The 'Ask a current student' thread! (University of Birmingham)

Lots of people have been asking me questions individually, and I think it would be good if everyone could ask questions and get answers!

If you have any questions or queries about life in Birmingham as a city, the uni, accommodation etc. feel free to ask me anything!

Hi!
How did you find freshers week- what kind of stuff was available?

Have you tried out the gym and pool? How are you finding those?

They are called Mason w__kers and there's a lot of teasing... but people in Maple Bank get called Maple W__nkers. And there's rivalry between Elgar Court and Maple Bank...

It's pretty light-hearted. I've been to pres at Mason and gotten called a Maple W__nker and had 'poverty' yelled at me from Mason windows, but it's 100% fun and not mean. Don't worry about that stuff, the competitiveness is funny and the chants are great, just get stuck in and don't mean what you say! (otherwise you're just mean oops)

Hmmm, I don't live in either but I have friends in TC so I'll do a little extrapolating of what I know...

I think TC is more social, lots of events and they seem interconnected between the blocks, nice RAs that look out for you
Mason has Made in Mason nights out and they seem a rowdy bunch on freshers nights out
Maple Bank (MY HALLS BEST HALLS OK) are so close, everyone loves each other and helps out, amaze pres and nights out, fundraising events too - we had bucket shaking at Bristol with a night out and meal out for £7!
Aitken I'm sure are lovely... but I don't see much of them... I don't actually know where their hall is even though it's on the Vale, but I'm sure they're just the same as us
Liberty Close/Garden/Court are so far away! I know people who live there and the distance from campus is the biggest negative.
IQ is in Five Ways, and I have one friend from there, again nice but farrrrrr
Shackleton is just above the Hub on the Vale, literally has everything you need, I think they're really good for socials and things like that
Selly Oak is a bit rough but it has take aways and Aldi and Lidl and train station and everything and it's cheap and really sociable, please don't feel if you end up in Selly you're missing out. You're also 5-10mins from campus so you're laughing at people on the Vale

Basically wherever you go, you'll find people you like and events to go out on, and please ignore my bias toward Maple

I think that's all the accommodation options? If I missed one out please say and I'll tell you about that one too, haha

Hmmm, I don't live in either but I have friends in TC so I'll do a little extrapolating of what I know...

I think TC is more social, lots of events and they seem interconnected between the blocks, nice RAs that look out for you
Mason has Made in Mason nights out and they seem a rowdy bunch on freshers nights out
Maple Bank (MY HALLS BEST HALLS OK) are so close, everyone loves each other and helps out, amaze pres and nights out, fundraising events too - we had bucket shaking at Bristol with a night out and meal out for £7!
Aitken I'm sure are lovely... but I don't see much of them... I don't actually know where their hall is even though it's on the Vale, but I'm sure they're just the same as us
Liberty Close/Garden/Court are so far away! I know people who live there and the distance from campus is the biggest negative.
IQ is in Five Ways, and I have one friend from there, again nice but farrrrrr
Shackleton is just above the Hub on the Vale, literally has everything you need, I think they're really good for socials and things like that
Selly Oak is a bit rough but it has take aways and Aldi and Lidl and train station and everything and it's cheap and really sociable, please don't feel if you end up in Selly you're missing out. You're also 5-10mins from campus so you're laughing at people on the Vale

Basically wherever you go, you'll find people you like and events to go out on, and please ignore my bias toward Maple

I think that's all the accommodation options? If I missed one out please say and I'll tell you about that one too, haha

Hi I was just wondering whether people tend to take guests to the applicant visit days? I've been invited to attend one of them, and I'm fine with going on my own, I would just feel awkward if I was the only one without a guest, or the only one with a guest. It would just be good to know whether there's an even mix of people who do and don't or whether most take or don't take a guest. May seem like a bit of a trivial question but I want to feel comfortable and enjoy the day

Thanks

Accommodation question: since there's very limited self catered and ensuite accommodation on campus that's affordable, what do you guys think of Liberty Court. Is it very far from campus? Will I be missing out on the student experience since I'm not living on campus?


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Took my mum along with me, and nearly everyone on my one had a parent/relative with them. It's good to have someone else with you as they might think of questions or notice things you might not have

All the best!

That was so helpful thank you so much!

Okay, that's good to know, thank you!

Wherever you go it will be grand. I live on the Vale and I have friends in Liberty and Pritchatt's and Jarratt... Liberty has a lot of good socials, I promise you you won't miss out

As for distance, I'm pretty sure it's near Fiveways so like... 20 mins from the Vale... So 40 mins from campus... I think. You'd best ask Google Maps for a straight answer. I know people get the bus to campus

Hope this helped

Hi I was wondering if the Uni has trasnportation services like a shuttle bus that goes to and from all the residences to the main campus? For example, if your in Chamberlin Hall (the vale) what is the walking time to the law school? or the big clock tower??