rent, and every bedroom has an Ethernet socket to connect your laptop. XBOX Live and PSN are currently not supported. However, Information Services conducted a trial of enabling XBOX Live and PSN in the semester just finished (Autumn 2012), with a view to rolling it out in the future. There is no usage limit to the internet, and it generally works. The only bad thing is that if a whole accommodation block’s internet goes down overnight, there’s no one to fix it until the next morning. The user who wrote the last FAQ said that when she was first-year, she’d been made to sign an agreement on internet use, basically banning porn etc..
I can’t remember ever being made to sign anything like that, and in all honesty, my internet history would put Hugh Hefner to shame, and I never got into any sort of trouble. The only rule I could find about internet use was that torrenting is strictly prohibited.
If you want to watch live TV in your room, you’ll need a TV licence. I can’t really see anyway of watching it live other than online, but you could still get in trouble for this. Remember: You do not need a TV licence to watch any sort of catch-up TV, such as iPlayer. You only need a TV licence to watch live TV, as it’s broadcast.
h. How do I wash my clothes?
There are a number of laundries on campus. The most modern one is at Alexander Court, in the same building as the porter's office. In that one, you pay £2 to get a digital card, which you top up online; each washing machine and tumble dryer has a slot to put the card in to pay. The washing machines and tumble dryers at Alexander Court are very big, and if you’re short on money and have two loads of washing to do, it might be worth going up to Alexander Court as, while it costs 40p more per wash, you can get two loads in the washing machines and tumble dryers. The total cost for a colour-wash and a tumble-dry at Alexander Court is £2.40; as with everywhere else, you have to supply your own washing powder.
Most people, however, will use the Polwarth Laundry, which is situated just outside Polwarth House (second-year accommodation), a couple of minutes’ walk from Geddes, Murray and AKD. The washers in there are ancient, smaller, and the system is different: you put four £1 coins into a machine and get a card with a mag-stripe on it. That card has enough credit on it for two washes and two dries, and can’t be topped up (you just buy another card).
There is another laundry in AKD, which I believe is coin-operated. I’m not quite sure of the prices in there; I’ll update this when I’m back at uni and can find out.
There’s also another laundry up at Spittal Hill, but it’s miles away, and no first-years ever have any cause to go up there.
Generally, people at the Alexander Court laundry tend to leave their stuff in the machines then go back to their flats (if they live at Alexander Court), whilst in Polwarth, people wait with their stuff while it washes and dries.
i. Will it be noisy at night?
Yes, especially on Tuesday and Thursday nights, as these are the two nights when most people go out. There’s a ban on late-night noise during exam period, though
3. Campus
a. How big is campus?
Very, very big – and very, VERY beautiful. It’s not hard to find your way round though, as it’s not very built up, and I’ve never been lost on campus. The hubs of activity, however, are: The Atrium, which contains all the shops, the Union, and the library; Cottrell, a massive building (even if you don’t get lost on campus, you will get lost inside Cottrell), where most of the academic stuff (lectures, seminars etc) takes place (Cottrell is right next to the Atrium); Pathfoot, another academic hub which houses the more arty subjects (History, Philosophy etc.); Gannochy Sports Centre, which is where the swimming pool, gym, sports hall and astro pitches are; and the main block of accommodation, which is just over the loch from the Atrium.
This link will open a PDF map of the whole campus.
b. Where do I go for lectures?
Depends on where your lectures are. Cottrell has the most lecture theatres – there are four big ones – but Pathfoot has one as well, and there’s also the Logie lecture theatre, a standalone lecture theatre outside Cottrell. Generally though, the more arty subjects tend to be in Pathfoot, and the more science-based ones are in Cottrell or Logie.
c. Where do I go for classes?
This will be on your timetable – it will be a room number preceded by (in general) ‘C.’ for Cottrell or ‘P.’ for Pathfoot. Most classes are in Cottrell though. Whilst it’s not difficult finding the lecture theatres in Cottrell, there are literally hundreds of rooms, so arrive early the first few times as it might take time to find –and re-find – your room. The way that the rooms are named in Cottrell is fairly easy to understand: Each room will have a name like ‘4W2’. In this case, the ‘4’ would mean the fourth floor, the ‘W’ would mean Corridor W, and the ‘2’ would mean room 2 on that corridor. Most first-years come into Cottrell via the Atrium, and If you do this, you’ll enter Cottrell on the second floor.
d. Where can I eat on campus?
There are quite a few places. In the Atrium alone, there’s the Union, who do hot food; a counter selling burgers, chips, noodles-to-go etc.; a small, kiosk-like place where you can get baguettes; another café that does a variety of food and has an outside decking area; and Haldane’s, which is the closest thing to a restaurant on campus. If you go downstairs in the Union, you’ll also find a Starbucks. There is a coffee counter in Cottrell, and Pathfoot has a dining room. There’s also a café called Clive’s in the Gannochy Sports Centre, but the prices they charge are extortionate, and students rarely go in there. Prices for the other places are generally OK – for example, you can get a baked potato and Coke for £4 in the Union.
e. What shops are there on campus?
-A newsagent, selling cigarettes, magazines and the like.
-The Union shop, which sells Stirling University-branded hoodies, bags, stationary and the like.
-A bookshop, which sells many course books.
-A travel agent
-A Santander branch
-A small Nisa supermarket (rather expensive)
f. Where can I access computers?
There are a few 24-hour computer labs apparently, though I’m unsure where they are. In the daytime, the general rule is that you can go and use any computer room in Cottrell, provided there isn’t a class in it. The library also has a lot of computers; this is open – in term-time – from 8am-2am Monday to Friday, and 10am-2am on Saturday and Sunday. There are also computers available in Pathfoot, and a few standalone ones in the Atrium.
g. What else about campus?
There’s obviously loads of outdoor space to explore. There’s a golf course, and of course the famous loch, which, unfortunately, you’re not allowed to swim in. There’s a lot of wildlife as well – foxes, rabbits, birds, swans, ducks. I even saw a deer on campus once as well! Just off campus is the Wallace Monument, and this is well-worth a visit, though it is quite expensive.
