[thrilled]

Hey guys, I'm starting at UCL in September and I'd like to know a couple of things, as I'm coming from abroad:

a. are duvet/quilts/sheets (bedding) sold on moving-in day? I'm not actually sure I can bring that from abroad as my suitcases are going to be full of other things already...
b. are reading lamps usually included in rooms?
c. how does the Internet connection work if it's a double room?! I'm not too sure how it works, is there just one ethernet cable? Is it wireless?

Thanks in advance!

[PJ991]

(Original post by thrilled)
Hey guys, I'm starting at UCL in September and I'd like to know a couple of things, as I'm coming from abroad:

a. are duvet/quilts/sheets (bedding) sold on moving-in day? I'm not actually sure I can bring that from abroad as my suitcases are going to be full of other things already...
b. are reading lamps usually included in rooms?
c. how does the Internet connection work if it's a double room?! I'm not too sure how it works, is there just one ethernet cable? Is it wireless?

Thanks in advance!

a. yes. I believe you order in advance for about £50.

b. no, not in most. Don't expect one unless somewhere says explicitly

c. two ports. some halls have wireless, and those near a campus building may pick up eduroam.

[sundogs]

(Original post by uni2012)
Hi! this thread is awesome. just a couple questions about societies I want to join. I'm really interested in journalism so I definitely want to sign up for either Pi or the cheese grater, or both! anyone know what they're like or what the major differences between them are? socially as well as creatively?

Also, how much of a time commitment is joining a sport society? Is it difficult to maintain that + other clubs + school work? I'm debating joining women's hockey. anyone know how competitive it is?


Thanks guys

Pi and Cheese grater are quite different. As has already been pointed out, cheese grater is satirical - Pi is the formal/official student newspaper and magazine.
My experience of cheesegrater is that a lot of the contributors are unbearably cliquey and a little bit desperate but that may just be personal gripe.
Also, you may want to look at The Buzz - it's an online tabloid and contributing is dead easy.
Sport Societies can be quite hefty on your time but definitely doable particularly in first year and you make loads of friends through them particularly if you go along to sports night!

Shamelessly plugging one of my own societies here but if you want to keep engaged with current affairs and see a number of journalists live then you may want to think about Debating Society.
Commitment wise its very flexible -public debates are monday nights and you can just watch if you want with high profile speakers!
Thursday nights are training workshops.

[Freiheit]

(Original post by sundogs)

Shamelessly plugging one of my own societies here but if you want to keep engaged with current affairs and see a number of journalists live then you may want to think about Debating Society.
Commitment wise its very flexible -public debates are monday nights and you can just watch if you want with high profile speakers!
Thursday nights are training workshops.

What happens in the training workshops?

[sundogs]

(Original post by Freiheit)
What happens in the training workshops?

Lots of practice debates with feedback and general debatingy things - it's from these that people are picked out to represent the society/UCL at IV competitions all over the country.

[Ms. Brightside]

Hello everyone! I live in South Africa and I am applying to UCL for medicine (MBBS) to start September 2013 or September 2014 (deferred entry). Although I have a British passport etc. and technically considered a British citizen, I have never been to UCL or any other universities in London in fact. Could you please give me some advice with regards to life in London for someone who never really lived there. I know the question is not specific, but I want as many opinions as I can get. Whatever you say will be of great help. Could you please give me some advice in terms of residences, the university itself and London life as an entity. Thanks

[Dominika4]

(Original post by Ms. Brightside)
Hello everyone! I live in South Africa and I am applying to UCL for medicine (MBBS) to start September 2013 or September 2014 (deferred entry). Although I have a British passport etc. and technically considered a British citizen, I have never been to UCL or any other universities in London in fact. Could you please give me some advice with regards to life in London for someone who never really lived there. I know the question is not specific, but I want as many opinions as I can get. Whatever you say will be of great help. Could you please give me some advice in terms of residences, the university itself and London life as an entity. Thanks

Hi! As you can expect this sort of question is really not popular (I see you posted a similar question some time ago), so I doubt there will be many who would like to answer (in a way that you would find helpful or satisfactory), but maybe I can be of some assistence by providing you with links to web pages where you can find what you´re looking for:

