What is Queen Mary University like?

Hey there, I am an undergraduate at Queen Mary.
First of all no Queen Mary is not rubbish at all, in fact its the opposite of rubbish.
Queen Mary is one of the UK's leading research universities, ranking 9th in the 2014 REF research results among multi faculty universities, or 11th if specialised schools are included. QS ranks Queen Mary as 98th in the world and 19th in the UK whilst THE (Times Higher Education) Ranks Queen Mary as 13th in the UK and 107th in the world. Furthermore QM is among the best in the country for several subjects including: Law (Best in London and 3rd in the UK), Medicine (One of the best departments in the UK), Dentistry (1st), Economics (4th/6th) also several subjects including drama, english, geography, linguistics are in the top 10.
Now I know rankings are not too trustworthy but what they show is that Queen Mary is by all means not a bad university, it is in fact a strong, high quality research based institution which is rising its profile and aims to establish itself within the UK's top 10 in the coming years. It is well known and has a strong reputation. It achieves some of London highest NSS results and has one of the highest graduate starting salaries in the UK.
If you were to rank London institution then the ranking would most likely be as follows:
Imperial/LSE
UCL
Kings
QM- with Kings being higher because of its established reputation, from the quality of the education you receive to the research carried out there is no real difference between Kings and QM.

Social life here is great, its London after all! You will never get bored. People are extremely friendly and you will feel welcome, especially as its a campus based uni which means that all of yours friends are just a minutes walk down the road. Drapers (the student bar) is cheap and fun, had some great/embarrassing nights there. The university is very diverse, with 40% of the students being asian and a high proportion of international students- I only have a few english friends, the rest come from all over the world. Furthermore London is simply amazing, from the food markets, to museums, to art galleries to the best clubs in the world, you will always find something to do. Especially given the location which allows you to be in oxford street within 15 minutes by tube. The area seems a bit sketchy but its alright, not dangerous yet dirty, cheap but not much night life. However you will spent most of your time on campus which is actually really nice.
From my experience its a great university, teaching (at least in the politics department) is top notch, you will be taught by academics who are leaders in their field. Most students are actually rejects from Oxbridge, UCL, Imperial or the LSE which means that even if the grade requirements are fairly low you will be surrounded by very intelligent students. Also don't be put of by the low grade requirements, its because QM has the motto of education being available to everyone, therefore having lower requirements so that more people have a chance for a great education.

Anyway I hope that helped, don't listen to most of the TSR community who only value Oxbridge, UCL, Imperial, LSE, Durham and St Andrews as good universities. QM is a top 100 university in world and is on the path of becoming a top 10 UK university, it has a great reputation which will serve you good in life.

To put it short the campus is great. It is not the most beautiful campus, many buildings are from the 70's and 80's and aren't anything exceptional to look at. However the school is renovating parts of it and new building such as Arts Two or the new Graduate Centre being built will drastically modernise the campus. Also you have Queens Building which is beautiful and iconic. Other than looks there is a great vibe around campus, everyone is smiling, during the week its filled up with students, giving off a great atmosphere. As a first year you will most likely also live on campus which is an added benefit, compared to other top London unis. In places like the LSE or Kings you will have to commute, living far away from campus, here you walk five minutes and you will find yourself in the middle of the lecture room or in front of your friends flat. It makes it easy to find friends and to interact with other human beings- London can be a lonely place, the campus helps to avoid this. Furthermore there are many opportunities on campus, there is the canal which is a great place to relax, the curve and muccis for a quick meal- even if the taste is not great. You have several cafes to meet friends, the library is 2 minutes away from the accommodation facilities, offering a great collection of books and knowledge. Its green and well maintained, guards make sure its safe all year round and everything you need such as a gym, a shop and a pub are all present on campus. Furthermore there are over 1000 on campus jobs which is a great opportunity for finding work which does not strain your learning schedule.
Its quite compact (there is not much space in London) but it really has everything you need, sure you maybe won't travel as much, you aren't exactly in centre either but its a great little oasis in the East of London, well connected by bus (25, 205) and several tube lines. Furthermore right outside campus there are several shops such as sainsburys (all QM students go there), a costas, starbucks, nandos as well as 1001 KFC rip offs.

The economics tables are from the guardian and times league tables, so check them out as well as wikipedia for more info and a little history:
http://www.theguardian.com/education/ng-interactive/2014/jun/03/university-guide-2015-league-table-for-economics
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_Mary_University_of_London

Hope this helps- a proud QM student.

I know this is a while ago but I was wondering if you could tell me how lenient they are in terms of students missing out on conditions. I have a business management offer of ABB. If I was to get BBB or BBC would I still be let in. I got my place through UCAS extra and my predicted grades are AAC although I think I may miss them slightly this year so do you know anyone who missed out their grades but still got in? Also I live in London so what are the chances of me being offered accomodation? Thanks a lot.


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From my understanding, Business management is in demand, so its a 50/50 thing for it to show up in clearing, if it does I would say they would be lenient upto a grade difference only.
Accommodation wise again, you have almost no chance, there isn't enough accommodation to go around, priority goes to those who live outside of greater London and sometimes those who do, don't get a place.

Oh that's bad to hear, so do many students find private accommodation then?


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It's really great here!!

My friend goes to Queen Mary and it's a great University, he is in in his final year and has just been offered a job at Apple.

Oh that's good to hear, how's the area? I've heard east London isn't too good of an area, is this true? Are there many students who live at home?


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I went there for 4 months and hated it for many reasons (the sickeningly long and boring tube journey, my course and I didnt click with many people).

The actual uni is nice i guess but tge area is abit meh

What course did you do?
And what are you doing now?

The area isn't amazing, I agree but it's not like it's a dump.
You've got nandos, Costa, KFC, there's Westfield Stratford 15 minutes away by bus, you've got art galleries and central London is so close so you can go out with ur mates to chill out
I don't get why people complain about the area - it's not a dump? :/
And the university is really clean and the facilities are new
The buildings are old (lecture halls etc.)


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Hi!
I just spent my first week at queen Mary and honestly speaking, the facilities are so much better than what I was expecting.
There are also so much support available for academics, health/finance and especially careers!!
A lot of people hear it's a bad university simply because of the area it is in: east London.
It's not a bad place whatsoever, everyone is super friendly and you'll fit in easily because everyone's in the same position.
Honestly, I've learnt so much and this is just my induction week!
You won't regret coming here basically!


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I went there for 4 months and hated it for many reasons (the sickeningly long and boring tube journey, my course and I didnt click with many people).

The actual uni is nice i guess but tge area is abit meh