4. Classes and Workload
a. How many hours a week will I actually be in lectures and classes?
A standard module entails two one-hour lectures and a one-hour seminar per week. Most lectures are available to listen to online, so if you miss one, don’t stress out. Your attendance is not monitored at most lectures; there is a register passed round in seminars though, and generally, if you miss more than three seminars for a module, you’ll get your grade capped at 3C.
c. How much work will I actually have to do?
In first year, not much at all – unless you’re doing LLB, which does require quite a lot of work from the outset. You’ll probably be able to get away with doing less than one hour per week per module, though you’ll probably have to revise for exams at the end of term. From what I’ve heard, second year isn’t much harder; but there’s a big leap in the amount of work required when you start third year. Nothing you do in your first two years counts towards your degree – you only need to pass your modules; from third year the work you do counts towards the grade you get for your final degree.
d. What are lectures actually like?
Fairly straightforward. You’ll be in a big room with – usually – 150-200 other people. The lecturer will talk at you for one hour, and you should take notes. Pretty much all the lectures are Powerpoint-based, and there’ll be a big screen where the slides will be shown. Some lecturers are interesting, some aren’t very interesting. Most people take notes on paper, but some people take laptops/tablets, though they usually end up on Facebook. Most lectures get recorded and put online for you to listen to via Succeed, but some don’t get put online.
e. What are tutorials and seminars really like?
They vary massively, usually based on whether it’s being taught by a postgrad student or an actual professor/lecturer – a postgrad student won’t come down on you too hard if you haven’t done the work, whereas a professor/lecturer will have a real go at you if you turn up unprepared. If it’s a topic you’re interested in, you should enjoy it, as it’s a chance to discuss it with like-minded people; if it’s a topic you’re not so interested in: well, they’re only an hour, so just do a bit of the work beforehand, and try to listen a bit in the seminar. The tutor will try to get people involved in the discussion, but people will largely remain awkwardly quiet, which is a shame really.
f. When will my lectures and classes be?
This depends on the timetable. Lectures will be at fixed times, but you’ll get a choice of seminar times, which you sign up for on Succeed. Some subjects have other things – for example, science subjects will have practicals, which are not moveable; and media subjects will often have film viewings, which are not moveable either.
The timetable can be very confusing at first, but there’s a guide to understanding it here.
g. How do I access lecture slides, module outlines and other information for my module?
Each module you take will have its own area on Succeed, with various learning materials, announcements, and the ‘Listen Again’ service, by which you can listen to lectures that you’ve missed.
h. What will my course work consist of?
This varies a lot. The arty subjects tend to be focused round essays and presentations, while the science subjects tend to be practicals and worksheets.
i. How will my coursework be graded?
There’s a common grading scheme, which goes from 1A-1C, 2A-2F, 3A-3C, 4A-4C and 5A-5C. The pass grade is a 3C, which is 40% upwards. For essays, you’ll generally have to hand in your work both digitally (via Turnitin on Succeed), and manually, with a hard copy. If you submit it late, you’ll generally lose one grade per day; you can also lose marks for not including bibliographies and the like.
j. How do exams work?
Not very differently from external exams at school. They happen twice a year, in December and May - the only big difference is that there are exams on Saturdays! Most exams are in either the Gannochy Sports Hall, or the Pathfoot Dining Room; you should aim to arrive early, with everything you need for the exam – pens, pencils, notes if it’s open-book etc. – and your student card as well. You can usually leave early, but generally you’re not allowed to leave in the first or last half-hour. The exam timetable is usually published mid-semester, but the one published at this point is subject to change, so always check the final version to avoid missing your exam!
k. When will I get my results/what if I fail?
Results will be published about a month after the exam. If you fail marginally, you’ll usually be allowed a resit, but your grade will be capped.
5. Stirling
a. Where is Stirling?
Stirling is in central Scotland, about 25 miles away from both Edinburgh and Glasgow. It kind of forms a triangle with Edinburgh and Glasgow, with Stirling being in between them, but slightly further north.
b. How far is Stirling from the uni itself?
As you may know, the University of Stirling is not actually in Stirling; it is, in fact, just outside, with the main entrance being between the outlying village of Bridge of Allan and Causewayhead. That doesn’t mean, however, that the city of Stirling doesn’t play a large part in the life of a student at the University. If you want to go shopping – for groceries or for other things such as clothes – you’ll be going into Stirling, as there are clothes shops closer, and whilst the small supermarket in the Atrium is OK for a few items, if you do a big shop there, you’ll seriously hit yourself in the pocket. You can get into Stirling in about 10 minutes on the ULink bus, which leaves from outside the Union and costs a pound for a student single (you’ll need your student card though). To drive, it’s about 6 minutes, and if you’re going into the city to hit the pubs/clubs, taxis are very reasonably priced at £5-9 (black cabs don’t wait at the University for customers, but if you’re coming back from the city, make sure to phone up for a minicab, as the taxis than run on metres will charge you much more).
c. What supermarkets are there in Stirling?
The easiest supermarket to get to is the Tesco, which is reasonably cheap. There is also a Sainsburys, however, and a Morrisons lies on the outskirts of the town on a retail estate.
d. What shops are there in Stirling?
Absolutely loads. Apart from the ones outside on the high street, there is an indoor shopping centre called the Thistle Centre, which has about 90 shops and eateries (a full list is available here.
e. What about hair dressers and things like that?
There are loads of hairdressers and salons. Being a guy, I don’t know too much about the salons, but some of the barbers are very good. Do your research though, as there are some very, very bad barbers in Stirling as well (which I found out to my cost!). The student rate is generally £7-9 for a guy to have his hair cut; I don’t know about girls’ prices.
f. Where is there to eat in Stirling?
Loads, and loads, and loads of pubs. There’s also a Filling Station, a Subway, a Nando’s , a Frankie and Benny’s, two McDonalds, a Jimmy Chung’s, and countless chippies/kebab places. There’s also the usual quota of small, independent cafes. You can also order Dominos, and you’ll get given loads of discount vouchers for Dominos during Freshers’ Week
g. What is there to do in Stirling that doesn’t involve drinking?
There’s an AMF Bowling somewhere, and a VUE cinema next to Nando’s, not to mention the historic castle and Wallace Monument.
h. Tell me about the bus services!
The buses that go to the University all stop outside the Union. You can get a student single on most of them for £1 with your student card, and a return is £1.70 or something. The bus that is used most by students is the ULink; this also does a late-night service back from Stirling at about 2.30am, but this costs a bit more at £1.50. You should experience it a few times, though, instead of getting a taxi back, as having 100 drunk students on a bus always leads to a lot of singing and fun in general. You can get weekly and monthly passes, which are fairly reasonably priced.
i. Stirling is so tiny though, it’s got to be rubbish, right?
Not really. It might be small, but it’s a hell of a lot of fun, and it’s a really safe area as well. The size means that all the town-life gets compacted into the city centre, which makes it very vibrant. It’s much cheaper to live in Stirling than Glasgow or Edinburgh, and if you ever want to explore, Glasgow and Edinburgh are both less than an hour away, and are cheap to get to. It’s an incredibly cultured place, and the surrounding scenery is simply stunning.
1. Before you go.
a. What will I need to take with me?
You won’t want to be bothering with having to do washing for your first fortnight or so, so take enough clean clothes to last you that long. When you’re going through the excitement of packing all the nice new clothes you’ve probably bought for uni, it’s easy to forget some of the more basic wardrobe-based things, so here are a few that I know a few people forgot:
-underwear
-socks
-towels
-swimming stuff
-an array of footwear: pack some more casual shoes and some trainers/sports shoes alongside all your more glamorous ones.
-some fancy dress stuff, if you’ve got any.
Make sure you also take an array of toiletries, from shaving foam to shower gel. The University shop is a real rip-off for toiletries, so try and get some beforehand – you don’t want to have to make a trip into Stirling to go to Tesco just to get some shampoo in your first week. That includes your toothbrush and a couple of tubes of toothpaste. Don’t forget any nice fragrances you’ve got as well.
Kitchen stuff: The University provide each kitchen with an oven (of course), a microwave, a bin, and a fridge. If you’re living in Alexander Court, you’ll get a fridge-freezer, but all the halls only have fridges. That means you’re going to have to take a lot of stuff for the kitchen. Take 4-5 forks, knives, spoons etc, along with all the other kitchen utensils, including 3 or so glasses, mugs, and the usual tin opener and bottle opener. Take some pots and pans, but don’t go nuts buying a new set, your parents will probably let you take a few. Most kitchens end up sharing their kitchen utensils, and if you’re sharing your kitchen with 15 other people, you can pretty much guarantee that you’ll have at least one of everything!
Stationary: Go relatively light on this. You’ll find you don’t have a huge amount of space to store it all, and so it’s best to just take a pencil case, a few folders and a couple of refill pads. Unless you’re an LLB student, end-of-semester exams in your first semester won’t be so bad that you need reams and reams of post-it-notes, and boxes of revision cards.
Digital stuff: If you want to be able to connect to the internet from the moment you move in, bring an Ethernet cable. You can buy them from the shop for £2-3, but you want to minimise the number of tasks for yourself in the first few days, as it’s a bit of a mish-mash of friend-making, and you want to be able to spend as much time as possible meeting people.
Of course, bring your laptop, camera, phone (REMEMBER THE CHARGERS!), and I’d also recommend bringing a telly if you have a flat-screen one. You won’t be able to watch TV on it as Scotland is all digital now and you’d need a TV licence anyway, but if you’ve got a VGA cable, you’ll be able to hook your laptop up to it and have a second screen. When you’re writing essays, this is very useful, as you can have a source up on one screen, and your essay up on the other, so you don’t have to keep switching been windows. This isn’t a priority however, and if you’re struggling for room in the car, the 40” plasma should be the first thing to go. If you want wireless, you can get wireless access points from the library for £25 – or you can wait for someone in the surrounding rooms to get one; their range is about 15 feet and their owners can’t password-protect them. You should get a CampusNet CD in your welcome pack, which you get when you pick up the key. If you have a netbook, and thus don’t have a CD drive, download the installer off the Stirling University website before you go! If you have a spare printer, bring this, as the queues to print off work on deadline days can be mental! Most people also bring their games console as well. This isn’t really important for girls, but if you’re a lad, and you have a TV, an XBOX/PS3 and the latest edition of Fifa, you won’t have to worry about being included.
-Documentation: I’d advise bringing about half of your documentation with you. You’ll need photo ID to get into the clubs in Stirling (they ID absolutely everyone), and if you get a job in the town, you’ll probably need either your passport or your birth certificate to prove you have a right to work in the UK. Of course, if you’re an international student, bring all your VISA documentation. Also bring a copy of your accommodation contract, as you need this to get your key. Don’t panic if you forget that though, as they’ll probably accept some form of ID when you go to collect your key. You should also have sent off passport photos beforehand, so that the Residential Services staff can make your hall card.
-Miscellaneous stuff that could be useful anyway:
-Coat hangars
-Air freshener
-Toilet roll (the stuff they provide isn’t the smoothest, and it’s in locked dispensers that often get stuck)
-Speakers for your iPod/MP3/phone. Pre-drinks are always better with music on, and if you’ve got a dock, you’re going to get invited to pre-drinks.
-Food! Make sure you have enough food on moving-in day to last 3 days at the minimum!
The shop at the University is a rip-off, and you don’t want to be forced to make a trip to Tesco in your first few days!
-A few DVDs for the down-time.
-a fan, if you’re living in Geddes/Murray. These are technically forbidden, but you’re very unlikely to get caught, and the bedrooms in Geddes and Murray can get incredibly warm.
