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Do not go to the RVC!

Just a warning, something they never tell you.

Your first two years are in Camden, London - great times.
Last 3 years you move out into Hertfordshire, Hawkshead Campus. Beautiful area, large campus with excellent facilities including the impressive QMH hospital. All good stuff!

However, in your 3rd and 4th years you are not allowed to park on campus. This is a major problem that is never ending! It might not sound like a major issue but trust me you will be regretting coming to the RVC when you park your car outside campus in the mud and have to wait 3 hours for the AA to come and get you out or during your 50 minute walk into town (Potter's Bar) in pitch darkness along the ''rape trail''. Or when the college or your **** of a SU president call the police to ticket you.

This is the situation... Hawkshead campus is located outside any town/city/village, access is only via a 60 mph road (country road) with NO footpath. There is a dodgy footpath along the railtrack from Potters Bar some of the way but there is no lighting and very muddy. When it is dark at 4 and lectures finish at 5 or 6 - not fun and it known as the rape trail for a reason. College provide buses but these are rarely used often late and expensive. Plus you don't go to uni, not to have your independence with your free time (you are trapped at college). Just outside the college the majority of 3rd and 4th years park their cars off the road on the verge, in mud. It is tricky and very limited. You have to wake up early to get a resonable parking space to avoiding getting stuck and/or ticketed.

The REALLY annoying thing about all of this is the way the college treats this situation. THEY DONT CARE! They call in the police randomly to ticket students. They also have this idea that students driving into college ( which you need to do) is bad and wrong (the environment and all, yet they all have parking and drive in). It is too much of a hassel for them to put their foot down and do something about it so they prefer to use this ''bad student'' idea. Many of the staff could benefit from a 50 minutes walk twice a day.
Being at the RVC you start to get the feeling college only use you as a business aspect/money-incomer rather than an individual student (there are a number of reasons for this, including an increase in intake of american students who pay about $33,000 a year). A 10 year plan for developement was announced the other day with absolutely no improvement for parking or footpaths into college, so there is no hope for future students either and more and more students are coming to the RVC.

What we need is a SU committee willing to change the impossible but this creates another problem, our default su president is all but that, 1% a student 'representative' and 99% a suck up. It is a joke.

Apparently someone needs to die on the road before they are willing to do something about this issue. Someone got hit last year and went to hospital - nothing! and there have been countless dents, scratches and crashes with the cars.

I have enjoyed the RVC, made loads of friends, getting the vet degree done and all but if I had to start again I would go to another university!

Think twice, vent over

wow

A girl at riding at uni went there and left after the 1st year because she hated it, but never mentioned the car situation. I've never fancied living in london to be honest.

OP

it is not an issue in first and second year as you are actually in central london (awesome times, trust me) no one even has a car there. It is the final 3 years when you living in the country side in Hertfordshire (like Bristol).

Reply 5

Transatlanticdrawl_

11

I know for certain I am not off to London. I don't like London one bit, university aside, I hate the city. I don't even know why I applied there, in fact I sorta wish I'd applied to Cambridge/Edinburgh in its place.

But anyway

Reply 6

RVCstudents

OP

and another thing is that there is also a threat that the principal might enclose a form for new students to sign in their welcome packs stating their agreement that they will not park on Hawkshead lane (outside college)

Reply 7

Dissey

9

Do other vet schools not have this problem?

Reply 8

Transatlanticdrawl_

11

I wouldn't take a car to uni anyway, let alone to london

Reply 9

x_Bex_x

Glasgow's in the city with really good public transport links so as far as I am aware no.

Reply 10

Dissey

9

What about Notts/Bris/Liv?

Reply 11

rupertbear91

i know liverpool doesnt have a problem as leahurst has on site student parking cos i parked in it on my work experience! And notts has a sign post for student parking when i went their so presumably they have sum.

Reply 12

Dissey

9

So why is RVC being so bitchy?! I'm sure craploads of people have complained, why don't they do anything about it?!

Reply 13

J_E_N_N_Y

1

Liv: 1st year very few people have them. you cant park on campus and tbh getting from halls to uni isnt worth it for all the traffic, you might as well take the bus. The people that do have them in first year use them for things like getting to the supermarkets or up to wyncote sports grounds. and some have them for going to there horses which are further outa town and things like going home for weekends. Basicly all first years get bus passes. they are pretty much every 5-10mins during the day for getting into and out of uni and are no problem at all. and every 20mins after 7 and run till 1:15. You can get a bus anywhere and supermarkets and wyncote are walking distance tbh.
A few more 2nd and 3rd years have cars but again not that many do. They mostly live in private housing in the smithdown road and wavertree areas. The buses jsut as frequent if not more so in these areas. You can park on campus then i think but again i dont know anyone who drives into uni. the people who have cars use them for other things.
4th and 5th years: your out at leahurst and most people live in neston and i dont no anyone without a car tbh. They say you should try and pass your driving test before uni so you dont have to during uni. 4th year appartly you can get away with not having a driving lisense/car if you live with people who do and get lifts all year as you will be going in at the same times pretty much. 5th year a car is needed as you have roatations and call outs etc so unless you can cycle very fast then you need one. The parking at leahurst seems plentyful. there is a student carpark which is pretty big and a seperate car park for staff and the cilents at the animal hospitals.

So no as far as i know parking is not a problem.

Reply 14

Dissey

9

Transatlanticdrawl_

I know for certain I am not off to London. I don't like London one bit, university aside, I hate the city. I don't even know why I applied there, in fact I sorta wish I'd applied to Cambridge/Edinburgh in its place.

But anyway

If they ask you for an interview, will you decline it?

Reply 15

Fandellos

13

is cycling completely out of the question?

Reply 16

RVCstudents

OP

just to confirm to all. The last 3 years at the RVC are NOT in London, in fact they are in the countryside on the other side of the m25 where you need a car for daily things like shopping. Ie No tube! Cycling is a great summer option.

Reply 17

Shockley

15

Sounds like an absolute nightmare. Surely it wouldnt kill them to open another car park, even if they had to charge students an annual parking fee it would sort the problem out. It sounds like a very bad safety issue and I'm surprised at the RVC for that.

Reply 18

RVCstudents

OP

Protests have been held in previous years (blocking the road), but still nothing. It just made the college even more angry and 5th years couldn't get in to go to their rotations - error!

Reply 19

steph_v

13

That's awful. Although, it still won't put me off.

Do not go to the RVC!

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