University of Essex

Who studies at the University of Essex. Can someone tell me more about the uni and what they think so far? I'm considering choosing Essex as a firm choice.

Hello both of you!

I am a third-year student at the University of Essex, studying Communications and Digital Culture.

I love studying at University of Essex because the whole community is friendly and upbeat, nevertheless the mixture of both staff and the students from more than 148 countries – sharing ideas and making those ideas happen are increasing this feeling. The University of Essex is definitely the most sociable place to study, the core example is the Silberrad Student centre which is always buzzing, or just walking through the corridors, always bumping into smiling faces, ready for an interactive conversation.

Furthermore, this university offered me a wide range of chances to develop myself through volunteering opportunities (vTeam), societies, sports (JustPlay), workshops (Employability Centre) and internships (Essex Interns). I am constantly creatively driven to become better and better every day and become a rebel with a cause. We have over 100 student societies, which the students can create or set up, focusing on outdoor activities, politics, music, different cultures and everything you can imagine. The Art area is not neglected, as well. We have the Hexagon, where are held different events, such as African drumming, and such, Cine10, the cinema experience and let not forget about the Lakeside Theatre. The Sports' Experience is a crucial core of the university, as we offer a free membership, unlike other universities to become part of more than 40 teams of different sports teams.

When it comes to our academic excellence, you will be taught by world-leading academics, as our University is being ranked as gold in the Teaching Excellence Framework in 2017. Our renowned student experience brings together our award-winning Students’ Union, sports clubs, societies and community spirit, all of which play a big part in why we, students are so passionate and proud to here. The university is committed to providing students with every opportunity to go above and beyond and reach their potential – professionally, academically and socially.

If you have any kind of questions, do not hesitate to message me.

Hey! Thank you very much. You helped me a lot. I really like that there are so many nationalities at Essex because I'm an international student. Could you tell me what are the best options for accomodation at the University?

Hey, I'd probably try get a house somewhere with some people. What do you want to study?

Hey! I think I'm going to stay at the uni on my first year. I got a conditional offer for Computer Science. You?

Oh cool! Im awaiting an offer for Law. When did you get your offer? Mine is taking ages haha

Nice. I got mine in January, but I applied in December. Hope you get yours soon.

Hey!

I am a current student at the Essex uni, first year International Relations and Modern Languages. I'm not sure what exactly it is that you'd like to hear, but I'll try my best to describe my experience and what I think of it

I put Essex as my firm choice because of numerous reasons. The most important one was that I felt that they had a degree that suited me best. And so far, the uni is doing great in terms of my programme! The environment is perfect for the languages (great teachers and structure, many native speakers of the languages that I'm learning on campus because it's a very international university) and the department of government (that's how it's called here) is trying to make us think like political scientists already, so we get to explore lots of interesting phenomena and enquire about them.

My degree choice is different from yours though, so I'll move on to describe the other aspects. I think that the campus is really cool (though not the prettiest one I've ever seen) – as a student, you can get so much out of it if you know how. There are plenty of facilities great for studying (the library and its reading room, a number of PC labs, Silberrad Student Centre, study pods elsewhere – these provide space for collaborative work, which is awesome btw); you can check their availability and opening hours online, too (some of them are open 24/7). I love using them because they help me focus more on my work. Then there are many places to eat out if you find yourself too busy to cook or just feel like to, and we've also got two bars and two clubs, which have something on pretty much everyday. Moreover, you can participate in loads of societies, sports clubs (there's a gym with lots of rooms and equipment), and volunteering opportunities – I myself got involved with the Chinese and Public Speaking society, kickboxing, and the Refugee Teaching Programme. In addition, there are even two branches of banks, a post office, two stores, and a hair salon. If you didn't want to, you probably wouldn't have to leave the campus at all (though I wouldn't recommend buying stuff in the stores too often because that would have a detrimental effect on your wallet… I prefer going to Tesco's or Aldi's to do groceries).