-White tack. Blu-tack is technically not allowed, but white-tack is fine, and it’s something plenty of people will forget, so it’s another opportunity to break the ice with people you’re living with.
-A laundry bag, that’s big enough to fit two weeks’ worth of washing in it.
b. What will I need to know about my degree subject?
Not much. Pretty much all of the courses take you back to the start for a bit, so there’s not much crucial knowledge, especially in the arts subjects.
c. Should I add people on Facebook that go to the uni (from groups and event pages)?
It depends on the context. If you meet someone who’s going to be sharing your kitchen, or thereabouts, then definitely, as it’s always nice to know a few people you’re living with before moving-in day. Also, people looking to make friends naturally gravitate towards groups, so if you know someone else before you move in, other people will see you getting on and try to make friends with you. However, I’d caution against adding people willy-nilly. I ended up with about 90 friends on Facebook before I even got to the University, and whilst I’ve met probably half, the other half ended up being purged because it was annoying having so many people on my friends list who I’d never seen nor spoken to. It also looks a little sad to have loads of Facebook friends to whom you’ve never spoken
d. Should I get a full loan/overdraft?
I’d agree with the author of the last FAQ on this one, and say you should get as much as you can. If it’s your first time living away from home, a budget of, say, £80 a week will seem like a lot, but you’ll be very, very surprised by how the costs mount up when you’re not living with your parents. Food will probably cost you a minimum of £30 a week (that’s if you’re being stingy!); buying books and stuff will add up to a lot; and clothes don’t come amazingly cheap either. If you sell yourself short on your budget, you’ll find yourself having about £10 a week to go out with, which will not be a fun experience. Get the maximum loan, and save what you don’t spend.
Overdrafts are slightly different. They are potentially very dangerous, as it’s very easy to see it as money you already have, when in reality it’s money that you’re borrowing. I would advise having one, as there may be times when you have to dip into it to meet the next rent payment, or if you face a sudden big expense, but remind yourself constantly that it’s NOT YOUR MONEY.
2. Halls
a.What will my room have/look like?
The rooms are fairly average university study bedrooms. Every room has the following:
-A hand basin, with a mirror and shaving light (if you’re in ASH, this will be in your en-suite bathroom, not in your bedroom).
-Overhead light (of course!)
-A desk, including drawers
-A wardrobe
-A desk lamp
-Some kind of shelf.
-A bed, complete with mattress, pillow, quilt, bed sheets, pillow covers and quilt covers
-A bin
-A chair
-Some kind of storage space
Note on bedding: The University provide you with all the stuff you need for your bed, unless you need more than one quilt/one pillow. At the end of the year, you are not allowed to keep the quilt, mattress or pillow, but you can keep the covers and sheets they give you for them, which are all the same blue pattern.
In general, the rooms are very average. They’re not small, but not large either, and all the walls are breeze-block, unless you’re in Alexander Court.
b. How many people will I be living with?
This depends on which accommodation you’re in – here’s a quick breakdown, with the cost-per-year of rent for each (when I refer to ‘your kitchen’, I mean either the people you’re living with, or the self-contained facilities you share. I might also mean the kitchen itself :P ) :
-Geddes/Murray (£2648) : In general, 16 to a kitchen. Each kitchen will also have a shower room with two showers and a room with a bath in it (no one uses this). It will also have a toilet with two cubicles; some kitchens also have a smaller toilet that’s just a toilet with no cubicle. The kitchens in Geddes/ Murray are very small.
-AKD (£3259) : About 14-17 to a kitchen, which are reasonably sized. 3 showers per kitchen.
-ASH (£4192) : En-suite, so obviously you have your own shower/toilet. In general, about 10-11 to a kitchen
-Alexander Court (£3285) : Slightly varied, but in general, 6-7 to a flat, each flat having 2 toilets and two showers; the kitchens are big, with a seating area kind of like a lounge.
c. Can I come and go as I please?
Pretty much, yes. You’ll get a hall card with your photo on it, which you’ll need to get into your halls after 10pm or so. The exception to this is Alexander Court, where, because it’s not all in one building with a single entrance, the porter does not monitor people coming or going. Each block in Alexander Court – of which there are four – has a front-door where you can buzz any flat to buzz you in, and each ground-floor flat (four in each block) has a fire escape door in the kitchen which can be opened freely. Be careful who you let in though, if you’re in Alexander Court – on my fourth night after moving in, another flat let in a violent drunkard who kicked down my room door and defecated in our kitchen. It sounds funny - and seeing as he was caught and arrested, it is pretty funny in hindsight - but given that he was threatening to bottle people, and was extremely aggressive, it could have ended very, very badly.
d. Can I have people to stay?
Yes, although there are restrictions. If we’re talking about staying overnight, you’ll need to sign them in earlier, and you can have a maximum of two people to stay in your room overnight. However, the porters don’t come round checking, and if your friend comes into your halls in the daytime, when entrance isn’t restricted, no-one is going to catch you unless you make a lot of noise. It’s also a good idea to work out which porters are more lax about the rules, and which porters are quite strict, as the more lenient ones will generally let people in later as long they don’t look like trouble. The exception to all of this is Alexander Court, where you can let anyone into your flat at any time.
You should note, however, that if you have someone illicitly staying in halls overnight, and the fire alarm goes off, they will struggle to get back in. You are also not allowed any guests whatsoever during the exam period.
e. Fire alarms and evacuations.
These will happen, and you just have to get used to them. There will be a brief test of the fire alarm system each Wednesday morning, where they just test the alarm (you don’t have to evacuate). Each hall will, several times per semester, experience a full evacuation at a God-awful time in the morning because someone has set off a smoke alarm or smashed a fire alarm. You’re supposed to evacuate immediately in whatever you’re wearing, but some people take 5 or 6 minutes to get out, and nothing’s ever said, so one would assume you’ll get away with changing into something warmer (you’re going to be outside for up to half an hour). Each hall will also have a full drill where you have to evacuate toward the start of the year; they like to do this early in the morning (mine was at 6am).
f. Do I have to clean up after myself?
