I am a final year student at Aston university. Happy to answer any questions!

Does Aston have ariel sockets for TVs in the bedrooms or do I need to buy a indoor ariel? My friend that have started uni have sockets so just wondering?

Secondly are there lamps like desk ones? I usually have one when I'm going work late at night?

Posted from TSR Mobile

The rooms have neither, you will need to supply them yourself, each room does however have both power sockets and ethernet ports for you to directly plug into.

Reply 41

J56

5

Original post by Aston University

The rooms have neither, you will need to supply them yourself, each room does however have both power sockets and ethernet ports for you to directly plug into.

So how would I go about getting TV signal?

Posted from TSR Mobile

Original post by J56

So how would I go about getting TV signal?

Posted from TSR Mobile

Indoor Ariel, Digibox. Or just do what most students do and circumvent the need for a TV by using streaming websites.

Reply 43

harvingill

2

Does your student loan cover your rent? I'm thinking of firming Aston for Chemical Engineering however i'm worried my student finance won't cover my rent and living cost, especially because my parents would much rather me live at home (so they won't be giving me money, from london btw) so i'm worried about that, otherwise i'll have to take a gap year and apply to london uni's instead :/

(total household income from parents is around 50k)

Original post by harvingill

Does your student loan cover your rent? I'm thinking of firming Aston for Chemical Engineering however i'm worried my student finance won't cover my rent and living cost, especially because my parents would much rather me live at home (so they won't be giving me money, from london btw) so i'm worried about that, otherwise i'll have to take a gap year and apply to london uni's instead :/

(total household income from parents is around 50k)

Student loans should cover your rent, however this is variable depending on the type of accommodation you choose, it's important to work out how much student finance you will receive and then look at the rates of the accommodation you would like. Most university accommodation such as our own is designed to fit within the means of your student loan.

Reply 45

hallowedcrux

I'm pretty close to making Pyschology and Sociology at Aston my firm choice and since you did the same course I just wanted to find out your opinion on the course?

Original post by hallowedcrux

I'm pretty close to making Pyschology and Sociology at Aston my firm choice and since you did the same course I just wanted to find out your opinion on the course?

No worries.

My personal experience is that i loved the course. I managed to get the best of both worlds looking at human behaviour from both the scientific angle of psychology and the more emotive angle of sociology.

The course totaled around eight modules a term. In the first year three from each subject and research methods affixed to both. It really puts you in good stead for your dissertation doing double the amount of research methods.

Psychology modules were some of the most interesting classes i've ever sat in. Depending on which side of psychology you're into you can go the hardcore biological route and look at areas of the brain and perception of sense or the more social route with things such as child development, anger ect.

Sociology became a more enjoyable experience in the later years of the course. A fair chunk of the first year felt like A level+ only instead of using an AQA textbook you seek out the source texts. There however do exist some really interesting modules in the last term, you can break away from the typical Social Theory, Race, Class, Gender and Religion lectures to look at things such as The Health Service, Technology, Music, there was even a module on Tattoos in my final year which sadly i never had the chance to take.

The assessments were often nicely packaged, you tended to either be given an exam or an essay per module. As long as you adhere to your reading list and throw in a little bit of flair by showing a few texts you've sourced yourself you should be in good stead for a decent mark.

Graduate wise, it leaves you a well balanced and rounded individual with the ability to work with statistics, social policy, mental disabilities and a range of other careers. I for example am working in digital marketing for the University itself. However i've had friends go on to work in rehabilitation centers, the government or even carry on to do masters and PHD's. Make sure to make the most of your placement year so you have some good experience to leave university with.

Anything else i'm happy to help. apologies if i've chewed your ear off. :wink:

Reply 47

Mamuda

How is the modern language? department because I am looking to study psychology but I am aware that they allow you to do a language aswell and since I am doing Dutch A2 atm I wanted to know how the department is.

Posted from TSR Mobile

Hi there,

Our languages department is fantastic, the scheme currently offered allows you to learn a language for free in your first year, unfortunately we do not offer Dutch, thus you wont be able to carry on your A Level. However we do offer a number of other languages, you can find more information here.

Reply 49

1nconnu

5

Me and my friends applied for accommodation in halls for 2nd year. How likely do you think it is it that they'll place us together?

Original post by 1nconnu

Me and my friends applied for accommodation in halls for 2nd year. How likely do you think it is it that they'll place us together?

If you have requested to live together, highly likely. Especially if you have applied under the ASV early bird scheme. It gives Accommodation the most time to allocate you a place.

Reply 51

AOI22

Hi,
So I've just written an exam, and I'm pretty sure I've written my candidate number instead of student number. Is this a big problem? What should I do??