1) ISOP (includes info about London): http://www.ucl.ac.uk/prospective-stu...sop_sept11.pdf
2) Living in London: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/admission/trans...ondon_2008.pdf
3) New International Students (means non-uk; video talks on UCL and London): http://www.ucl.ac.uk/prospective-stu...ture-briefings
4) UCL International (official FB page): http://www.facebook.com/uclinternational
5) UCL (official FB page - more info about what UCL does/represents): http://www.facebook.com/uclofficial
6) International Student Support (living in London and studying at UCL): http://www.ucl.ac.uk/iss
7) UCL 2013 Undergraduate Prospectus: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/prospective-stu...downloads/2013
8) Student Finance: http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Educatio...ance/index.htm
9) SFE (official FB page): http://www.facebook.com/SFEngland
10) UCL Residences: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/prospective-stu...ion/residences
11) Intercollegiate Halls: http://www.halls.london.ac.uk/student/Default.aspx
12) UCL residences (official FB page): https://www.facebook.com/UCLstudentresidences
13) Undergraduate Scholarships: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/prospective-stu...undergraduate/
14) UCL Student Finance: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/prospective-stu...osts/2012-site
15) UCL Living expenses: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/prospective-stu...iving-expenses

For info on personal experience there are plenty of threads on the student room that deal with particular houses/halls. Also, I find people at UCL very welcoming and eager to help, so should you have any queries do not hesitate to write directly to them - either via FB or email (questions dealing with particular problems - general queries will be answered, but you can expect being forwarded to their website, where all the necessary info is). As you will be studying medicine I suggest you write a post here about what exactly it is that you are interested in with regard to your course. Few months back I was in the same position as you. I have never been to London/UK, applied and had to look for tons of info on my own as there was no one in my immediate circle of family or friends to help (position in which many - especially non-UK applicants - find themselves in this time). You just have to accept that your application process will take a lot of time and searching. I hope this will help you to start! Good luck!

[sundogs]

(Original post by Ms. Brightside)
Hello everyone! I live in South Africa and I am applying to UCL for medicine (MBBS) to start September 2013 or September 2014 (deferred entry). Although I have a British passport etc. and technically considered a British citizen, I have never been to UCL or any other universities in London in fact. Could you please give me some advice with regards to life in London for someone who never really lived there. I know the question is not specific, but I want as many opinions as I can get. Whatever you say will be of great help. Could you please give me some advice in terms of residences, the university itself and London life as an entity. Thanks

London life is brilliant and really exciting - very vibrant and always something to do. Some people don't like it so much as they prefer more of a 'bubble feel' to university life but personally it suits me very well! We're very close to lots of main tourist sites and free museums etc.
In terms of UCL, we have lots of facilities, are well equipped for academic/extra curricular activities (about 15 libraries and a decent union etc.)

Most people choose halls for first year and these are guaranteed for everyone - you ca be quite close by or a bit further out (although nobody ends up more than a short bus ride - I was about 20 minutes walk away) and these are great for making friends although a little expensive depending on which you go for.

It's a modern, cosmopolitan university with a large international student body,(and no UCL didn't pay me to say that!). We're secular by foundation but of course there are lots of religious societies and clubs.

Don't know what else to tell you - PM me if you want to ask more!

ALSO cheeky as this may be do you think you could fill out this quick survey for my dissertation - it's on South African English

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/PP32RD7

Take care and please do PM if you want to chat about anything more UCL related.

[uni2012]

Thanks sundogs and lilys!! very helpful. also, debating soc sounds fantastic, i'll definitely check it out!

[coffee-spoons]

(Original post by Moiraclaire)
I'd guesss you have to keep taking them out/read them in the library etc though :L I'm guessing there's a few you'd want to read all year round

I started of using the books in the liberary, but after a week I gave up. I would suggest buying your core course text books, as you will need to use them most days, including holidays, and they'll probably only be a handful in the liberary.

For non core text books, don't bother buying.

However, expect to splash out approx £100 on textbooks.

[coffee-spoons]

(Original post by thrilled)
Hey guys, I'm starting at UCL in September and I'd like to know a couple of things, as I'm coming from abroad:

a. are duvet/quilts/sheets (bedding) sold on moving-in day? I'm not actually sure I can bring that from abroad as my suitcases are going to be full of other things already...
b. are reading lamps usually included in rooms?
c. how does the Internet connection work if it's a double room?! I'm not too sure how it works, is there just one ethernet cable? Is it wireless?

Thanks in advance!

Lamps were included in my halls.

Ucl also have a international trip to IKea, which would be useful to buy kitchen equipment and stuff for your room

[aryanrana]

Will a Masters Degree help me get into UCL, KCL, LSE or Cambridge?