Apart from the facilities that you'd be using often or even on a daily basis, there are places on campus that you hopefully won't have to rely on much, but they are still very important and useful. I'm talking about the range of support services; I'll highlight a few of them. Each of us gets allocated a personal tutor (the title is a bit misleading though, we're not 1 on 1) and a peer mentor. I haven't been in touch with my personal tutor much, but I love the peer mentoring scheme – some of the mentors are really lovely and can reassure you about lots of things, since they have at least a year's worth more experience at the University. What I also really appreciate is the Employability and Careers Centre – they hold many workshops during the term and are always trying their best to help you with finding and securing a job, I've had the chance to talk with great people there. Speaking of workshops, you have the SU Learn too – it offers interesting sessions that may even come with a certificate upon successful completion. But hands down, the service that I think deserves the most respect is Nightline – a service that was actually founded at this university. It consists of volunteers entirely and can help you with a great range of problems. They give out free condoms and pregnancy tests, offer confidential listening, take care of drunk people that needn't be taken to the hospital, or just prepare you tea and toast if it can make your day better. After learning about them, I got this feeling that they'll always have my back and they're really there to help – they don't do it because they get paid, but because they are fellow students who understand and think about their peers.

Moving away from the campus to the town, there are only a few things to mention, as I haven't explored it very much yet; Colchester isn't very big though. There's enough of places to go if you need to buy anything (there are shopping squares with many brands but also quite a few specialised shops, like small shops with foreign food, harberdasher's, even a military shop and so on), some great restaurants and cultural venues – I really like the Firstsite gallery and the cinema is fine. I also hope to visit the Mercury theatre, it looks great and has many interesting things on… But that's almost all I can say about the town when relying on my experience only. I have to confess that I probably need a little more time to learn to love Colchester; I love the university and campus, but the town is still quite a mystery to me! Maybe because I find it kind of time-consuming to get around (the buses here have been a source of some complaints), but that's actually improving.

To conclude, I hope this post helps a bit! Feel free to get back to me with any more questions that you might have 😊

Nela

Hey!

I am a current student at the Essex uni, first year International Relations and Modern Languages. I'm not sure what exactly it is that you'd like to hear, but I'll try my best to describe my experience and what I think of it

I put Essex as my firm choice because of numerous reasons. The most important one was that I felt that they had a degree that suited me best. And so far, the uni is doing great in terms of my programme! The environment is perfect for the languages (great teachers and structure, many native speakers of the languages that I'm learning on campus because it's a very international university) and the department of government (that's how it's called here) is trying to make us think like political scientists already, so we get to explore lots of interesting phenomena and enquire about them.

My degree choice is different from yours though, so I'll move on to describe the other aspects. I think that the campus is really cool (though not the prettiest one I've ever seen) – as a student, you can get so much out of it if you know how. There are plenty of facilities great for studying (the library and its reading room, a number of PC labs, Silberrad Student Centre, study pods elsewhere – these provide space for collaborative work, which is awesome btw); you can check their availability and opening hours online, too (some of them are open 24/7). I love using them because they help me focus more on my work. Then there are many places to eat out if you find yourself too busy to cook or just feel like to, and we've also got two bars and two clubs, which have something on pretty much everyday. Moreover, you can participate in loads of societies, sports clubs (there's a gym with lots of rooms and equipment), and volunteering opportunities – I myself got involved with the Chinese and Public Speaking society, kickboxing, and the Refugee Teaching Programme. In addition, there are even two branches of banks, a post office, two stores, and a hair salon. If you didn't want to, you probably wouldn't have to leave the campus at all (though I wouldn't recommend buying stuff in the stores too often because that would have a detrimental effect on your wallet… I prefer going to Tesco's or Aldi's to do groceries).

