The University of Southampton provided me with some of the best memories of my life. As soon as I walked into halls on the first day in first year, I was made to feel welcome and provided with lots of opportunities to firstly meet new people, then to begin to explore my studies.

As a Russell Group university, the facilities on offer are excellent and in many cases world-class, with global experts being employed to help students excel in their chosen disciplines. Student life is fun-filled, with countless societies provided to meet new people and bond over new activities.

If it’s a nightclub scene that takes your fancy, Southampton has many options on offer, with every major nightclub providing a cheaper night out on different days of the week. But if you want something quieter or more chilled, then plenty of options exist there too, such as film and pizza nights run by Student Life.

Halls accommodation has what you would want, from kitchen facilities to bathroom facilities to ample space for socialising, and even meals cooked for you in selected accommodation, although the cost of doing laundry could be reduced.

Despite not being perhaps as well-known as other notorious universities, it would be a disservice to Southampton and its university to suggest that you would be better off going elsewhere for your studies. It has everything you could want from a university experience, and very few people indeed would leave after their time here feeling disappointed.