University of Exeter - UOE Speciality : Education
programme: Geography

I really love the close student community in Exeter. Since it is quite a small town, a large proportion of the population are students, which is really nice because you are guaranteed to meet students during activities in and outside of university, which may not be the case in other universities in larger cities. The large student base means that you will definitely see friends on nights out, even if you didn’t plan to! My Geography course is really interesting, and the large number of optional modules mean that I can learn about topics of my choosing, that I am interested in. I love the University of Exeter and would highly recommend to other students.

The staff at the University of Exeter’s Penryn campus ensure that no one is left behind and that every module is challenging, but not impossible to understand. The college itself is a delightful community, hosting regular events to engage and network with peers and academics.

-Facilities- good quality library, campus buildings accessible from each other. Hilly

-Accommodation- expensive, both halls of residence and student housing.

-Teaching- enjoyable course, stimulating material. Geography draws on sociology, politics, philosophy etc which gives it great breadth.

-Internationality- I don’t think this is a very helpful criterion. There is an international building for the international students. A better term might be diversity; there is a somewhat homogenous mix of wealthy students from the south of England

-Location- probably the stand out advantage compared to other universities. Campus is near the city, which is pleasant and has everything you need as it is the central place for services for Devon, aside from Plymouth. Countryside and campus are pretty, sea is 10 miles away. Good rail links to surrounding area and London. The high street is just chain stores but there are plenty of individual pubs, shops and cafés to make up for it elsewhere

-Value- fees are the same across the country, it is a good quality university, the teaching quality is better at oxbridge but equal to or better than most other places

-Student life- clubs are fairly similar to elsewhere, with a few exceptions, lots of societies. Outgoing people will have a good time

-Career prospects- a degree from here is respected; geography is broad, interesting and means you can enter lots of fields but it won’t necessarily make you stand out, which is the price for keeping options open.