University of Essex

Colchester

Life at Essex University

I just like many other individuals am wondering what life would be like at Essex University. Most other Uni's have this thread and i would appreciate it if an existing student could put one up here or start a new thread.
Thanks

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Reply 1

schmeeble

izsushant

I loved every single second of my time at Essex and would whole heartedly recomment you apply there, or at least go and have a look round! It has a very healthy campus environment with lots of activity, socities and clubs. Students are friendly, night life is pretty good for a small uni, its easy to get to london.
There are events every single night on campus, a variety of venues. I dont know what else to say, but you can look at my photobucket albums for a look into a night out at uni haha

http://photobucket.com/albums/y221/missmuse22/

I dont know one person who didn't enjoy their time at essex.

University of Essex

Colchester

Visit website

Reply 2

tuppence14

izsushant

Hi I went to essex uni for 4 weeks, and then defered entry cos i wasn't sure of what to do. But i can say from my experience its a good place to be. My flatmates were legends, i met loadsa people on forums last year so it helped me to make friends. I think its good, as long as u know u gota do work 2.

Reply 3

lyrial

Its a good place, the main night life is on campus thou as colchester is pretty small and devoid of clubs. The campus uni thinkg thou means there are alot of good nights out and its very sociable. The fact that its in its own park is great in the summer - sitting by the lakes attempting to do revision- its great!

Reply 4

tuppence14

Im going up essex uni tonight to meet my friends that i met when i went. I miss it so much. 7months til i return yay!

Look for me, im staying in eddington tower, flat 8. Im absolutely nutty.

www.*************** tuppence14 for pic

Reply 5

snowy762

hello,
i am at essex doing law and whilst the uni is great the degree itself really is not. it seems to be really badly organised and the lecturers expect you to know everything before you actually go!!
my friends went to queen mary and apparently it is really good!!
:frown:

Reply 6

schmeeble

Law is hard... everyone i know who's doing or did law thought the course was excellent.

Reply 7

tuppence14

Yeah law looks scary!

Reply 8

jadolecek

Can anyone talk about their experience in on campus housing Towers, Quays, Courts and Meadows. How loud is it? Are the beds comfortable? How small are the rooms? Do people generally clean up after themselves? Etc... Thanks!

Reply 9

shannon.rose

Original post by jadolecek

Hi! I've lived in both South courts (1st year) and the Meadows en suite (this year). Overall my view on each accommodation is as follows:

It's important to know that all of the kitchens are cleaned once per week and the bins are taken out for you every week day. The cleanliness of your flat will entirely depend on who you live with and what they are like as people. I've tried to briefly summarize each accommodation type below

South Towers: one of the noisier places to live because you share with up to 16 other students. I can also get quite messy - but this of course depends on who you live with and how fussy you are, however the bathrooms are cleaned on a regular basis. The rooms are of relative size and include all of the standard furnishings (e.g. wardrobe, bedside table, desk, chair, bed etc.). If you're the quiet type this may not be the best living option as it is a very sociable place to live.
North Towers: similar to the south towers but you share with up to 14 instead of 16. Again similar as stated above, these towers generally aren't as loud as the south towers and may stay cleaner due to less flatmates.
Houses: known for being a quiet place to live, they have a tiled ensuite bathroom and the rooms are of similar size to the towers. Flats have up to 6 students and the kitchens are relatively small in comparison to the towers - but big enough for the number of students' sharing. They also tend to remain quite tidy.
South Courts: Similar to houses but slightly more sociable as there is many more flats. The rooms are also significantly bigger than any others on campus and have very large built in wardrobes. Again these are ensuite but with a wet room style and flats are up to 6 students sharing a kitchen. Kitchens are similar in size to the houses - i.e. big enough for the number of students' sharing.
Meadows town houses: The meadows town houses are really lovely - the meadows were only built 3 years ago so everything is still really new. They consist of relatively large rooms and shared bathroom with 1 other student. There's up to 12 students per town house and the kitchen and living room area is very large. This accommodation is quite sociable and unique because it has sofas downstairs in the open plan kitchen.
Meadows en suite: This accommodation is relatively quiet (in my experience) the rooms are similar size to the towers bedrooms but with the larger bed and also a compact ensuite attached to the room. The kitchen is large considering its flats of up to 7 students and in my experience it has stayed relatively clean and tidy.
Quays: approximately a 20 minute walk from central campus, this accommodation is relatively quiet and bedrooms are almost identical to South courts. The kitchens tend to be larger as flat shares can be up to 10 students, but from what I've seen they still stay relatively clean and tidy.

