The Student Room Group
Main Concourse, Brunel University
Brunel University London
Uxbridge
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Student at Brunel! Happy to answer questions :)

Hi
Currently at Brunel, received a lot of help when I was deciding whether to choose the uni or not (thanks to Audien especially) so thought I`d return the favour!
Ask away :smile:

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Reply 1
How does it feel to be at such a poor university?
Main Concourse, Brunel University
Brunel University London
Uxbridge
Visit website
Original post by The Juan
How does it feel to be at such a poor university?


Poor in what sense of the word? Because if you mean poor in the league tables, then you could do a lot worse. Brunel offers excellent sports facilities. The lecture theatre has recently had a makeover and is very well laid out. The lecturers I've encountered so far (fresher) have been brilliant and gained their doctorates from all number of universities including the much vaunted Oxford and Cambridge, the subjects are thrilling, the workload is high. The societies are generally well run and numerous, lot's of wednesday socials but an emphasis on 'work comes first' It's one of the few universities on the tube network that has a campus and it takes about 45 minutes to get into central.

Further to this, the university has: a bar (which is very good and the start of every social!) that offers really good food in the day and different activity nights including open mic nights (brilliant!). A club, which is actually pretty good - they expand the club to cover a whole floor on the last friday of every month for a bigger night. It has two restauants upstairs, one's like a nandos and the other 'the social kitchen' serves loads of different food and there's loads of seating. There's a subway on campus, HSBC, a chemist, a food shop, student union, volunteering etc. So yes lots!

The library is well packed and has dedicated sections. There's a quad where lot's of engaging stuff happens throughout the year (We're going to be pulling an all-nighter watching the election won a big screen there for the election next May hopefully! - lots of activities running alongside it too!) and there's always stuff going on along the promenade such as stalls and fresh fruit and veg markets.

So yes, all in all I would say as someone coming from Sussex, from the private school system and having worked for a few years prior to deciding university would be a worthwhile experience it's a really good uni! Just a shame there's not more people in tweed on a daily basis :wink:
Reply 3
Original post by Onwards and Upwards!
Poor in what sense of the word? Because if you mean poor in the league tables, then you could do a lot worse. Brunel offers excellent sports facilities. The lecture theatre has recently had a makeover and is very well laid out. The lecturers I've encountered so far (fresher) have been brilliant and gained their doctorates from all number of universities including the much vaunted Oxford and Cambridge, the subjects are thrilling, the workload is high. The societies are generally well run and numerous, lot's of wednesday socials but an emphasis on 'work comes first' It's one of the few universities on the tube network that has a campus and it takes about 45 minutes to get into central.

Further to this, the university has: a bar (which is very good and the start of every social!) that offers really good food in the day and different activity nights including open mic nights (brilliant!). A club, which is actually pretty good - they expand the club to cover a whole floor on the last friday of every month for a bigger night. It has two restauants upstairs, one's like a nandos and the other 'the social kitchen' serves loads of different food and there's loads of seating. There's a subway on campus, HSBC, a chemist, a food shop, student union, volunteering etc. So yes lots!

The library is well packed and has dedicated sections. There's a quad where lot's of engaging stuff happens throughout the year (We're going to be pulling an all-nighter watching the election won a big screen there for the election next May hopefully! - lots of activities running alongside it too!) and there's always stuff going on along the promenade such as stalls and fresh fruit and veg markets.

So yes, all in all I would say as someone coming from Sussex, from the private school system and having worked for a few years prior to deciding university would be a worthwhile experience it's a really good uni! Just a shame there's not more people in tweed on a daily basis :wink:

This.
I know people who are at Liverpool, QMUL, Leicester and I already have tons of experience and things to put on my CV that will benefit me greatly for employment, whereas they have nothing apart from Student Rep. All provideded by the university, who know that employability is just as important as getting your degree :smile:
Oh and in addition to this they offer free access to language courses on campus. So for instance I've elected to learn arabic whilst I'm here (very hard, but very useful if I want to work in the emirates for a bit or in an international role!) They also have mandarin, russian, european languages etc.

For £20 you have access to the arts departments facilities such as free music lessons, guitar, piano, and so on for the whole year.

There's a gym on campus, like I say really good sports facilities (Usain Bolt trained in our athletics centre for the 2012 olympics, clearly up to a high standard! :wink: ) there's a sports coffee shop/bar there too which is good!

We also have this thing called the 'Sports Performance Programme' for particular sports (rowing, rugby, netball, squash, athletics) which is basically where they bring in high caliber trainers to push you further, it gives you access to the International Athletics Centre it's specialised gym plus free access to the on campus spar/plunge pool etc.

Ummm... and yes, Brunel has a high level of student satisfaction, has an excellent placement department, is constantly bombarding you with work experience opportunities that are relevant to your course (again it states university work comes first) and has an excellent academic skills department where every 'school' has dedicated staff to help you with your academic writing and so on...

and let me tell you as someone who has worked in 'the real world' in good jobs before coming to university, a degree is not everything to all people when you leave. If you do not take full advantage of everything university offers you including volunteering opportunities, societies membership, work experience, summer placements and so on regardless of the university you went to you're not going to be as competitive as you can be when you're going up against people in the job market who have experience in the field. University isn't all about working hard on your essays/coursework etc and then not turning up for lectures and getting drunk every night. That can form part of it sure, but unless you want the shock of your life when you leave, where you can't get a smaller job between applications to that dream job your degree is geared towards, for instance, because you haven't got any real work experience, then you need to think intelligently about why you are going and what you can do to make yourself better in all areas.

That's my two cents on the subject anyway.
Original post by Onwards and Upwards!
Poor in what sense of the word? Because if you mean poor in the league tables, then you could do a lot worse. Brunel offers excellent sports facilities. The lecture theatre has recently had a makeover and is very well laid out. The lecturers I've encountered so far (fresher) have been brilliant and gained their doctorates from all number of universities including the much vaunted Oxford and Cambridge, the subjects are thrilling, the workload is high. The societies are generally well run and numerous, lot's of wednesday socials but an emphasis on 'work comes first' It's one of the few universities on the tube network that has a campus and it takes about 45 minutes to get into central.

Further to this, the university has: a bar (which is very good and the start of every social!) that offers really good food in the day and different activity nights including open mic nights (brilliant!). A club, which is actually pretty good - they expand the club to cover a whole floor on the last friday of every month for a bigger night. It has two restauants upstairs, one's like a nandos and the other 'the social kitchen' serves loads of different food and there's loads of seating. There's a subway on campus, HSBC, a chemist, a food shop, student union, volunteering etc. So yes lots!

The library is well packed and has dedicated sections. There's a quad where lot's of engaging stuff happens throughout the year (We're going to be pulling an all-nighter watching the election won a big screen there for the election next May hopefully! - lots of activities running alongside it too!) and there's always stuff going on along the promenade such as stalls and fresh fruit and veg markets.

So yes, all in all I would say as someone coming from Sussex, from the private school system and having worked for a few years prior to deciding university would be a worthwhile experience it's a really good uni! Just a shame there's not more people in tweed on a daily basis :wink:


Our lecture centre is an appalling disgrace.

Only the 3 big lecture theatres on the second floor are worthy of any attention. The rest is downright rubbish, and as for the exterior? OMG.
Original post by Isambard Kingdom Brunel
Our lecture centre is an appalling disgrace.

Only the 3 big lecture theatres on the second floor are worthy of any attention. The rest is downright rubbish, and as for the exterior? OMG.


Haha! The exterior of the lecture theatre is awful, they really need to do something with it so it's less of an eye sore, what's bad about the lecture rooms?
Original post by Onwards and Upwards!
Haha! The exterior of the lecture theatre is awful, they really need to do something with it so it's less of an eye sore, what's bad about the lecture rooms?


The main lecture theatres look tired and dull, and the seats are only slightly preferable to sitting on upturned drawing pins. They only have one screen, too, which mmeans that if a lecturer wants to use the visualiser and the computer they have to keep switching between then. The other rooms suffer from similar afflictions.
Apparently Brunel has one of the best student unions around. I've just applied for a evolutionary psychology masters, do you know how many days I'd have to go in if it was part time?
Reply 9
Original post by Bongo Bongo
Apparently Brunel has one of the best student unions around. I've just applied for a evolutionary psychology masters, do you know how many days I'd have to go in if it was part time?
The student union is great, they hold plenty of events. Recently we had the Colour Dash for charity, loved it!
I dont know about part time, but currently Evolutionary Psychology masters students go in for 3 days a week :smile:
Reply 10
Hey I was wondering would Brunel Uni accept you for Computer Science if you had 4 A*-C ???
Reply 11
Original post by Mussy1
Hey I was wondering would Brunel Uni accept you for Computer Science if you had 4 A*-C ???
On the websites, it says typical offers are AAB, but it is quite lenient, I know people who got 2 grades less than their offer but still got in. It also Depends on the course and how much applications they have to be honest :smile:
Reply 12
Original post by Econ1906
Hi
Currently at Brunel, received a lot of help when I was deciding whether to choose the uni or not (thanks to Audien especially) so thought I`d return the favour!
Ask away :smile:


What course are you studying at Brunel? Also, why did you want to study there??
Reply 13
Original post by N.Choi
What course are you studying at Brunel? Also, why did you want to study there??
I`m doing Economics. I mainly chose it because they have good links with industry and have a great placement and careers service (won awards for it too), and as I wanted to do a sandwich course, I went for it :smile:
I also love that its so diverse, I`ve met people from all over the world, the campus is only a bus ride away from the town centre, and so far they`ve held a lot of employability events, and we`re still in term 1 :smile:
Original post by Econ1906
The student union is great, they hold plenty of events. Recently we had the Colour Dash for charity, loved it!
I dont know about part time, but currently Evolutionary Psychology masters students go in for 3 days a week :smile:


Thanks. Yh the student union student satisfaction is in the top 5 for the uk I think.
Reply 15
Hi I was just wondering what the film and television studies course is like in Brunel?
Reply 16
Original post by ehtp
Hi I was just wondering what the film and television studies course is like in Brunel?
I have a friend who does it and she loves it. The course consists of screenings, shoots and assignments and she is enjoying it a lot. She`s currently in uni 4 days a week. If you have any more questions, let me know :smile:
Reply 17
Original post by Econ1906
I have a friend who does it and she loves it. The course consists of screenings, shoots and assignments and she is enjoying it a lot. She`s currently in uni 4 days a week. If you have any more questions, let me know :smile:


Thank you. I was just wondering what the town is like.
Reply 18
Original post by ehtp
Thank you. I was just wondering what the town is like.
Town is great, it has a lot to offer. Its has two main malls, one called the Pavilions, which mainly has shops to do with home, furniture and food e.g. Wilkinsons, Iceland
The other is opposite it, called Intu, has McDonalds and mainly clothing shops like Accessorise and New Look. And it has a sweet shop with chocolates, popping candy, lollipops and bon bons :biggrin:

Buses run every 10 minutes to the town, and the journey is only 5 minutes.
Reply 19
How's the racism up there? Heard it's excellent... -.-

edit:
ignore what I just wrote
(edited 9 years ago)

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