Yes, you do. There’s no University rule to say you have to, but people will hate you if you leave a mess in the kitchen constantly, or leave the shower in a state. You can keep your room however you want it – there are no room inspections – but I’d advise to try and keep it reasonably tidy, because with no parents about, once it gets into a bit of a state, it will look like too much of a job to handle, and will just get worse and worse.
g. Internet, TV and games consoles.
Internet is included in your rent, and every bedroom has an Ethernet socket to connect your laptop. XBOX Live and PSN are currently not supported. However, Information Services conducted a trial of enabling XBOX Live and PSN in the semester just finished (Autumn 2012), with a view to rolling it out in the future. There is no usage limit to the internet, and it generally works. The only bad thing is that if a whole accommodation block’s internet goes down overnight, there’s no one to fix it until the next morning. The user who wrote the last FAQ said that when she was first-year, she’d been made to sign an agreement on internet use, basically banning porn etc..
I can’t remember ever being made to sign anything like that, and in all honesty, my internet history would put Hugh Hefner to shame, and I never got into any sort of trouble. The only rule I could find about internet use was that torrenting is strictly prohibited.
If you want to watch live TV in your room, you’ll need a TV licence. I can’t really see anyway of watching it live other than online, but you could still get in trouble for this. Remember: You do not need a TV licence to watch any sort of catch-up TV, such as iPlayer. You only need a TV licence to watch live TV, as it’s broadcast.
h. How do I wash my clothes?
There are a number of laundries on campus. The most modern one is at Alexander Court, in the same building as the porter's office. In that one, you pay £2 to get a digital card, which you top up online; each washing machine and tumble dryer has a slot to put the card in to pay. The washing machines and tumble dryers at Alexander Court are very big, and if you’re short on money and have two loads of washing to do, it might be worth going up to Alexander Court as, while it costs 40p more per wash, you can get two loads in the washing machines and tumble dryers. The total cost for a colour-wash and a tumble-dry at Alexander Court is £2.40; as with everywhere else, you have to supply your own washing powder.
Most people, however, will use the Polwarth Laundry, which is situated just outside Polwarth House (second-year accommodation), a couple of minutes’ walk from Geddes, Murray and AKD. The washers in there are ancient, smaller, and the system is different: you put four £1 coins into a machine and get a card with a mag-stripe on it. That card has enough credit on it for two washes and two dries, and can’t be topped up (you just buy another card).
There is another laundry in AKD, which I believe is coin-operated. I’m not quite sure of the prices in there; I’ll update this when I’m back at uni and can find out.
There’s also another laundry up at Spittal Hill, but it’s miles away, and no first-years ever have any cause to go up there.
Generally, people at the Alexander Court laundry tend to leave their stuff in the machines then go back to their flats (if they live at Alexander Court), whilst in Polwarth, people wait with their stuff while it washes and dries.
i. Will it be noisy at night?
Yes, especially on Tuesday and Thursday nights, as these are the two nights when most people go out. There’s a ban on late-night noise during exam period, though
3. Campus
a. How big is campus?
Very, very big – and very, VERY beautiful. It’s not hard to find your way round though, as it’s not very built up, and I’ve never been lost on campus. The hubs of activity, however, are: The Atrium, which contains all the shops, the Union, and the library; Cottrell, a massive building (even if you don’t get lost on campus, you will get lost inside Cottrell), where most of the academic stuff (lectures, seminars etc) takes place (Cottrell is right next to the Atrium); Pathfoot, another academic hub which houses the more arty subjects (History, Philosophy etc.); Gannochy Sports Centre, which is where the swimming pool, gym, sports hall and astro pitches are; and the main block of accommodation, which is just over the loch from the Atrium.
This link will open a PDF map of the whole campus.
b. Where do I go for lectures?
Depends on where your lectures are. Cottrell has the most lecture theatres – there are four big ones – but Pathfoot has one as well, and there’s also the Logie lecture theatre, a standalone lecture theatre outside Cottrell. Generally though, the more arty subjects tend to be in Pathfoot, and the more science-based ones are in Cottrell or Logie.
c. Where do I go for classes?
This will be on your timetable – it will be a room number preceded by (in general) ‘C.’ for Cottrell or ‘P.’ for Pathfoot. Most classes are in Cottrell though. Whilst it’s not difficult finding the lecture theatres in Cottrell, there are literally hundreds of rooms, so arrive early the first few times as it might take time to find –and re-find – your room. The way that the rooms are named in Cottrell is fairly easy to understand: Each room will have a name like ‘4W2’. In this case, the ‘4’ would mean the fourth floor, the ‘W’ would mean Corridor W, and the ‘2’ would mean room 2 on that corridor. Most first-years come into Cottrell via the Atrium, and If you do this, you’ll enter Cottrell on the second floor.
d. Where can I eat on campus?
There are quite a few places. In the Atrium alone, there’s the Union, who do hot food; a counter selling burgers, chips, noodles-to-go etc.; a small, kiosk-like place where you can get baguettes; another café that does a variety of food and has an outside decking area; and Haldane’s, which is the closest thing to a restaurant on campus. If you go downstairs in the Union, you’ll also find a Starbucks. There is a coffee counter in Cottrell, and Pathfoot has a dining room. There’s also a café called Clive’s in the Gannochy Sports Centre, but the prices they charge are extortionate, and students rarely go in there. Prices for the other places are generally OK – for example, you can get a baked potato and Coke for £4 in the Union.
e. What shops are there on campus?
-A newsagent, selling cigarettes, magazines and the like.
-The Union shop, which sells Stirling University-branded hoodies, bags, stationary and the like.
-A bookshop, which sells many course books.
-A travel agent
-A Santander branch
-A small Nisa supermarket (rather expensive)
f. Where can I access computers?