All the beds are single (unless you get a couples flat) with the exception of the Meadows - the beds in the meadows are junior doubles and are relatively new (the meadows was built 3 years ago) so are comfortable. If you were to go to another accommodation and weren't satisfied I'm sure the accommodation office would be more than happy to replace the mattress. All the matresses on campus are like 'wipe clean' so I'd recommend purchasing a mattress topper or protector (meadows come with one included).

Don't forget that the University of Essex also has a residents' life system whereby if there's loud noise that's disturbing you, you can call their number and report the issue (anonymously if you wish) then a member of the team will either come and resolve the issue or send security (if it's a party). Also you will create a flat agreement in the first week of term stating the flat 'rules' whereby you can mention any bug bears you may have - e.g. all washing up to be completed within 2 days.

Hope this helps, sorry for the lengthy reply just wanted to be as much help as I can :smile:

Let me know if you have any questions
^Shannon

Reply 10

jadolecek

Thank you so much, Shannon! This is extremely helpful!!!

Reply 11

shannon.rose

Original post by jadolecek

Thank you so much, Shannon! This is extremely helpful!!!

No problem :smile:

happy to help!

Reply 12

Jess194

I'm a third year English Literature student at Essex so if any of you have any questions about life at Essex then I'd be happy to help! :smile:

^Jess

Reply 13

jadolecek

Thanks, Jess! It looks like there's a lot to do around campus. I've heard Colchester and the surrounding area is pretty boring. Do people just go into London a lot? How's the cost of food and necessities there?

Reply 14

Jess194

Original post by jadolecek

Hey! I haven't really found Colchester very boring as a surrounding area, it definitely isn't as loud or busy or interesting as the surrounding areas of the larger city universities but as far as small towns go it's not too bad!

Theres plenty of bars and clubs in town as well as a pretty large amount of shops and places to eat. It's also quite a pretty and cultural town so there's lots to do in that respect with Castle Park etc. We also have Colchester Zoo here, Rollerworld, Go Bananas, a brand new indoor trampolining park, Bowling, Leisure World and lots more so there is plenty to do in the surrounding areas of the university!

We're also only a short journey away from Clacton (around 25 minutes by car), so it's lovely to have a seaside nearby during the summer!

With regards to the cost of food and necessities around here, it's quite affordable and you'll find that many of the bars and clubs in town will run student nights. The same goes for a lot of the shops - many of them do student discounts seeing as a lot of the residents in Colchester are students!

There's a nearby Tesco to the university for necessities and there's also an Asda and Aldi a bit further out from campus.

I can't really speak for every student here but with regards to myself and most of my friends here we rarely venture out of Colchester for a night out during term time. Between the events and venues on campus and the bars, clubs and restaurants in town it's always easy to find something to do!

London is also noticeably more expensive than Colchester so theres always that to bear in mind.

However, being only an hours train ride away from central London its always a possibility to venture out to London! :smile:

Reply 15

jadolecek

Good to hear! Do you stay in on-campus housing? How do you find it? My biggest concern is how comfortable the beds are because I have pretty severe back and neck problems.

Reply 16

jadolecek

Original post by shannon.rose

No problem :smile:

happy to help!

How do you find the beds? It's my biggest concern because I have fairly severe back and neck problems. Are they just the cheap thin Ikea bed mattresses?

Reply 17

jewel1359

Hi Jess!! How are you enjoying your English Lit course so far? I've a conditional offer for Literature and Creative Writing, do you know anything about the CW course?

Thanks!

Reply 18

Willow7

Original post by jewel1359

Hi Jess!! How are you enjoying your English Lit course so far? I've a conditional offer for Literature and Creative Writing, do you know anything about the CW course?

Thanks!

English and American Lit here so thought would comment :smile:

, do you think you are going to choose Essex? x

Reply 19

jewel1359

Original post by Willow7

English and American Lit here so thought would comment :smile:

, do you think you are going to choose Essex? x

Hii! I'm not entirely sure, I dont know much about Essex itself but from what I've seen the campus is great and the area seems nice? Can you tell me more!! How's the English course? xx