Apart from the facilities that you'd be using often or even on a daily basis, there are places on campus that you hopefully won't have to rely on much, but they are still very important and useful. I'm talking about the range of support services; I'll highlight a few of them. Each of us gets allocated a personal tutor (the title is a bit misleading though, we're not 1 on 1) and a peer mentor. I haven't been in touch with my personal tutor much, but I love the peer mentoring scheme – some of the mentors are really lovely and can reassure you about lots of things, since they have at least a year's worth more experience at the University. What I also really appreciate is the Employability and Careers Centre – they hold many workshops during the term and are always trying their best to help you with finding and securing a job, I've had the chance to talk with great people there. Speaking of workshops, you have the SU Learn too – it offers interesting sessions that may even come with a certificate upon successful completion. But hands down, the service that I think deserves the most respect is Nightline – a service that was actually founded at this university. It consists of volunteers entirely and can help you with a great range of problems. They give out free condoms and pregnancy tests, offer confidential listening, take care of drunk people that needn't be taken to the hospital, or just prepare you tea and toast if it can make your day better. After learning about them, I got this feeling that they'll always have my back and they're really there to help – they don't do it because they get paid, but because they are fellow students who understand and think about their peers.

Moving away from the campus to the town, there are only a few things to mention, as I haven't explored it very much yet; Colchester isn't very big though. There's enough of places to go if you need to buy anything (there are shopping squares with many brands but also quite a few specialised shops, like small shops with foreign food, harberdasher's, even a military shop and so on), some great restaurants and cultural venues – I really like the Firstsite gallery and the cinema is fine. I also hope to visit the Mercury theatre, it looks great and has many interesting things on… But that's almost all I can say about the town when relying on my experience only. I have to confess that I probably need a little more time to learn to love Colchester; I love the university and campus, but the town is still quite a mystery to me! Maybe because I find it kind of time-consuming to get around (the buses here have been a source of some complaints), but that's actually improving.

To conclude, I hope this post helps a bit! Feel free to get back to me with any more questions that you might have 😊

Nela

Hey! Thank you very much. You helped me a lot. I really like that there are so many nationalities at Essex because I'm an international student. Could you tell me what are the best options for accomodation at the University?

I am deeply sorry for my late response! I haven't got any notifications!

In my first year, I have chosen to live in the North Towers, which are like a symbol of the University. I have shared my flat with 12 other people and shared my bathroom with other 2 people, which wasn't a hassle at all, as we all have different schedules. The bathroom situation was an aspect which was as you have said, not the most pleasant situation, but there is a cleaner who comes 3 days per week to clean up and bring all the necessary things, it is quite fine. I haven't had any bad experiences and neither my friends who were living in the towers, as well.

The University of Essex tries to put together people studying similar courses. I am studying Sociology and I had 3 other flatmates studying the same modules I had, which was a blast! Keeping in mind that the kitchen is huge, there is an amazing place to socialise and get to know your flatmates! I remember when we all cooked together and had an amazing Christmas dinner, topped with a gingerbread house which we needed to build.

The Towers are indeed almost as central as they could possibly be, which is an advantage as it decreases the amount of time you have to spend getting to your lectures and back. However, most of the other accommodation options (besides the Quays, Maltings) are also close, so the difference would be like 3-5 minutes, tops.

I think it all depends on your liking and how keen you are to meet new people and socialise. I had a massive blast in the Towers and I still keep in contact with my old flatmates, which is better than I have ever expected!

Hey,

Thanks so much for you in depth review of Essex. I myself, will be going into Year 2 if I decide and get an offer for Essex. I was just unsure about how ill fit in at University. But, hearing more about clubs is really interesting and seems it would be easy to make some friends while gaining new skills. I like football and boxing so both would be interesting to get into for me. On the Volunteering teaching program, do you go abroad or volunteer in the community? Im originally from Essex, but, where im from isn't a nice place, Grays, its really run down and high crime, is Colchester the same? Do you happen to know any Law students, as it would be interesting to talk to them more in depth about the course etc.

Thanks so much for your time!

Not sure I'll be needing the condoms or pregnancy tests though.

Hey Nela!

Thank you very much for your response, help and advices. It really seems like a really great uni.
My twin sister applied for Business Management and Modern Languages.
I love that it offers so many societies and sport clubs. I trained Kickboxing a few years ago.
Could you tell me what are the best options for accomodation at the uni? Also, when does uni usually start?
☺☺