There are a few 24-hour computer labs apparently, though I’m unsure where they are. In the daytime, the general rule is that you can go and use any computer room in Cottrell, provided there isn’t a class in it. The library also has a lot of computers; this is open – in term-time – from 8am-2am Monday to Friday, and 10am-2am on Saturday and Sunday. There are also computers available in Pathfoot, and a few standalone ones in the Atrium.
g. What else about campus?
There’s obviously loads of outdoor space to explore. There’s a golf course, and of course the famous loch, which, unfortunately, you’re not allowed to swim in. There’s a lot of wildlife as well – foxes, rabbits, birds, swans, ducks. I even saw a deer on campus once as well! Just off campus is the Wallace Monument, and this is well-worth a visit, though it is quite expensive.
4. Classes and Workload
a. How many hours a week will I actually be in lectures and classes?
A standard module entails two one-hour lectures and a one-hour seminar per week. Most lectures are available to listen to online, so if you miss one, don’t stress out. Your attendance is not monitored at most lectures; there is a register passed round in seminars though, and generally, if you miss more than three seminars for a module, you’ll get your grade capped at 3C.
c. How much work will I actually have to do?
In first year, not much at all – unless you’re doing LLB, which does require quite a lot of work from the outset. You’ll probably be able to get away with doing less than one hour per week per module, though you’ll probably have to revise for exams at the end of term. From what I’ve heard, second year isn’t much harder; but there’s a big leap in the amount of work required when you start third year. Nothing you do in your first two years counts towards your degree – you only need to pass your modules; from third year the work you do counts towards the grade you get for your final degree.
d. What are lectures actually like?
Fairly straightforward. You’ll be in a big room with – usually – 150-200 other people. The lecturer will talk at you for one hour, and you should take notes. Pretty much all the lectures are Powerpoint-based, and there’ll be a big screen where the slides will be shown. Some lecturers are interesting, some aren’t very interesting. Most people take notes on paper, but some people take laptops/tablets, though they usually end up on Facebook. Most lectures get recorded and put online for you to listen to via Succeed, but some don’t get put online.
e. What are tutorials and seminars really like?
They vary massively, usually based on whether it’s being taught by a postgrad student or an actual professor/lecturer – a postgrad student won’t come down on you too hard if you haven’t done the work, whereas a professor/lecturer will have a real go at you if you turn up unprepared. If it’s a topic you’re interested in, you should enjoy it, as it’s a chance to discuss it with like-minded people; if it’s a topic you’re not so interested in: well, they’re only an hour, so just do a bit of the work beforehand, and try to listen a bit in the seminar. The tutor will try to get people involved in the discussion, but people will largely remain awkwardly quiet, which is a shame really.
f. When will my lectures and classes be?
This depends on the timetable. Lectures will be at fixed times, but you’ll get a choice of seminar times, which you sign up for on Succeed. Some subjects have other things – for example, science subjects will have practicals, which are not moveable; and media subjects will often have film viewings, which are not moveable either.
The timetable can be very confusing at first, but there’s a guide to understanding it here.
g. How do I access lecture slides, module outlines and other information for my module?
Each module you take will have its own area on Succeed, with various learning materials, announcements, and the ‘Listen Again’ service, by which you can listen to lectures that you’ve missed.
h. What will my course work consist of?
This varies a lot. The arty subjects tend to be focused round essays and presentations, while the science subjects tend to be practicals and worksheets.
i. How will my coursework be graded?
There’s a common grading scheme, which goes from 1A-1C, 2A-2F, 3A-3C, 4A-4C and 5A-5C. The pass grade is a 3C, which is 40% upwards. For essays, you’ll generally have to hand in your work both digitally (via Turnitin on Succeed), and manually, with a hard copy. If you submit it late, you’ll generally lose one grade per day; you can also lose marks for not including bibliographies and the like.
j. How do exams work?
Not very differently from external exams at school. They happen twice a year, in December and May - the only big difference is that there are exams on Saturdays! Most exams are in either the Gannochy Sports Hall, or the Pathfoot Dining Room; you should aim to arrive early, with everything you need for the exam – pens, pencils, notes if it’s open-book etc. – and your student card as well. You can usually leave early, but generally you’re not allowed to leave in the first or last half-hour. The exam timetable is usually published mid-semester, but the one published at this point is subject to change, so always check the final version to avoid missing your exam!
k. When will I get my results/what if I fail?
Results will be published about a month after the exam. If you fail marginally, you’ll usually be allowed a resit, but your grade will be capped.
5. Stirling
a. Where is Stirling?
Stirling is in central Scotland, about 25 miles away from both Edinburgh and Glasgow. It kind of forms a triangle with Edinburgh and Glasgow, with Stirling being in between them, but slightly further north.
b. How far is Stirling from the uni itself?
As you may know, the University of Stirling is not actually in Stirling; it is, in fact, just outside, with the main entrance being between the outlying village of Bridge of Allan and Causewayhead. That doesn’t mean, however, that the city of Stirling doesn’t play a large part in the life of a student at the University. If you want to go shopping – for groceries or for other things such as clothes – you’ll be going into Stirling, as there are clothes shops closer, and whilst the small supermarket in the Atrium is OK for a few items, if you do a big shop there, you’ll seriously hit yourself in the pocket. You can get into Stirling in about 10 minutes on the ULink bus, which leaves from outside the Union and costs a pound for a student single (you’ll need your student card though). To drive, it’s about 6 minutes, and if you’re going into the city to hit the pubs/clubs, taxis are very reasonably priced at £5-9 (black cabs don’t wait at the University for customers, but if you’re coming back from the city, make sure to phone up for a minicab, as the taxis than run on metres will charge you much more).
c. What supermarkets are there in Stirling?
The easiest supermarket to get to is the Tesco, which is reasonably cheap. There is also a Sainsburys, however, and a Morrisons lies on the outskirts of the town on a retail estate.
d. What shops are there in Stirling?
