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University College London, University of London
University College London
London

Small fish in a big pond...

I am an offer holder for UCL however I have a concern about the lack of campus feel to the university. I am worried that it will be hard to make friends and settle into the university because it is spread out across such as busy city. Does anyone have any experience of settling into UCL, making friends and the provisions that UCL put into to help freshers?
Honest opinions/experiences would be great!
Reply 1
Avatar for bj1
bj1
15
Original post by eveog
I am an offer holder for UCL however I have a concern about the lack of campus feel to the university. I am worried that it will be hard to make friends and settle into the university because it is spread out across such as busy city. Does anyone have any experience of settling into UCL, making friends and the provisions that UCL put into to help freshers?
Honest opinions/experiences would be great!


I'm bumping this... I am wondering the same! I have an offer for Natural sciences here and Durham - these are my top two choices, of course UCL is better for worldwide reputation and research but I do feel like I would feel a bit anonymous in the city rather than a closer community. I guess there is an opportunity to make friends in halls/societies etc.

I've also heard that there is a heavy emphasis on independent learning with few lectures/seminars/tutorials ? Of course I expect all universities to have a much lower contact time but UCL's satisfaction seems to be low in terms of student support etc.
University College London, University of London
University College London
London
Reply 2
Avatar for TVIO
TVIO
12
Original post by bj1
I'm bumping this... I am wondering the same! I have an offer for Natural sciences here and Durham - these are my top two choices, of course UCL is better for worldwide reputation and research but I do feel like I would feel a bit anonymous in the city rather than a closer community. I guess there is an opportunity to make friends in halls/societies etc.

I've also heard that there is a heavy emphasis on independent learning with few lectures/seminars/tutorials ? Of course I expect all universities to have a much lower contact time but UCL's satisfaction seems to be low in terms of student support etc.


Original post by eveog
I am an offer holder for UCL however I have a concern about the lack of campus feel to the university. I am worried that it will be hard to make friends and settle into the university because it is spread out across such as busy city. Does anyone have any experience of settling into UCL, making friends and the provisions that UCL put into to help freshers?
Honest opinions/experiences would be great!

So UCL do a really good mentoring program where everyone is assigned a 2nd year on their course to help get them settled in and give advice. This has been super useful to me, had an excellent mentor. Most of the teaching is focused around the main UCL campus (furthest I go is 2 mins away), and there have been no problems making friends, the people here are generally great. As for student satisfaction, it is low and not entirely without reason. Management and organisation at UCL is often lacklustre so things often aren't as good as they sound on paper. BUT they usually still end up well (just worse than expected). I have approx 20 hours of labs/lectures/seminars per week which I think is fairly standard. Also societies are usually awesome. Quick shout out to techsoc, we're great, my £2 membership has long since paid for itself with huge amounts of events, food, swag and free drinks.

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