Royal Holloway really underated?

I've just been having a look through the University of London general threads, and it seems like everyone has it in for Rhul! Now I can understand people maybe complaining about its location and nightlife, but it's academic record :confused:

. From the league tables I looked at last year Rhul was something like 15th overall, and in the top 10 for History, higher than a lot of the University of London colleges.

I think it really quite strange, that Royal Holloway is the college in the nicest location and surroundings (my personal view of course :P), has its own sports pitches, and a great acadamic record, but still gets put down in comparison with the bigger UOL uni's (KCL, LSE ect..). Through reading the general UOL forum it seems that I've chosen the wrong uni, I had offers from both LSE and KCL, yet I still chose Royal Holloway, because it kind of clicked when I visited, and the sports facilites seemed pretty damn good compared to the other uni's!

Its just all a bit confusing, what do you guys think on this?

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Reply 1

Rozaroo

LSE = noooooo, they don't even do proper straight history. something v dodgy there :frown:

KCL has a much better rep for history (best of all UoL in times methinks), if that is what is important to you then you should have gone there (sorry)

As for size, RHUL has the biggest history dept in the uni :biggrin:

so they can suck on that. Plus you get London weighting on your student loan without having to pay london prices, muahahahahaha!

I'm not sure why RHUL gets so much negative stuff, I'd have thought places like City and Goldsmiths would maybe, it seems kinda bizarre.

Reply 2

username55557

I really dont mind about the KCL thing, I really want to go to Rhul so I chose it instead, I would rather go somewhere because I wanted to, rather than on reputation and league tables, if you get what I'm saying.

What I was trying to say, is from what I've seen Rhul seems like a great Uni, and a lot of the stuff I read is negative which is quite strange, when there is a minority saying its great...

Yea and the student loan thing is good!

Reply 3

Morais

Shadders.. I must say that KCL is the best for history from all the uni's from UoL.But RHUL is still very good... and you should not worry about that.. believe me.. you have made a good decision.. What I know from Uni's like Imperial, UCL and LSE is that is social life ain't very good because the student's tend to study a lot (Nerds lol).. In fact, in LSE, ppl do a lot of competition to achieve good grades and tend to be enemy's instead of becoming friends.. In KCL (from what I have heard and read) in some courses ppl do have to study a lot and in other the socialising is great and nightlife is superb.. (Ofcourse you will have to study hard at RHUL too)

But if you are good.. I am almost sure that you will have the same oportunities as the other guys from the other uni's.. We just have the tendency to be very strict and watch all the details from the uni's but you will see everything from a different perspective when you are inside the academic spirit.. At this phase guys like us (that are completing the High school) tend to make a lot of competition about the university we manage to get in, and just because an univeristy has less one point in one aspect it is not good...

And one thing you can be sure.. RHUL has a very good academic reputation and has achieved one of the finest research records of any UK university (Sunday Times- university guide)... It´s Really Really beautifull and .. has everything to make ppl love to study there as 6000/7000 students it's pretty enough to make a good socialisation and make wonderfull parties..
If I was you, I wouldn't bother myself about it.. just wait to see what will happen.. and I am sure you will not be disapointed :wink:

Hope it helps

Reply 4

Ossie1701

Also with regards to KCL - Just take a look at the History course ... I am sorry to any KCL Historians - but its bloody boring. Variety is non-exsistent (or at least appears to be so).

Reply 5

Rozaroo

^ Good point, I took a look at their website, and you would have to invent a new word to describe how truly boring their course is. I am so glad I don't have to go there, I couldn't have picked 3 courses from their list nevermind enough for a degree :p:

Shadders, I wasn't criticising you for not picking KCL, I picked RHUL too after all so I obviously think it is pretty damn good, but KCL does have a greater reputation. Although by the time we leave RHULs will probably have increased, as the increased grade requirements will push things up a little which can only be a good thing (provided you get the grades)

Reply 6

username55557

Yeh the course was one of the major reasons why I chose Rhul over KCL, and I have no regrets at all regarding that choice.

We'll see come September I suppose.. :smile:

Reply 7

Hana_1987

i swear quite a lot of ppl say KCL's overrated anyways..

i know what you mean about something just clicked about the uni...cant figure what it is about it that makes me like it so much

Reply 8

gemby!

RHUL definatly looked better in comparison to KCL. their english bit looked crap :P

Reply 9

Hana_1987

god..the kcl syllabus for history looks basically like a combination of GCSE and A level history.. :s-smilie:

i thought we were supposed to be broadening our horizons, not relearning what we've done for the past 4 years!

hmm i think classical studies is more or less the same at both unis

Reply 10

bengreen

The thing about RHUL is, nearly everybody moans about it, being it's location, prices, social life etc etc, but deep down everyone loves it. Even though gossip spreads like wildfire, it's nice to always see someone you know when walking round campus or in Medicine.

The union can get boring but we will always go back nonetheless. It is generally where everybody goes to have a good time and simply be with friends (and more importantly drink with friends).

Reply 11

*jaygirl*

i fell in love with rhul and i wouldnt change being there for the world. i visited better unis (bristol for example, which has a higher rep for languages) but nothing felt as good as rhul... and why the hell would you want to go somewhere you didnt feel completely at home?

Reply 12

Rivey

Agreed. When I first got to RHUL, I wasn't exactly... amazed with the nightlife. Since then, and after a change of accommodation, I've met some really cool people, and my view has changed ten-fold. It really is as good as you want it to be.

I could have gone elsewhere, but I'm very glad I didn't.

Reply 13

Morais

What was your previous accomodation ?

Reply 14

Rivey

Brunel.

Brunel isn't *that* bad... it's just the hall I was in (Williams). It screamed "Prison". A lot of people are actually very happy there, and some of the other halls actually look OK... one of my mates' room, for example, is actually quite nice.

Reply 15

JonW

You really canna go wrong with history at RHUL, ok ok so I'm biased...BUT if you are looking for one of the nicest (if not the nicest) friendliest campus in the country you really can find few better departments.

History is rated as among the best in the country by the Times, Sunday Times and the Guardian...in fact demand is soooo high that the dept has raised the offers from ABB (on average) to AAB...also we're pretty good with research :p:

This ends a party political broadcast for the RHUL history dept.

Reply 16

Rozaroo

Preaching to the converted here

Reply 17

username55557

Aye, nice to hear someone who is there giving it the thumbs up tho :smile:

Reply 18

Kew

JonW

You really canna go wrong with history at RHUL, ok ok so I'm biased...BUT if you are looking for one of the nicest (if not the nicest) friendliest campus in the country you really canna go wrong.

I agree, and yes, I'm hopelessly biased too! :biggrin:

*gets back to work on History dissertation*

Reply 19

JonW

shadders

Aye, nice to hear someone who is there giving it the thumbs up tho :smile:

We're not in the 'big 4' (horrible phrase) because we are genuinely a small college (6,600 enrolled in 2005)...we have a fantastic academic record in history, geography, English, drama and many of the foreign languages that more than makes up for this fact.

We are also linked with the Ivy league alongside Oxford and Durham at postgraduate level...which means that if u decide to do a Master at RH u have the chance to study at Yale.

If you read the uni of London thread you are likely to get a degree of distortion from some ppl, all 'friendly' rivalry I'm sure... :cool: