Ask a current first year MMU student

So I saw a student do this last year and it was pretty helpful to some people so...Any questions/advice? Go ahead!

Background information:
So I'm Rhys, I'm from Liverpool and recently turned 20, I'm a current first year student at MMU studying Advertising and Brand Management in the business school, I actually started off doing Chemistry but left within the first 3 hours of the first day (Not even joking! - I literally ran out of the class in front of everyone and the tutors, but that's another story.). I currently live at Victoria Hall in block L in a single en-suite room, and work at H&M in Manchester Fort (a job I got within 6 days of moving here).

The one piece of advice I would give is DO NOT buy them stupid wristbands and freshers events tickets before you actually get here from private companies, You will either not go entirely or realise how much of a waste of money they actually are. It's all well and good buying a £20 for a one-week event, but you'll soon realise how far away the venues actually are, and how expensive the drinks can be. Last year I bought the unions own one and it was actually pretty good, it's where I met all my current friends and ones that I met on this forum and on facebook pages, and we all had an amazing time (And the drinks were cheap)! Also there's loads of independent bars that do events around this time anyway, again much cheaper and closer than any of the private ones so you aren't forking out for a taxi every night.

Hey I have applied for briarfields because I heard its bigger then Oxford court which I never got to see. But briarfields had a weird damp like smell when I visited it lol. But my mum said maybe they didn't open the windows. But overly it look pretty nice. But I think I might change it for Victoria as it looks much nicer like the shower everything, what is it like living in Victoria? How many people did you love with? Was it social your flat mates? We're your flat mates clean or really dirty? Also what was noise level like?

Hello

Two of my friends are living in Briarfields, one is in an en-suite 4 room flat, and the other a en-suite 3 room flat. Both wished they paid the extra £1 a week however as with Victoria hall, it's a private company and the repairs and replacements will generally be done within a few hours, where as with Briarfields, my friends shower didn't work for an entire week as they refused to class it as "an emergency", and the other one had a similar problem that took 2 weeks to fix. Here we got a new toaster, door lock, light fitting and window within a two hour window.

Personally Briarfields is actually nice, the thing about Victoria is that not all the flats look exactly like the photos (Some are actually like oxford court in the kitchen area) and generally all of the older student accommodations do have that damp smell including mine from time to time, it's not really fixable, but plug-in air freshener is a good thing to bring.

My flat mates are generally quiet and do clean up after themselves, and the noise isn't bad (in my block) but some blocks are known for mess and noise levels, it all depends on who you're allocated with. I tend not to hang around with my flatmates as they aren't my sort of crowd, However I've got friends in Victoria B and E block, Brairfields D and F, Wilmslow Park, Daisy Bank as well as Birley Fields and ones in private accommodation/housing so don't worry about the social aspect of things, as long as you get along it's all fine, you tend to just pick people up along the way and become best friends instantly (atleast that seems to be what I've done ).

Wow thanks for being so descriptive. I totally get what you mean about social aspect so that had calmed my nerves. So are you saying that your friends wish they lived in Victoria halls instead due to the shower breaking and stuff. Would you say personally living in Victoria has been better for you than if you lived in briarfields. Also I was defo going to bring the plug in air freshener.

What about the other places for accomodation like cambridge, i was looking at that and unsure on what to choose for my four preferences, please help

I couldn't really help you on that one as it's the only halls I've not been too alongside Cavendish!

How are you liking it, is the campus nice?

Does your university get students into front office Investment Banking roles? paying £50k+ base

That's down to the individual not the university.


50% of your degree should be own-study anyway, so saying "I never got this job because of going a metropolitan uni" would mean literally nothing.
Bill Gates dropped out of Harvard without a degree... He's not exactly begging on the streets

But that's the exception not the rule.

What do you plan to do after university, if you don't mind me asking, and what steps have you taken towards that.

The rule isn't "go to Oxford/Cambridge and get your dream job" either.

I'm loving it! The campus is really good compared to other inner-city universities from my home town, It might not have a huge park or be surrounded by the lake, but it's a five/ten minute walk to the bars, and fiveteen minutes walk to the City. You've got a train station down the road and a free bus to Shudehill/Arndale from the science block too.

A good thing about it is that everything is now focused around one square (except Birley which is down the road) compared to Uni of Manchester where all the campuses and halls are miles apart and are at opposite ends of the city. It means that you can just walk down the road to see your friends in other faculities, and a really short walk to the library from your seminar and lecture locations. Also buses wise there's frequent services to the Trafford Centre, City Centre, Curry Mile and Didsbury which has all the lesuire and food places on.

On this point specifically, there are a list of universities in which these competitive industries do target who get a lot of students into said careers, where MMU is not on any of said lists. It's more a matter of probability and feasilibility. Anyhow, I was interested in finding out whether students place decently, if at all, in these sectors, as I'm yet to find anyone who studies at MMU in any of my internships within Investment Banking specifically, is why I ask.

If I was to recommend a university, I would be curious as to the said career opportunities it would present, as for most people that's one of the main purposes of going to university.

Ahh that's quite unusual but nevertheless interesting, thanks for taking your time to tailor your response, I wish you all the very best in both your degree course and future career goals.

Why didn't you try harder on your A-Levels?