Reply 52

TheSheldonator

I am a first year student, i have just finished January exams and i know that i am going to fail them i have been depressed lately (not diagnosed though) but i know i have it as some days i just cant even get out of bed (amongst other things).

Anyway exams really stress me out and lately i have been going through my exams and i have noticed that i have written all my exams in pencil!!?!! ( I know i am such an idiot) if i haven't failed and somehow managed to pass will i fail anyway for writing in pencil ??

What is the universities policy on failing exams and modules and doing resits??
I really do not want to repeat my first year!!

Original post by AOI22

Hi,
So I've just written an exam, and I'm pretty sure I've written my candidate number instead of student number. Is this a big problem? What should I do??

Hi there, that's not really a big problem i've had a number of friends do that as well when i was doing my undergraduate degree here. What you should do is contact your lecturer and explain the situation. Then they will most likely ask you to complete a handwriting sample to confirm the paper submitted is yours.

You may have to wait until marks are out to do this process, as it's easier to go through three papers who can't be linked to people than the thousands that all need marking now. So don't worry if you have a 0 show up on map, it will be amended later on.

Good luck! :smile:

Original post by TheSheldonator

I am a first year student, i have just finished January exams and i know that i am going to fail them i have been depressed lately (not diagnosed though) but i know i have it as some days i just cant even get out of bed (amongst other things).

Anyway exams really stress me out and lately i have been going through my exams and i have noticed that i have written all my exams in pencil!!?!! ( I know i am such an idiot) if i haven't failed and somehow managed to pass will i fail anyway for writing in pencil ??

What is the universities policy on failing exams and modules and doing resits??
I really do not want to repeat my first year!!

Sorry to hear you're feeling a bit stressed, exams are a horrible time for any student but unfortunately are a facet of doing a degree. You will be penalized for doing an exam in pencil, if you want some more information on the exams process you can see all of our undergraduate exam regulations here.

As for retakes a resits you can find them in the same area but a quick overview: If you fail an exam by 5% e.g. a score of 35% or above there is a process called condonement which you are allowed to access for up to any combination of 60 credits over your degree. This bumps you up to an automatic 40% which in first year will not effect your final classification.

Otherwise you will have to take a refereed exam which will be capped at 40% for the module unless you can provide exceptional circumstances of why your performance was poor, if you could get a diagnosis for your depression this would be a strong case. If you pass exceptional circumstances then you are allowed to do a differed exam which doesn't have a cap on the mark you can get.

Apologies if that was a barrage of information, if anything wasn't clear take a look through the exam regulations linked above or speak to the exam board for your department.

Eitherway, good luck and i hope you don't need to take any of my advice and do just fine, also if you're still feeling depressed counselling services are available through the university or you could speak to ARC in the students union.

Reply 55

TheSheldonator

Original post by Aston University

Sorry to hear you're feeling a bit stressed, exams are a horrible time for any student but unfortunately are a facet of doing a degree. You will be penalized for doing an exam in pencil, if you want some more information on the exams process you can see all of our undergraduate exam regulations here.

As for retakes a resits you can find them in the same area but a quick overview: If you fail an exam by 5% e.g. a score of 35% or above there is a process called condonement which you are allowed to access for up to any combination of 60 credits over your degree. This bumps you up to an automatic 40% which in first year will not effect your final classification.

Otherwise you will have to take a refereed exam which will be capped at 40% for the module unless you can provide exceptional circumstances of why your performance was poor, if you could get a diagnosis for your depression this would be a strong case. If you pass exceptional circumstances then you are allowed to do a differed exam which doesn't have a cap on the mark you can get.

Apologies if that was a barrage of information, if anything wasn't clear take a look through the exam regulations linked above or speak to the exam board for your department.

Eitherway, good luck and i hope you don't need to take any of my advice and do just fine, also if you're still feeling depressed counselling services are available through the university or you could speak to ARC in the students union.

thank you so much for the information, but i was wondering what kind of penalties i would face for writing in pencil (even though they were math related exams ??

Reply 56

AOI22

Original post by Aston University

Hi there, that's not really a big problem i've had a number of friends do that as well when i was doing my undergraduate degree here. What you should do is contact your lecturer and explain the situation. Then they will most likely ask you to complete a handwriting sample to confirm the paper submitted is yours.

You may have to wait until marks are out to do this process, as it's easier to go through three papers who can't be linked to people than the thousands that all need marking now. So don't worry if you have a 0 show up on map, it will be amended later on.

Good luck! :smile:

Thank you!

Original post by TheSheldonator

thank you so much for the information, but i was wondering what kind of penalties i would face for writing in pencil (even though they were math related exams ??