[sophia5892]

Hey

I'm a second year at Newcastle studying French, German and Japanese so I thought I'd start a thread for any applicants to ask questions.

This could be about anything Newcastle related - accommodation, finance, student life, why you should study here etc

or more specifically about the School of Modern Languages!

Sophie x

[stefania!]

Hi! I've got an offer to study business and MFL(german and japanese) here and at Newcastle. I'd like to know how's your typical week, and about nightlife whether there's a decent indie scene. Also, how are international students treated?

[gonchanya]

hii i got an offer to study media, communications and cultural studies and i think i'll put it down as my first choice! do you mind telling me about the city? and a little about accomidation? x

[dimitris1]

Hello!I have got a conditional offer for the MSc in Quantitative Finance and Risk Management at Newcastle University Business School.I would like to know your opinion about the business school and especially if you know something for this course.thank you in advance!

[sophia5892]

(Original post by stefania!)
Hi! I've got an offer to study business and MFL(german and japanese) here and at Birmingham. I'd like to know how's your typical week, and about nightlife whether there's a decent indie scene. Also, how are international students treated?

I currently have 16 hours of lectures a week which, with a few frees, puts me in uni for full days Mon and Tues and then on a Thursday afternoon. I get Wednesday's off and have only 1 hour on a Friday.
You're timetable can be pretty flexible depending on your modules as you can usually choose which groups you attend - ie. I do German on a Tuesday morning instead of Weds so I can have a day off!
I get 3 hours of German (1 lecture, 1 two hour seminar) and 6 hours of Japanese (all seminars) a week.
I think the big advantage of Newcastle over Bham is the size of the department. It offers variety while still being small enough to be personal. Your lecturers really do get to know you.

Nightlife wise it's great - although saying that I've not had a "typical" student night out. I'm into rock and metal music myself so I'm pretty involved with Newcastle Rock Society.
So i guess it comes down to exactly what you mean by indie?
There's always plenty of local gigs at bars/pubs and most music tastes are catered to in clubs.
Legends, where I go, plays alternative music on a Mon, Fri and Sat. Fridays will also be themed so they have a night that plays metal alongide punk/ska and then a night which plays industrial music and EBM.

Krash, at Venue, is on a Saturday. They play alternative music - described at Rock, Punk, Ska, Metal but I personally find it's not as heavy as I'd like. I believe there's also a new club night at Venue on a Thursday called "The Big Dirty" which is a similar idea.

Lots of bars/pubs also play alternative music.
Northumbria Students Union does an alternative night on a Tuesday called "Get yer skates on". I think this is more punk/ska/rock rather than heavy metal

The Rock Society will arrange pub crawls and stuff during freshers week to introduce the various alternative venues if that's your thing

As for international students...
From a student perspective I'd say your treated no differently - aside from you can expect lots of interest from language students about your country etc etc - in that way you're a bit of a novelty!

The university itself offers lots of support for international students through societies and schemes like mentors for ERASMUS students.

I wouldn't say it makes any difference to your ability to integrate and make friends - you'll always find someone with similar interests somewhere.

Some specific countries also have societies to enable international students to mingle/meet people from their country etc.

There's a lot of international students at Newcastle. For example in my Japanese class we have 2 Greeks, 2 Lithuanians, 1 Chinese girl and 1 Spaniard and 8 British students. It's pretty diverse.

Hope that helps

[sophia5892]

(Original post by gonchanya)
hii i got an offer to study media, communications and cultural studies and i think i'll put it down as my first choice! do you mind telling me about the city? and a little about accomidation? x

Accommodation is mainly in shared flats. You get a private bedroom and then share bathrooms/kitchens and living areas. Typically you'll share with 4 or 5 students - however Castle Leazes does work on a corridor system where one floor will share.

For luxury accommodation you're looking at Victoria Halls (shared with Northumbria), Castle Court and Central Link (privately owned halls). These are all modern developments. But naturally the price also reflects this. And I believe they are more popular too.

Most accommodation is within very easy walking distance of the campus and city centre so no worries there.

Personally I lived in St Mary's, which i would recommend. It's Newcastle's cheapest accommodation but it offers some of the biggest rooms. It's self catered and in 1 flat of 5 you'll have 2 toilets and 2 showers. Flat sizes range from 4 to 6 I believe. Most of the flats have been refurbished in the past two years so they're pretty nice - i lived in one of the old flats but it was nice too. I think they should all be finished for September anyway. It is about 2 miles from campus but as it's all flat many students cycle. It is walkable at a push. The uni runs a free bus service to campus in the morning (0830 til 1030) and then back again at 1720 and 1820. However there are buses into the city centre every 7.5 minutes and a yearly pass is only £250. Taxis are around £4.50.

The traditional party hall is Ricky Road, which is right next to campus. It's the next cheapest after St. Mary's but hasnt been refurbed since the 70s and the rooms are pretty small. However, for socialising it is the place to be.

So it all depends what you're after i guess!


