What is studying at Royal Holloway uni like???

I hope to study liberal arts at uni and like the look of Royal Holloway, not many uk unis have this course so I am a little bit limited in terms of where I could apply as I although Id want to live there Id want to be relatively close to home. Ive only found really mixed and outdated reviews of the uni and I am conflicted about whether it's worth studying there. Ive heard that its pretty isolated and that there isn't much going on in terms of places to hang out and nightlife- as well as the fact that its not as prestigious a uni as it might appear to be and I can very easily achieve my offer.
I just want an honest idea of what it's like overall to help me make my decision! THANK YOU!!

Hi. I do this subject at Royal Holloway actually. Graduating soon. I would say it's okay, just okay. Long, long review incoming.
Social Life (3/5) ⭐⭐⭐
A LOT of your enjoyment will depend on the quality of your lecturers and your social life. If you end up with poor friendships then you're basically cooked. And if you have beef with one group of friends, expect everyone else around you to know and find out. It's such a small uni, everyone knows everyone here which is great if things are going well socially but if not? Then it's over. Dating here isn't great either (everyone I know is struggling!!!) however if you get lucky and do end up in a relationship, the campus is beautiful and very very romantic especially in summer when all the flowers and daffodils are out. The societies here are great and I love them. Something for everyone. Loads of pubs if you like that type of thing. Clubbing is very poor but I will elaborate later. But I cannot stress this enough - be very, very careful with the friends you make. It will make or break your experience here. Toxic gossip and rumours spread fast.
Academics (4/5) ⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Liberal Arts academic group is also very small. There's only 20 of us and a few of them dropped out over the years. However the lecturers are very sweet and supportive, always willing to help. We have one big library and a smaller reading room which is quite aesthetic. It can be hard to find a place to study during exam season. The degree itself is nice however I would definitely consider other universities before Royal Holloway if you're worried about rankings. I know a few Russell groups offer this course as well.
Nightlife (1/5!!!) ⭐
The nightlife here is rubbish and for SU, the main 'club', half the time it is empty. There are popular events once in a while which everyone goes for so you'll bump into like 50 people you know there which is nice but as previously mentioned if there's any drama that turns sour quick. Many of my 3rd year friends stopped going out entirely because by the time they reached 3rd year they started seeing all their failed situationships, exes, b*tchy flatmates etc etc out and about and it just became too much to bear. On campus we have two clubbing spots: Medicine (busiest on Mondays, free, however it isn't great and it's the same size as your classroom probably) and the SU (as previously mentioned, quite bad, okay on a popular night) for both of these to really enjoy it you need to be super drunk and that gets unhealthy quick. I know way too many alcoholics at this uni. YES there are clubs in Windsor and Kingston but people only go to these occasionally and those tend to be quite dead as well especially the Windsor one. The Kingston one is quite good actually but I'm not too fond of it for my own reasons but I know some girls who always love heading there. It's packed full of Kingston, St Mary's Twickenham and Brunel students if you do go there. Also, it's a 40 min drive there and back and it tends to be quite expensive just to get a Ticket. As for London clubbing? Brilliant of course however it requires a lot of effort and money if you go down this route. Usually at least 2 trains and an hour and a half of travel. You need friends who will be bothered to go through all that with you and oftentimes most people won't want to, understandbly so. And since the train to Egham (where Rhul is) stops running at 11pm you'll need a very very expensive Uber back. I'm talking like at least £60. It's either that or waiting till 6am for the trains to start running again. So yeah, not great.
Location and day life (1/5!!!!) ⭐
Also Royal Holloway is not in London it's actually in Egham, Surrey. The university is half an hour walk from the train station! And it's up a hill. To go grocery shopping you need to walk up and down that damn hill. And we only have Waitrose and Tesco's so if you want cheaper options you need to travel to the next town over which takes ages to do. Nightlife is bad as I have previously explained, day life isn't great either because Egham has NOTHING in it, very boring town. To do fun stuff you need to go to Staines (which isn't that great either) or Windsor which takes time out of your day. Going to London you need to walk half an hour to Egham train station first, then take the South Western Railway which comes once every half hour and takes almost an hour to get into London and costs £15 WITH a railcard! Which is why I said earlier that a lot of your enjoyment at Royal Holloway depends on the friends you have. You can't spend the whole week travelling to other towns so you will spend a lot of time with friends on campus. If you get great friends, you'll enjoy it. If not, it gets lonely fast. If you have friends and then fall out with them, depending on what happened by extension other people might start disliking you too because everyone knows everyone here. In 3rd year I STILL hear gossip about random people and it's so sad because I thought we were all supposed to be mature in uni.
Accom, campus, sports, fees (3/5) ⭐⭐⭐
I recently found out that Royal Holloway apparently is in the top 10 for most expensive accommodations in the country however I don't think this is true, as I have heard of Bristol students paying way more than we do. What you should expect to pay for accommodation in a single year is around £6k-£8k. The accommodation here is okay based on what you pick. I would avoid Runnymede, Penrose and Highfield Court for sure (small, mouldy) but everything else is okay. Founders is catered and has shared bathrooms (10 people per bathroom) and sometimes a shared room. I didn't mind living there but practically everyone hated it. The other accommodations (Butler, Tuke, George Eliot, Wedderburn, Gowar etc) are fine. Clean, good bathrooms, good kitchens and well sized rooms. Not many complaints. However no accomodations have any special amenities like a pool room, TV, gym and stuff like that. We have a (not the best) gym on campus and it's £16-25 a month. Very small, gets very crowded, doesn't have a lot of equipment but it gets the job done. If you don't like the campus gym then again you have to travel to whole new damn town (Staines) to use a different one. We have plenty of sports teams, practically every sport. Varsity against Surrey University is every year. We often lose but it's a lot of fun!
Campus living is expensive. We have a few food options on campus but it's all London prices (£4 for a TINY coffee, £5 for bubble tea, £10 for a tiny mid meal. Even the student pub is expensive - £7 for a double spirit and mixer for example) also despite these high prices the drink/meal is always super mid. Even if you live in catered accommodation you have to pay for the meal and that's £3.50 for a small portion WITH a discount and £5 if you have dessert. And remember that's every single day you're eating there because there's no kitchen. Adds up fast. We have a very expensive SU shop on campus here and even the dang meal deal is £4 and there's barely any options for snack and drink - and it's £4.50 if you want a normal common drink like Fanta/Sprite/Coke!
Overall review?
Royal Holloway is NOT terrible and I have enjoyed my time here, however I wouldn't put it as my first choice if I could do it all again. Cons? Expensive, boring location, boring nightlife. Pros? Great societies, great sports, beautiful beautiful campus, supportive academic staff and engaging degree.
It really is what you make of it and if it weren't for my lecturers and friends I probably would have dropped out ages ago. Wishing you the best of luck with your choices!