What's Birmingham like to live in as a student?

Hi

I really want to go to the University of Birmingham to study Economics because it's in a big city and is a new place to see. But I don't have a clue what the city or uni is like!

Could anyone who is in the University of Birmingham tell me what that uni is like?
Is it a serious place?
Do you have fun people?
What's the campus like?
How's the living expenses?
Is it hard to get a job?
Are you allowed to have your own car parked in the campus?
What's the UOTC like? Organised and efficient, or sloppy and relaxed?
Is the university train station very useful, where does it go, and how frequent?
What is your own overall impression of the university?

Also could you tell me what the city of Birmingham is like?
What's the city like at night? I heard it's like a ghost town.
How's the nightlife?
Is it really that dirty?
Has the city been getting some new developments?
What places are there to shop at?
What's public transport like?
What's the people like?
Is it really a 'European city'?
What is your own overall impression of Birmingham?

Cheers :smile:

Reply 1

username392640

don't know about the uni as a whole, i personally didn't like it so i declined their offer.
the city is amazing and there's a lot of stuff to do e.g. star city, imax cinema, bullring etc.
don't know much about the transport in birmingham, never used it.
you can go shopping in bullring or the mailbox and they have most shops that you'll probably need.

University of Birmingham

Birmingham

Reply 2

Charlieee_

i'm just finishing my first year then and i can tell you its pretty awesome, can't answer all those questions but i'll give it a shot:

Could anyone who is in the University of Birmingham tell me what that uni is like?
Is it a serious place?
Yeh its pretty serious i guess, all the schools in the uni seem pretty organised, especially mine (comp sci), but at the same time they're not gonna harass you for missing a few lectures.

Do you have fun people?
Yeh all the people i've met are awesome(well most, but you always get some idiots :P)

What's the campus like?
campus is really good, very nice to just hang around inbetween lectures, and the guild (our SU) has had improvements recently that make it pretty awesome.

How's the living expenses?
depends what halls you choose, i'm in the second most expensive and catered so probably can't comment that much.

Is it hard to get a job?
didn't get a job

Are you allowed to have your own car parked in the campus?
if you live on the vale(where most halls are) there are several car parks around and you can park on campus or on a roads around campus

What's the UOTC like? Organised and efficient, or sloppy and relaxed?
no idea bout this

Is the university train station very useful, where does it go, and how frequent?

it is very useful for going into town during the day, goes to new street station which is right next to the bullring and pallisades shopping centres, i think the trains are every 10 mins. altho if you live on the vale you might find yourself using five ways station as much or more as uni as its slightly closer i think

What is your own overall impression of the university?
i love it, so glad i came here, plus i passed first year woohoo!

pick what i can answer from the next ones
What's the city like at night? I heard it's like a ghost town.
this answers the next one too, its awesome at night, almost every weeknight is a student night somewhere and its always busy

How's the nightlife?
see above

Is it really that dirty?
not that i've noticed

What places are there to shop at?
bullring and pallisades have everything you need!

hope that helped somewhat

Reply 3

c0nfus3d

Is there a lot of mingling with other students of different subjects, i.e. Dentistry and Law?

Is there a lot of mingling with students of the same subject but in different years or people from the same building?

Quote me :biggrin:

Reply 4

MrCasperTom

Also could you tell me what the city of Birmingham is like?

Its an alright city to live in. We have the lowest crime rate of the 8 major cities apparantly. The city itself is a nice place to live, and everything you need is in general easy reach (e.g. shops, town centre all that jazz)

What's the city like at night? I heard it's like a ghost town. How's the nightlife?

Its not a ghost town. We have a bunch of normal pubs as well as several night clubs. There's two principal places which it tends to go clubbing in Birmingham - The town centre and Sutton Coldfield (not sure if this applies to the Uni students though).

In town the nights out are more expensive as you would expect. You want to get to the clubs before 10:30pm to at least get stamped so you don't have to pay for entry (as normal really). The cost of drinks is also fairly expensive so pre-drinks ftw.

Sutton is a cheaper night out, although the taxi back might cost a bit. Few decent clubs in Sutton as well as a bar/club thing (O'Neils) that's a more relaxed version of a club.

The pubs are nice for a night of hanging out and chatting.

Is it really that dirty?

Same as every major city to be honest. I've never really noticed.

What places are there to shop at?

Bullring mainly. And town centre is where most people go.

What's public transport like?

Fairly decent. Trains or buses for basically anywhere you want to go.

What's the people like?

Same mix as everyone. You got some nice people, some arses.

Is it really a 'European city'?

I have no idea what you mean...

What is your own overall impression of Birmingham?

I've lived here for 18 years. Isn't that bad really.

grizzletheconquerer

Cheers

Reply 5

blacktabs

c0nfus3d

Yeah there is a bit of mingling between people in different subjects, though this is mainly done through who you know from halls, or societies and clubs etc, or maybe lectures, for instance I've shared lectures with other engineering disciplines and so you meet people that way but otherwise courses don't really mix in general.

It depends on your subject as to how much mingling there is between year groups for instance Chem Eng is quite good and there is quite a bit of mixing between year groups, we have a society that does events for all year groups, we had friday pub evenings for people to go to, we also have a building with good facilities with an atrium and computer rooms which everyone shares and so meet people, and they are setting up a mentoring scheme for first years next year. This however will depend on your course and things as can't really comment on other courses.

Reply 6

Krishna442

you're crazy, you've asked like 2 dozen questions. for some strange reason(i cba to sleep) i'm answering them.

grizzletheconquerer

Is it a serious place?
what the heck does that mean??

Do you have fun people?
yes yes we do :biggrin:

What's the campus like?
amazing, so much fun to live on.

How's the living expenses?
first year accomodation is over priced. u can find some bargains if u look hard enough when you move into private housing but in general it's become pricier.

Is it hard to get a job?
not really, the student guild has a job centre.

Are you allowed to have your own car parked in the campus?
on halls of residence yes, during the day though on the actual uni campus less so, they're quite a**** about it.

What's the UOTC like? Organised and efficient, or sloppy and relaxed?
u talking about the officer training core? v well organised from what i've seen, massive piss heads too they're mostly alright.

Is the university train station very useful, where does it go, and how frequent?
its amazingly useful. whereever u live ur within walking distance of a train station, and it allows u to traverse between the city centre and campus so easily all within the space of 10 minutes.

What is your own overall impression of the university?
it's wicked.

Also could you tell me what the city of Birmingham is like?
mixed bag really, as u might know about 10 - 15 years ago bham was an absolute dump. billions has been poured into it and the whole place is still being regenerated. the city centre itself is actually really small compared to other cities, but really nice at the same time.
they're still developing lots and there are lots of plans to do stuff over.

What's the city like at night? I heard it's like a ghost town.
well parts of the city centre will be dead, but that's because none of the bars/clubs are there. some places will be heaving.

How's the nightlife?
awesome, something for everyone with a big underground scene in digbeth too.

Is it really that dirty?
not really, some parts of bham are absolute s***holes but not necessarily dirty.

Has the city been getting some new developments?
see above lots already done with lots still to come.

What places are there to shop at?
bullring, pallasades and mailbox... has everything u could pretty much want.

What's public transport like?
well there are a load of buses but i doubt you'd really use them much because the trains are so damn good/useful.

What's the people like?
meh, you'll be with students most of the time to really see the brummie population. mixed bag.

Is it really a 'European city'?
not yet, maybe when they've finished all the developments. how many cities in england tho are "european" cities tho to be fair.

What is your own overall impression of Birmingham?
fun fun fun place to be, altho the university & campus etc >>>> than the city itself.

Cheers :smile: