Neuroscience BSc: KCL vs Bristol?

sophie_aw_giese

How do Neuroscience at King's and Bristol compare? Is the substantially higher cost of living in London worth it?

Reply 1

supergrad

Original post by sophie_aw_giese

How do Neuroscience at King's and Bristol compare? Is the substantially higher cost of living in London worth it?

Hey I can give a brief overview of King's if that helps.

King's has a common year one where all bioscience students essentially do the same foundation of science lectures (biochem, chem, pharmacology, physiology, anatomy, genetics, skills and neuro). This means if you find you might enjoy another bioscience over what you applied for, in your first year (e.g. pharmacology, biomed, biochem, molecular gen or anatomy etc.) you can change over to that degree for your second year (if modules are compatible it may be possible in second year too).

There is a great opportunity for people that enjoy philosophy and psychology to study these modules in the second year.

A lot of research opportunities are advertised to students within the department; teaching professors may have roles available in their own labs which is fantastic as most of them are at the forefront of research plus they are always happy to answer questions.

In your third year, if you missed out on doing/securing any research opportunity the university organises this as part of a 45 credit module. If you prefer more library-based research and are more innovative this is also available. I liked that you have the opportunity to choose between modules focused on neurodevelopment, neuropsychology or a library-based research in the third year.

On the social side of things- there is no shortage of this at King's- there are so many societies and so many student led events. Joining a society and being part of one has been the best part of my experience at university- meeting people, managing responsibility, doing something meaningful (honestly, do get involved if you get the chance).

I can only say that being in the heart london made the experience so much better; if you budget well a lot of others have managed well. There is a lot of support available for students when it comes to financing at King's- including our money mentors that provide great workshops and one-to-one consultations to explore options and ideas to manage your finance.