University of Bath for International Relations

Hi guys,
I'm in Year 12, and I'm looking at uni of Bath for IR. I love the city and the academic side of things, but I'm not sure about the facilities and the social life. I haven't been to any open days as the tickets are really expensive, and I'm really unsure about Bath. Pictures of the campus don't look great. How do you feel about your campus? Does the greenery save the campus from looking like the eastern bloc? Is the inside of the buildings modernised/updated, esp the library? What social spaces do you typically use? And finally, what's the social life generally like, what kinds of people would you typically meet?

Hello @J5j5lok ,
Our apologies for the late reply. Really glad you’re interested in applying to Bath for Politics & IR – Bath is definitely a solid choice for that course. I completely understand what you mean, I was initially put off by Bath campus’ small size and was concerned about there not being enough going on, but I was so glad I chose it in the end because I was really pleasantly surprised when I arrived! The campus is absolutely surrounded by green space – there are tree patches, flower displays along the main parade, and a walk to the gorgeous Sham Castle which you can start from the campus and do in about twenty minutes.
There are also over 120 different societies to pick from, which are a great way to make friends and socialise. I was initially nervous I’d find nothing I’d fit into as an introvert who wasn’t into clubbing, but there’s such a huge range to pick from this shouldn’t be a worry at all. I personally joined the Coffee Society, and the Duck Society purely because it sounded whacky and fun! There are also over 50 sports teams, and sports areas you can book for free to play sports with friends in during term time. As for the facilities, the majority are very modern and sleek on the inside, especially the chancellors’ building where most subjects have at least some lectures, the management building and the library (which is extremely well equipped with computers, assistive tech, physical and ebooks etc).
The kinds of people you’d meet here – well, that’s a tough one to answer because in truth there’s a huge variety. There's a bit of an assumption that as a uni with a a strong olympic/sport reputation that a lot of people will be sporty, but this isn’t the case at all! Many people are into sports, but there are just as many who aren’t interested in sports at all (me for one!). There’s so much more to Bath uni. My flatmate in first year was studying engineering but was also very creative, so did dance shows and musicals with the dance and theatre societies in her spare time. In the coffee soc, we used to go out to the various tea rooms in Bath for our social occasions. There are also a variety of different political party/politics and international societies you can join – so Bath is a place where just about any type of person will fit in!
I really hope that helps, but please post on here any more questions you have 😊
Holly
Uni of Bath