Royal holloway

Egham is outside Zone 6, so you can't use contactless payment like you do for TfL services. You either have to buy a paper ticket each time, or you can buy on the SWR app I think and scan it at the barriers (I buy paper tickets, so I'm not sure about how the app works!).
The buses from near Egham station (Church Road/Street - I forget the exact name of the road!) aren't that regular. The 441 is once every half hour and I believe the 500 bus is somewhat similar (I've never got on a 500, so wouldn't know - but it's not frequent). The number 8 bus runs a bit more regularly than the other two options, though still not as frequently as a TfL bus service - so you do have to time things quite carefully between the train and the bus, in terms of getting onto campus on time.

Hey thanks for your reply! I called swr earlier and they said I can still use contactless so not quite sure about this. isnt it hassle having to buy paper ticket everytime before travel w specific time 🥲 I also heard at the station they have weakly tap card which u can use to tap in and out is it true?

The trains I get on have an announcement saying contactless payments are not valid beyond Feltham (which is the Zone 6 boundary zone). I don't know anything about a weekly tap card, I'm afraid - it might be that that's the thing that you can scan at Egham station barriers, rather than a SWR app. Hopefully someone more knowledgeable will come along to answer!
In terms of paper tickets, you don't buy them with a set time on them (or at least I don't!), it's just peak/off-peak and making sure you travel within the correct times if it's off-peak that you buy

have u been to rh or study there? If you did how is it like is there diversity among the students? Also how long does it take to get to the campus on foot? On the website it says 15m whereas on map it’s says 30mins💀. The thing is idk what to firm between rh and reading. Rh takes me 50mins if I follow as I stated feltham to egham then egham to campus but the services as far as I gathered info they r not frequent☹️ so not sure. And reading I’ve to take Elizabeth line which is better then swr no hassle with payments but it does take £30 per journey. But actual distance from my house is 1:40h which is quite far. May I also know how often trains to go to egham runs? I’d really appreciate if you could help me with my doubts thank you so much 😭

I'm a current PhD student at Royal Holloway - so I don't really interact with or know much about the undergrads and their experience of the university. My impression is that my own department (music) is not hugely diverse at undergrad or postgrad level, but music is (generally speaking) a more 'elitist' subject! I imagine other departments do better. I know there's a big Muslim contingent at RHUL (though I wouldn't be able to tell you how big) and there are various ethnic societies if you look at the SU website.
The campus is on a steep hill, so it depends on how fit you are/how fast you can walk uphill/downhill, and the exact route you take. I take the bus up the hill but walk down the hill. From the back gate, it takes me less than 20 minutes to reach the station, and from the Piggery gate, it takes me 20 minutes down the hill along the A30 route. It's a big campus, and generally it takes me 10 minutes to walk from the red-brick Founders building to the Piggery gate (I'm very unfit!). So depending on where I am on campus and which route I take, it can take me up to 30 minutes to walk to the station.
There are usually four trains an hour between Feltham and Egham: 2 x slow service (terminating at Weybridge) and 2 x faster service (terminating at Reading). The trains aren't equally/evenly spaced out though: you get one slow and one fast quite close together, then about half hour wait for the next slow and fast close together - if that makes sense?
I'm not familiar with Reading Uni, so can't comment much about that.

Oh thank you so much. I’ll be applying for biomed undergrad so not sure which building it’s gonna be and the distance. Are the lecture halls nice?😁