Year 12s: what will be the first way you research your future options? >>

Buckingham vs Portsmouth

Does anyone go to these unis or have applied there this year?
what the night life, uni, place like?

hiya,
i've applied and received a conditional offer from portsmouth.
went to the open day two weeks ago, very big uni. really nice. :smile:

what course are you looking at?

Reply 2

Torriee009

Original post by melodyogbebor

hiya,
i've applied and received a conditional offer from portsmouth.
went to the open day two weeks ago, very big uni. really nice. :smile:

what course are you looking at?

Law with criminology :smile:

How about you?

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Reply 3

xn43

Hi,

I can't speak for Portsmouth as I've never visited, however I went to an open day at Buckingham and the uni is extremely small (roughly 800-1000 students) and it is completely dead in terms of nightlife. From my visit I can say that what I visited was not like any other university I have seen - here are a few bits of info. Most of its students are international students. The canteen food was terrible and it had small strips of plastic wrapping inside it. The local Freemasons have meetings on the university grounds. Buckingham itself is rather small and not exciting whatsoever... it is far from a stereotypical idyllic English market town. However, I cannot speak for the quality of the degrees, but they are done in two years instead of three so you'll obviously be facing more of a concentrated workload.

Reply 4

jelly1000

Original post by Torriee009

Does anyone go to these unis or have applied there this year?
what the night life, uni, place like?

Buckingham isn't the place to go if your interested in the night life and having a uni experience. It's a private university which most home students can't afford to go to as you need to top up the fees yourself (student finance only pay the first £6000 for private unis and it costs more) and its in a small town which isn't exactly known for its nightlife. Portsmouth however although a small city is supposed to be good for the uni life and I'd rank it as one of the better ex polys- I was fairly impressed with the actual uni overall.

Reply 5

The University of Buckingham

Torriee009,

If at all possible, I would suggest booking a personal tour of the University which would give you a chance to speak to the academics involved with the course your interested in, as well as to explore our grounds.

If this doesn't suit, I'd be more than happy to put you in touch with one of our current Law students, should you be interested in asking them any question about their experience here.

With regard to fees, it is correct that (in the case of home/EU students) about £6000pa needs to be paid by a financial sponsor quite separately from the Student Finance loan, but all in all our students stand to save about £10,000 by virtue of not needing to finance a third year. Those in receipt of a means-tested maintenance grant qualify for reductions.

Our student body is very international (currently 55%) and speaking as an alumnus myself, this was one of my favourite features of the University. The friends I made hail from all corners of the Earth.

As far as our students' workload is concerned, on a day to day basis it's equivalent to what would be experienced on three-year programmes. The difference being that our students are simply here for more of the year, we have four academic semesters instead of the traditional three. This allows our students to complete a course which allows them just as much of an insight without cutting any corners. Fairly often, our students find that they have access to more in the way of contact hours with their tutors and lecturers.

Let me know if I can be of any assistance - Jamie

Reply 6

94becky

Original post by Torriee009

Law with criminology :smile:

How about you?

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I study Law at the university of Portsmouth at the moment, granted I am not doing it combined with Criminology. However, I have to say it is a great university, the best decision I have made has been to go there :smile:

Hope that helps if have any questions let me know!

Reply 7

returnmigrant

Buckingham isn't about giving anyone a 'student experience'. Its a private Uni that focuses on fast degrees - two years, not three - because you don't get a summer break. Its designed for mature students. international students and anyone else who just wants to get 'a degree' quickly. It doesn't have any real academic credibility.

Go to Portsmouth.