The city centre itself is very compact. You can walk from one end to the other in about 15 minutes. However there's still plenty to do. There's Eldon Square shopping centre, the Gate which has a cinema, casino and plenty of bars, clubs and restaurants, as well as the markets and other pedestrian areas. There's also a China Town. And, there's the Metrocentre just 15 mins away by bus/train!
Plus all the bars/venues down on the Quayside.
And then the O2 Academy and the metro radio arena for gigs.

You also have the metro system connecting you to the beaches at Tynemouth and Whitley Bay

[sophia5892]

(Original post by dimitris1)
Hello!I have got a conditional offer for the MSc in Quantitative Finance and Risk Management at Newcastle University Business School.I would like to know your opinion about the business school and especially if you know something for this course.thank you in advance!

I'm afraid I know very little about the Business School.
One of my flatmates studied business in first year and I know she liked it/thought the school was very good.
As a language student, there's not much I can say!
Sorry x

[dimitris1]

(Original post by sophia5892)
I'm afraid I know very little about the Business School.
One of my flatmates studied business in first year and I know she liked it/thought the school was very good.
As a language student, there's not much I can say!
Sorry x

ok!no problem!thank you for your answer!

[Unspecified]

Hey, i've got a conditional offer for Software Engineering and was just wondering a couple things.

1) Do you know how good the course is? Just any comments that someone you know may have made about it.

2) How safe is Newcastle in general? Coming from South-East London, i'm fed up with being worried constantly when going out so i'd really like to go somewhere with a safe neighbourhood/town.


Thanks

[sophia5892]

(Original post by Unspecified)
Hey, i've got a conditional offer for Software Engineering and was just wondering a couple things.

1) Do you know how good the course is? Just any comments that someone you know may have made about it.

2) How safe is Newcastle in general? Coming from South-East London, i'm fed up with being worried constantly when going out so i'd really like to go somewhere with a safe neighbourhood/town.


Thanks

A lot of my friends do computer science and seem pretty happy with the course - although one did go on about having to get quotes and reference things, which he sees as being pretty irrelevant
But i don't know if that's the exact course you're doing - i believe there's a few variations!

As for safety, we do get emails warning us about being careful after nights out and stuff but I've personally never had any trouble. I always walk home after nights out, even as a lass by myself, and in first year I'd happily hang around alone on a street corner waiting for a taxi. I've never really felt nervous or like I was unsafe.
Most geordies are really friendly, even the drunken football fans after matches are friendly And on most nights, the people you see out, will be other drunken students.
I've never seen any fights or problems or anything although I guess every city will have the odd ones.

x

[stefania!]

(Original post by sophia5892)
I currently have 16 hours of lectures a week which, with a few frees, puts me in uni for full days Mon and Tues and then on a Thursday afternoon. I get Wednesday's off and have only 1 hour on a Friday.
You're timetable can be pretty flexible depending on your modules as you can usually choose which groups you attend - ie. I do German on a Tuesday morning instead of Weds so I can have a day off!
I get 3 hours of German (1 lecture, 1 two hour seminar) and 6 hours of Japanese (all seminars) a week.
I think the big advantage of Newcastle over Bham is the size of the department. It offers variety while still being small enough to be personal. Your lecturers really do get to know you.

Nightlife wise it's great - although saying that I've not had a "typical" student night out. I'm into rock and metal music myself so I'm pretty involved with Newcastle Rock Society.
So i guess it comes down to exactly what you mean by indie?
There's always plenty of local gigs at bars/pubs and most music tastes are catered to in clubs.
Legends, where I go, plays alternative music on a Mon, Fri and Sat. Fridays will also be themed so they have a night that plays metal alongide punk/ska and then a night which plays industrial music and EBM.

Krash, at Venue, is on a Saturday. They play alternative music - described at Rock, Punk, Ska, Metal but I personally find it's not as heavy as I'd like. I believe there's also a new club night at Venue on a Thursday called "The Big Dirty" which is a similar idea.

Lots of bars/pubs also play alternative music.
Northumbria Students Union does an alternative night on a Tuesday called "Get yer skates on". I think this is more punk/ska/rock rather than heavy metal

The Rock Society will arrange pub crawls and stuff during freshers week to introduce the various alternative venues if that's your thing

As for international students...
From a student perspective I'd say your treated no differently - aside from you can expect lots of interest from language students about your country etc etc - in that way you're a bit of a novelty!

The university itself offers lots of support for international students through societies and schemes like mentors for ERASMUS students.

I wouldn't say it makes any difference to your ability to integrate and make friends - you'll always find someone with similar interests somewhere.

Some specific countries also have societies to enable international students to mingle/meet people from their country etc.

There's a lot of international students at Newcastle. For example in my Japanese class we have 2 Greeks, 2 Lithuanians, 1 Chinese girl and 1 Spaniard and 8 British students. It's pretty diverse.

