Newcastle University 2016 Entry

Hello everyone!

Welcome to Newcastle University’s official 2016 Entry thread here on The Student Room.

Our team will be responding to your queries on applications, and anything related to Newcastle University. If you have any questions, please get in touch. And for any questions you may not wish to post publicly, feel free to drop the team a private message.

The site will be monitored Monday–Friday, 9am–5pm and we will aim to respond to you within 24 hours.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Newcastle University Student Room Team: Christina, Persephone, Matt and Anna

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 1

dirtmother

8

We were told by a current student at Open Day about Richardson Road accommodation being due for demolition. It sounds as though this may have a serious impact on the environment and what is available (especially for those on a tight budget) for 2016 entrants. Do you have more information about this? The online gaming situation and this could really be a killer on what is otherwise an enticing offer.

OP

Original post by dirtmother

We were told by a current student at Open Day about Richardson Road accommodation being due for demolition. It sounds as though this may have a serious impact on the environment and what is available (especially for those on a tight budget) for 2016 entrants. Do you have more information about this? The online gaming situation and this could really be a killer on what is otherwise an enticing offer.

Hello,

Thanks for getting in touch. Yes, Richardson Road will be closing in June 2016 and will not be available for the 2016/17 intake. However, during the closure period, additional en suite rooms will be made available through a Managed Partnership Scheme/s.

With regards to budget, the University offers a range of options and room types to suit budgetand student needs which can be found at: http://www.ncl.ac.uk/accommodation/students/undergraduate/

With regard to online gaming, we would advise that one of our managed partnership sites would be best, as they operate with different internet providers and have different restrictions to the University internet provider. These sites include Liberty Plaza, The View, Turner Court and Victoria Hall.

I hope this helps. If you have any other questions, just give me a shout :smile:

Christina

Reply 3

dirtmother

8

Oh dear, seriously worrying news but I guess better to know now.

Reply 4

nelizabeth_

1

I'm looking to apply for Modern Languages and Business Studies for 2016 entry. I would rather do just Modern Languages (Spanish and German) but with the current employment situation my parents and previous language graduates who are struggling for work have advised me to do something 'extra' in order to help me secure a job at the end of it. The thing is, I'm not really interested in Business Studies, having done it at GCSE, but hopefully it will be a little different at degree level. So, my question is, by the end of first year, if I'm not enjoying the Business side of the degree, would it be possible to switch to pure languages?

OP

Original post by nelizabeth_

I'm looking to apply for Modern Languages and Business Studies for 2016 entry. I would rather do just Modern Languages (Spanish and German) but with the current employment situation my parents and previous language graduates who are struggling for work have advised me to do something 'extra' in order to help me secure a job at the end of it. The thing is, I'm not really interested in Business Studies, having done it at GCSE, but hopefully it will be a little different at degree level. So, my question is, by the end of first year, if I'm not enjoying the Business side of the degree, would it be possible to switch to pure languages?

Hello Nelizabeth,

Thanks for getting in touch. It's great to hear you're looking into applying for Modern Languages and Business Studies for 2016.

You'll be pleased to know that there would be no problems for you to drop the Business Studies and switch programmes to just Modern language at the end of stage 1. The only condition would be that you would need to keep doing both languages, as we do not do Spanish as a single language.

I hope this helps with your decision :smile:

Christina

Reply 6

nelizabeth_

1

Original post by Newcastle University

Hello Nelizabeth,

Thanks for getting in touch. It's great to hear you're looking into applying for Modern Languages and Business Studies for 2016.

You'll be pleased to know that there would be no problems for you to drop the Business Studies and switch programmes to just Modern language at the end of stage 1. The only condition would be that you would need to keep doing both languages, as we do not do Spanish as a single language.

I hope this helps with your decision :smile:

Christina

Ah that's good then, thanks :smile:

Reply 7

oribb

2

I will be coming to Newcastle as an ERASMUS exchange student, but I will only be there for semester 2. Should I look on my own for an accommodation as your campus accommodation is for student spending at least 42 weeks ?

OP

Original post by oribb

I will be coming to Newcastle as an ERASMUS exchange student, but I will only be there for semester 2. Should I look on my own for an accommodation as your campus accommodation is for student spending at least 42 weeks ?

Hi 😄

Thanks for getting in touch.

Erasmus students can apply to University accommodation, but as you are looking to study for one semester only unfortunately you won't be guaranteed a place. Private accommodation would probably be the best option however we have not yet opened applications for Semester 2 Erasmus students. Therefore, we would not suggest arranging any accommodation until you have applied and received an offer.

I hope this helps! Let us know if you have any further questions 😄

Best wishes,

Christina

Reply 9

Chicken Fajita

2

Why is the ukcat deadline so high for Newcastle?

Reply 10

Chicken Fajita

2

Can you give me the figures of places available, offers given, interview given and number of applicants for Medicine please.

OP

Original post by Chicken Fajita

Why is the ukcat deadline so high for Newcastle?

Original post by Chicken Fajita

Can you give me the figures of places available, offers given, interview given and number of applicants for Medicine please.

Hi 😄

Thanks for getting in touch and sorry its take awhile to get back to you.

I passed your questions on to the MBBS Admissions team and this is the response I received:

The UKCAT threshold is set by considering the scores achieved by those who apply to us.

Data on places available, offers given, interviews given and the number of applicants for Medicine may be requested from the University under the Freedom of Information Act. More information about this and how to make a specific request can be found on our website at: http://www.ncl.ac.uk/foi/access/infouniversity.htm

I hope this helps! Let us know if you have any other questions.

Best wishes,

Christina

Reply 12

dirtmother

8

Have to say, really not getting a great impression of the university from this thread... but useful to know I suppose when my son decides where to apply :-(

OP

Original post by dirtmother

Have to say, really not getting a great impression of the university from this thread... but useful to know I suppose when my son decides where to apply :-(

Hi dirtmother,

That's a shame :frown:

Is there anything in particular you're concerned about?

I graduated from Newcastle University last summer and Christina, who also posts with this account, is currently a student so hopefully we can help a bit.

Persephone

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 14

dirtmother

8

It's the attitude: why should we have to dig around to realise that there's going to be a shortage of cheaper accommodation in 2016 and students are going to be shunted into more expensive accommodation with risky terms and conditions (ie managed partnerships) And no gaming... when it is possible at other universities.

My son is not thinking of medicine but someone asked about why such a high UKCAT score is required (why not an answer such as "We find these predict success on our course best"????), didn't get a straight answer from the medical school and his other (not unusual) questions they want a FOI request before giving the information!

OP

Original post by dirtmother

It's the attitude: why should we have to dig around to realise that there's going to be a shortage of cheaper accommodation in 2016 and students are going to be shunted into more expensive accommodation with risky terms and conditions (ie managed partnerships) And no gaming... when it is possible at other universities.

My son is not thinking of medicine but someone asked about why such a high UKCAT score is required (why not an answer such as "We find these predict success on our course best"????), didn't get a straight answer from the medical school and his other (not unusual) questions they want a FOI request before giving the information!

Hi,

I'm sorry to hear that :frown:

Let's see if I can address some of the issues.

Information for accommodation for 2016 entry hasn't been finalised yet, but will be published online and in print as soon as it's ready. Richardson Road will be used in the coming year so it's still being advertised as this information is still relevant for incoming Freshers - but, yes, it will be closed for 2016 entry and so isn't included on our Open Day accommodation tours or accommodation tours for individuals/small groups.

I've passed your comments to our Accommodation Team so hopefully they can make sure the information is made clearer in future. Once Richardson Road is closed the next cheapest accommodation would be St. Mary's College, which is £81.27 a week for the 2015/16 year. You can see the planned developments for the Richardson Road site on our Accommodation Website http://www.ncl.ac.uk/accommodation/developments/

The Managed Partnership sites are vetted by the University so I certainly wouldn't describe them as risky. The Accommodation Service manage these applications in the same way as applications for University-owned accommodation and they fall under the New Students' Guarantee. There are other private housing companies in the city that students use, but as these haven't been vetted we wouldn't be able to recommend any. All students can use the Student Advice Centre in the Students' Union to get help and advice if anything does go wrong, regardless of who is managing the property :smile:

We have a lot of gamers at the University and we have a couple of gaming societies. Newcastle University Gaming Society organises weekly LAN parties and online sessions for games like Team Fortress 2 and Call of Duty, and there's the Computing and Technology Society, who held a 24-hour gaming marathon on campus last year to raise money for charity :smile:

They both have active Facebook groups and forums and I'm sure their members would happy to chat to you/your son about what they offer and their experiences in Uni accommodation.

With regards to the Medical School response, this is the first time they (or any other department at this University) have told us (the TSR reps) that an FOI request needs to be submitted. I know it wasn't your enquiry originally, but I'm chasing them up about it and seeing if we can get a satisfactory answer because you're totally right that it's not an acceptable response to a prospective student!

As I said above I have passed your feedback on and I'm really sorry that you've been given a negative view of the Uni.

All the best

Persephone

OP

Original post by Chicken Fajita

Why is the ukcat deadline so high for Newcastle?

Original post by Chicken Fajita

Can you give me the figures of places available, offers given, interview given and number of applicants for Medicine please.

Hi,

I got in touch with the Medical School to get more detailed answers for your questions. We don't have the full figures, but hopefully this will help you out a bit :smile:

For students applying for 2015 entry to A100 at the Newcastle Uni campus we had 847 applications, gave 669 interviews, and 272 applicants firmed their offer.

Our Medical and Dental Schools use the UKCAT as a way to make more informed choices about who to interview from the many highly-qualified applicants who apply for their degrees. The UKCAT Consortium rescaled the scores of some of their subjects for 2015 entry, which meant the average mark was lower than in previous years. This has had an effect on UKCAT thresholds. There's some information about it on our website here http://www.ncl.ac.uk/mbbs/admissions/documents/UKCATThresholdsImportantINFORMATION.pdf

Hope that's useful :smile:

Persephone

Reply 17

HardbackWriter

3

No online gaming would surely encourage people to get out of their rooms and actually experience the real world. Why bother going to university and have all the opportunities that this entails if you're going to fester in front of a computer?

Reply 18

rayquaza17

17

Online gaming is still possible in uni accommodation, it just takes a bit more effort to get it set up.

Reply 19

dirtmother

8

Thanks, that's useful to know. It is not for me to decide how my son should live his life - if online gaming is important to him (and it is currently) and some universities make it too difficult or expensive when others don't then that's going to be a factor in his choices.

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