I am a student in Toronto, Ontario. I go to York University and I just finished my BA (Hons.) in Political Science. I have a CGPA of 6/9 which is a "B" at my school. However, I was diagnosed with ADHD in summer 2011 and my marks post diagnosis are pretty good. My last two years GPA is a 7/9 which is a "B+" (75%+). I got accepted into the M.A. program at my university and I wanted to know how much an MA will help in getting accepted to UCL, LSE, KCl or Cambridge. I am also doing interviews with politicians in India as part of my MA research and I will be making a documentary on the Kashmir conflict but Ill be showing the perspective of the Indian Government and Hindus that have been expelled from Kashmir as well as former soldiers from Pakistan and India to show the depth of this conflict. Do you think a documentary as such will help me? In this documentary I will also be interviewing the Prince of Kashmir Raja Karan Singh. Please tell me my chances of getting accepted because I dont have the A CGPA these universities ask for.

[babycurlz]

I was hoping someone might know the answer to my question... I just finished a year of history at Queen Mary and applied to transfer over to UCL through UCAS. Although they gave me second year entry initially, they later told me I would have to sit the first year again because there weren't enough spaces available. I've now decided I want to move to UCL, which would mean my year at Queen Mary did not count towards anything. So does anyone know if I have to state on my CV that I studied a year at Queen Mary before moving to UCL...or if I could just say I was on a gap year working? Thanks

[Ivanka]

(Original post by babycurlz)
I was hoping someone might know the answer to my question... I just finished a year of history at Queen Mary and applied to transfer over to UCL through UCAS. Although they gave me second year entry initially, they later told me I would have to sit the first year again because there weren't enough spaces available. I've now decided I want to move to UCL, which would mean my year at Queen Mary did not count towards anything. So does anyone know if I have to state on my CV that I studied a year at Queen Mary before moving to UCL...or if I could just say I was on a gap year working? Thanks

You shouldn't lie by all means. Whether you include the information about Queen Mary or not is up to you, but don't say you did something you actually didn't do.

[RosieInWonderland]

Sorry if someone has already asked this but I'm worried about finances, as I can't get any help from my mum because she doesn't earn a lot, and I'm just really worried that I'll end up going into overdraft every month What are your experiences with this and do you think I could survive? Thank you

[tkane]

(Original post by babycurlz)
I was hoping someone might know the answer to my question... I just finished a year of history at Queen Mary and applied to transfer over to UCL through UCAS. Although they gave me second year entry initially, they later told me I would have to sit the first year again because there weren't enough spaces available. I've now decided I want to move to UCL, which would mean my year at Queen Mary did not count towards anything. So does anyone know if I have to state on my CV that I studied a year at Queen Mary before moving to UCL...or if I could just say I was on a gap year working? Thanks

If you did the exams at Queen Mary they should give you a Certificate of Higher Education for your first year.

You can choose what to put down on your CV.

However, if you have a form from an employer and they ask you to list all your qualifications, then you will have to mention it.

[PJ991]

(Original post by RosieInWonderland)
Sorry if someone has already asked this but I'm worried about finances, as I can't get any help from my mum because she doesn't earn a lot, and I'm just really worried that I'll end up going into overdraft every month What are your experiences with this and do you think I could survive? Thank you

Why not try asking the financial support office? I don't have any experience with them, but they must have loadssssssss of money, so if you're genuinely in need of it they might be able to help. The normal UCL bursary is quite generous too. You might just have to get a job and live frugally.

[arcl]

(Original post by RosieInWonderland)
Sorry if someone has already asked this but I'm worried about finances, as I can't get any help from my mum because she doesn't earn a lot, and I'm just really worried that I'll end up going into overdraft every month What are your experiences with this and do you think I could survive? Thank you

I'm on maximum bursaries and grants from SLC and UCL and I didn't need to get a job or ask my parents for money during the first or second years (I also lived out second year, halls in first year. I have a job for third year but that's not due to money issues)

I worked over Christmas and Easter, but even without working, I was fine for money generally. If your financial situation at home is like you say, you'll be entitled to enough money from student finance and ucl to get you through reasonably comfortably, just keep on top of your finances.

[aryanrana]

Does being a Masters student help in getting admission in UCL ???

[emerald13]

how difficult is it to get into UCL for medicine? what AS grades do you need and how much work experience?
thanks