Hope that helps

Thank you for writing so many details As for what I mean by saying Indie, this is my lastfm profile http://www.lastfm.it/user/pantalaimon__

[GiBuch]

Hi, I have a conditional offer to study Psychology, and I'm entirely in love with Newcastle as a city and a uni, but I think I'd struggle to meet the grades (AAA).

I know a few people at Newcastle, a few of which didn't meet the required grades but were allowed in anyway - so I was just wondering if it's generally known that Newcastle are fairly lenient on grades?

[RipperRoo]

(Original post by Unspecified)
Hey, i've got a conditional offer for Software Engineering and was just wondering a couple things.

1) Do you know how good the course is? Just any comments that someone you know may have made about it.

2) How safe is Newcastle in general? Coming from South-East London, i'm fed up with being worried constantly when going out so i'd really like to go somewhere with a safe neighbourhood/town.


Thanks

I'm doing CS at Newcastle and the course is alright so far, I'm more looking forward to the second year though.

Depending on how much programming you've done will affect how hard you find the programming modules (I'd done quite a bit before starting so the introductory programming module was a piece of piss).

There is one module though which I loathe, mainly because I'm not really learning anything useful in it, and most of the assignments are essay based (that'll be the module OP's friend was complaining about).

As for Newcastle being safe, I've lived here my whole life and always found it to be safe, especially the town centre anyway, I wouldn't exactly fancy my chances in Byker on a dark night though.

Edit: oh and another thing, the feedback on assignments, especially in the module I hate, has been pretty atrocious. The feedback for my first essay was literally "The conclusion could be better" with no elaboration. Others feel the same too, not sure if there's anything we can do though.

[sophia5892]

(Original post by GiBuch)
Hi, I have a conditional offer to study Psychology, and I'm entirely in love with Newcastle as a city and a uni, but I think I'd struggle to meet the grades (AAA).

I know a few people at Newcastle, a few of which didn't meet the required grades but were allowed in anyway - so I was just wondering if it's generally known that Newcastle are fairly lenient on grades?

I think the attitude tends to be that if you have an offer they want you, so if they have space to take you with your lower grades they will, rather than accepting a totally new entrant through clearing.
I know the head of language school has said that because of the fee increases they really have no idea how many students they will get confirming Newcastle - i presume this is a uni wide issue - so i guess it really comes down to how many people firm it, and how many people then meet those grades.
Good luck!

[sophia5892]

(Original post by stefania!)
Thank you for writing so many details As for what I mean by saying Indie, this is my lastfm profile http://www.lastfm.it/user/pantalaimon__

Ahh! Well I'd say try Krash and Skates then. Legends plays SOAD but otherwise it may be too heavy for you.
Also try looking at the other more "mainstream" club nights - a lot of them have different rooms playing a range of music

x

[lawson171]

For getting a conditional to Newcastle or an unconditional for the matter what grades were you getting in comparison to the minimum requirements? If i were to get the minimum requirements would i be likely to get a conditional or would i be disregarded? Many thanks.

[lawson171]

For getting a conditional to Newcastle or an unconditional for the matter what grades were you getting in comparison to the minimum requirements? If i were to get the minimum requirements would i be likely to get a conditional or would i be disregarded? Many thanks.

[sophia5892]

(Original post by lawson171)
For getting a conditional to Newcastle or an unconditional for the matter what grades were you getting in comparison to the minimum requirements? If i were to get the minimum requirements would i be likely to get a conditional or would i be disregarded? Many thanks.

In order to get an unconditional offer I believe you'd already have to have got your A Level (or equivalent) results and have met the standard offer for the course you're applying for.

My course had a standard offer of ABB at A Level and I applied having achieved AAAA at AS Level and I was predicted to achieve AAAAA at A Level.

I think as long as you are predicted results that match the standard offer for the course you will be considered. Or if your expected results or AS Level results are lower than the standard offer but you have extenuating personal circumstances or reason to believe you will perform better in your final exams then this could be stated in your application reference by your tutor or whoever rights your reference for UCAS

Hope that helps

[Unspecified]

(Original post by sophia5892)
In order to get an unconditional offer I believe you'd already have to have got your A Level (or equivalent) results and have met the standard offer for the course you're applying for.

My course had a standard offer of ABB at A Level and I applied having achieved AAAA at AS Level and I was predicted to achieve AAAAA at A Level.

I think as long as you are predicted results that match the standard offer for the course you will be considered. Or if your expected results or AS Level results are lower than the standard offer but you have extenuating personal circumstances or reason to believe you will perform better in your final exams then this could be stated in your application reference by your tutor or whoever rights your reference for UCAS

Hope that helps

Pretty much this. However even if you don't have a reason for doing badly, they WILL still consider you. I got ABEU in AS and am predicted A*AC and did not give my reason as to why I did so badly. I ended up getting an offer of AAB.


However make sure you have a good personal statement, as I believe mine is what pulled me through.

[GiBuch]

Yeah, I got ACE in my AS results and am predicted ABB, but I think it was my personal statement that got me the offer (which is AAA).

Just firmed Newcastle the other day so excited/nervous.