Absolutely loads. Apart from the ones outside on the high street, there is an indoor shopping centre called the Thistle Centre, which has about 90 shops and eateries (a full list is available here.
e. What about hair dressers and things like that?
There are loads of hairdressers and salons. Being a guy, I don’t know too much about the salons, but some of the barbers are very good. Do your research though, as there are some very, very bad barbers in Stirling as well (which I found out to my cost!). The student rate is generally £7-9 for a guy to have his hair cut; I don’t know about girls’ prices.
f. Where is there to eat in Stirling?
Loads, and loads, and loads of pubs. There’s also a Filling Station, a Subway, a Nando’s , a Frankie and Benny’s, two McDonalds, a Jimmy Chung’s, and countless chippies/kebab places. There’s also the usual quota of small, independent cafes. You can also order Dominos, and you’ll get given loads of discount vouchers for Dominos during Freshers’ Week
g. What is there to do in Stirling that doesn’t involve drinking?
There’s an AMF Bowling somewhere, and a VUE cinema next to Nando’s, not to mention the historic castle and Wallace Monument.
h. Tell me about the bus services!
The buses that go to the University all stop outside the Union. You can get a student single on most of them for £1 with your student card, and a return is £1.70 or something. The bus that is used most by students is the ULink; this also does a late-night service back from Stirling at about 2.30am, but this costs a bit more at £1.50. You should experience it a few times, though, instead of getting a taxi back, as having 100 drunk students on a bus always leads to a lot of singing and fun in general. You can get weekly and monthly passes, which are fairly reasonably priced.
i. Stirling is so tiny though, it’s got to be rubbish, right?
Not really. It might be small, but it’s a hell of a lot of fun, and it’s a really safe area as well. The size means that all the town-life gets compacted into the city centre, which makes it very vibrant. It’s much cheaper to live in Stirling than Glasgow or Edinburgh, and if you ever want to explore, Glasgow and Edinburgh are both less than an hour away, and are cheap to get to. It’s an incredibly cultured place, and the surrounding scenery is simply stunning.
6. Night life
a. Bars/Pubs
There are loads and loads of bars and pubs in the centre of Stirling, and nearly all are priced towards the student end of the market. Ones that have to be visited at least once are Drouthy Neebors, Katie’s, The Kilted Kangaroo, Morrisons, Cape and 20 Rocks. Most of them do some £1 drinks Monday-Thursday, and they’re mostly reasonably close together.
b. Clubs.
There are only two nightclubs, per se, in Stirling: FUBAR, and Dusk. Whilst that might not sound good, take it from someone who lives in London - where there are hundreds upon hundreds of nightclubs - that it’s actually a good thing, as the student population get concentrated in them, making them very lively. Both are close together, and both are very cheap, with entry ranging from £1-4, and £1 drinks available Monday-Thursday. Dusk has a slightly more adult feeling, and tends to be where the locals frequent, though it’s usually still 80%+ students on weeknights. It has a medium-sized bar and seating area, with a medium-sized dance floor. There’s also a small upstairs with a balcony, but this isn’t usually busy.
Fubar is a lot bigger. It has a large downstairs area that is alone the size of Dusk, however, on weeknights, the real party is upstairs, which is the same size against and has a large dance floor with a raised section. Fubar has definitely got a less adult feeling to it, with the music being softer, and the general feel of it being less animalistic. They usually end the nights with Cotton Eye Joe, upon which everyone links the arm of someone else and dances in a circle. They did once, last semester, end the night with Loch Lomond by Runrig, which caused absolute mayhem!
c. Nightlife Transport
The price of getting to and from town on a night out is undoubtedly the biggest perk of Stirling nightlife. You can get a seven-seater taxi from the University into town for £8, which works out at slightly more than a pound each; they’re usually slightly more expensive later on, on the way back, but aren’t usually more than a tenner, which only works out at about £1.40 each. You can also get the bus into town for a similar price on each leg. After 7pm, the ULink bus doesn’t just stop at the Union, but goes all the way up to Alexander Court and back past all the other residences to pick up passengers. It’s £1 on the way there with your student card; the later bus at about 2.30am to bring you back – the ‘party bus’ as it’s become known – is £1.50 with a student card, and Is pretty wild, due to the fact it has about 80 students on it, all in varying states of inebriation.
d. Miscellaneous Information about Nightlife
-You’ll find that few people go to the bars before the clubs, as most want to save money to spend in the club. The general practice is for people to start pre-drinking in their kitchen at about 9.30pm, then get a taxi or the bus into town at 11pm, and go straight into Dusk or FUBAR. Those who do go to the bars beforehand are usually girls: lads tend to stick to pre-drinking.
-If you want to save money on entrance prices, follow the Facebook pages of Dusk and FUBAR. They have deals with the different sports societies at the University, where the societies sell tickets in advance (usually the case with FUBAR), or hand out ‘Dusk passes’, which get you cheaper entry when you get there. The societies get a cut of the entrance fee for every person they get into the club, and you get cheaper entry, so everybody wins.
-You will need ID. Whilst the bouncers aren’t massively strict about whether it’s your ID or not, if you do not have ID, you will not get in. I’ve seen 30-year-olds get ID’d, so make sure you take it. Make sure you can remember all the details on your ID, such as your postcode etc., as the bouncers usually ask you a question about it while they're inspecting it, to see if it's yours or not.
-Buy a few drinks at a time. The queues for the bars in Dusk and FUBAR can get very long, so it’s best to get 2 or 3 drinks at a time, or ask your friends if they want you to get them anything.
-In case you’re wondering, both clubs have cloakrooms. I can’t remember the price, but it’s around £1 per item
-If you’re a student coming from England, Wales, Northern Ireland or even further afield, you will have to learn to live within the dreaded “10 ‘til 10” licensing law. Back home in England, we can buy booze from the shop at whatever time we want; but in Scotland, you cannot buy alcohol from a shop after 10pm, so make sure you buy your pre-drinks before then. This rule is strictly enforced, and even the off-licences that might appear dodgy stick to it, as the fines for breaking it are huge. Even if you’re in the queue at 9.59pm with your booze in your hands, if you haven’t paid by 10.01pm, they will not serve you – in supermarkets such as Tesco, the tills themselves won’t actually allow the store employee to scan the item after this point.
-The two clubs are better on different nights. The two big nights each week for the student population are Tuesday and Thursday: Tuesday everyone heads to Dusk (literally everyone, FUBAR is completely dead); and Thursday pretty much everyone heads to FUBAR, though Dusk usually still has a fair few on a Thursday. Town is usually still pretty busy on Mondays and Wednesdays, but not to the same extent. If you’re going out on a Monday or Wednesday though, Dusk is usually better on a Monday, and FUBAR is generally better on a Wednesday. Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays are usually a little dead in FUBAR, though Dusk is quite full on Fridays and Saturdays. If you prefer student vibe though, weekends are not for you, as this is when the locals come out. They’re also more expensive on the weekend.
a. Bars/Pubs
There are loads and loads of bars and pubs in the centre of Stirling, and nearly all are priced towards the student end of the market. Ones that have to be visited at least once are Drouthy Neebors, Katie’s, The Kilted Kangaroo, Morrisons, Cape and 20 Rocks. Most of them do some £1 drinks Monday-Thursday, and they’re mostly reasonably close together.
b. Clubs.
There are only two nightclubs, per se, in Stirling: FUBAR, and Dusk. Whilst that might not sound good, take it from someone who lives in London - where there are hundreds upon hundreds of nightclubs - that it’s actually a good thing, as the student population get concentrated in them, making them very lively. Both are close together, and both are very cheap, with entry ranging from £1-4, and £1 drinks available Monday-Thursday. Dusk has a slightly more adult feeling, and tends to be where the locals frequent, though it’s usually still 80%+ students on weeknights. It has a medium-sized bar and seating area, with a medium-sized dance floor. There’s also a small upstairs with a balcony, but this isn’t usually busy.
Fubar is a lot bigger. It has a large downstairs area that is alone the size of Dusk, however, on weeknights, the real party is upstairs, which is the same size against and has a large dance floor with a raised section. Fubar has definitely got a less adult feeling to it, with the music being softer, and the general feel of it being less animalistic. They usually end the nights with Cotton Eye Joe, upon which everyone links the arm of someone else and dances in a circle. They did once, last semester, end the night with Loch Lomond by Runrig, which caused absolute mayhem!
c. Nightlife Transport
The price of getting to and from town on a night out is undoubtedly the biggest perk of Stirling nightlife. You can get a seven-seater taxi from the University into town for £8, which works out at slightly more than a pound each; they’re usually slightly more expensive later on, on the way back, but aren’t usually more than a tenner, which only works out at about £1.40 each. You can also get the bus into town for a similar price on each leg. After 7pm, the ULink bus doesn’t just stop at the Union, but goes all the way up to Alexander Court and back past all the other residences to pick up passengers. It’s £1 on the way there with your student card; the later bus at about 2.30am to bring you back – the ‘party bus’ as it’s become known – is £1.50 with a student card, and Is pretty wild, due to the fact it has about 80 students on it, all in varying states of inebriation.
d. Miscellaneous Information about Nightlife
-You’ll find that few people go to the bars before the clubs, as most want to save money to spend in the club. The general practice is for people to start pre-drinking in their kitchen at about 9.30pm, then get a taxi or the bus into town at 11pm, and go straight into Dusk or FUBAR. Those who do go to the bars beforehand are usually girls: lads tend to stick to pre-drinking.
-If you want to save money on entrance prices, follow the Facebook pages of Dusk and FUBAR. They have deals with the different sports societies at the University, where the societies sell tickets in advance (usually the case with FUBAR), or hand out ‘Dusk passes’, which get you cheaper entry when you get there. The societies get a cut of the entrance fee for every person they get into the club, and you get cheaper entry, so everybody wins.
-You will need ID. Whilst the bouncers aren’t massively strict about whether it’s your ID or not, if you do not have ID, you will not get in. I’ve seen 30-year-olds get ID’d, so make sure you take it. Make sure you can remember all the details on your ID, such as your postcode etc., as the bouncers usually ask you a question about it while they're inspecting it, to see if it's yours or not.
-Buy a few drinks at a time. The queues for the bars in Dusk and FUBAR can get very long, so it’s best to get 2 or 3 drinks at a time, or ask your friends if they want you to get them anything.
-In case you’re wondering, both clubs have cloakrooms. I can’t remember the price, but it’s around £1 per item
-If you’re a student coming from England, Wales, Northern Ireland or even further afield, you will have to learn to live within the dreaded “10 ‘til 10” licensing law. Back home in England, we can buy booze from the shop at whatever time we want; but in Scotland, you cannot buy alcohol from a shop after 10pm, so make sure you buy your pre-drinks before then. This rule is strictly enforced, and even the off-licences that might appear dodgy stick to it, as the fines for breaking it are huge. Even if you’re in the queue at 9.59pm with your booze in your hands, if you haven’t paid by 10.01pm, they will not serve you – in supermarkets such as Tesco, the tills themselves won’t actually allow the store employee to scan the item after this point.
-The two clubs are better on different nights. The two big nights each week for the student population are Tuesday and Thursday: Tuesday everyone heads to Dusk (literally everyone, FUBAR is completely dead); and Thursday pretty much everyone heads to FUBAR, though Dusk usually still has a fair few on a Thursday. Town is usually still pretty busy on Mondays and Wednesdays, but not to the same extent. If you’re going out on a Monday or Wednesday though, Dusk is usually better on a Monday, and FUBAR is generally better on a Wednesday. Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays are usually a little dead in FUBAR, though Dusk is quite full on Fridays and Saturdays. If you prefer student vibe though, weekends are not for you, as this is when the locals come out. They’re also more expensive on the weekend.
(edited 11 years ago)
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