The University of Edinburgh (reviews)

University of Edinburgh is a long established institution with a great history. Its experience is reflected in the quality of lectures/workshops as well as the high level of graduating Alumni. It was a pleasure studying in such a heavy-cultured and historic city. The Scottish weather can get gloomy, cold and rainy but the vibrant city makes up for it. I will definetly recommend it to anyone who is up for hard work but a rewarding student-life and most importantly good career prospects.

UoE is a great place to study. The Uni takes a lot of effort to ensure that students have an easy time navigating academia. Facilities are all quite good and well-managed. There is a lot of flexibility in choosing courses and programs. Loved my time there studying Artificial Intelligence.

The University of Edinburgh is definitely one of the best universities I so far encountered during my undergraduate degree in English Language and Literature. It provides first-class teaching, combined with the best state-of-the-art facilities (libraries, study halls, lecture theatres) and the latest academic resources. Apart from university life, the city of Edinburgh offers lots to explore. Many cultural events like the Fringe Festival or the Edinburgh Hogmanay are fantastic opportunities to learn about Scotland’s rich culture. Moreover, the city is in close approximation to surrounding regions and areas of interest like Glasgow, Newcastle and St. Andrews which are definitely worth to visit.

Altogether, Edinburgh is a great place to live and learn. You should definitely take your time there to explore not only the university life and the city itself but learn lots more about Scotland in general. And the University of Edinburgh can surely assist you with organising your explorations around the region!

Edinburgh is my second home after my year there. The city is incredible, so full of culture, activities! The friends I made became family.
The university was almost everything I expected, because of my professional background I was expecting lectures that involved more hands-on work, but overall the university exceeded my expectations.

Great location, overall great handling of issues and quality studies with all sort of possibilities available to complement the experience. Had an great relation to most lecturers.
Minor downside: a little too international for my taste (too few scots in class). Counselling could also be given more resources.

I studied Persian Studies (though I wish they’d get rid of the ‘studies’ ha ha, makes me seem like a loser) at Edinburgh university. Honestly… I had the time of my life! My university experience started with me changing from classics to Persian Studies – so damn easy to change it, and I’m so damn grateful they did! My halls were great – they were called Deaconess if you’re wanting to know!
Extracurricular was really what made my time there – I was an integral part of the mountaineering society. Climbing mountains every weekend, baby! I also got very into climbing, something I will take with me for the rest of my life. Some examples of the places we went are Ben Nevis, and other famous mountains. My favourite trip has got to be when we went to The Breacon Beacons – not only did we have some sick ascents (and descents, man!), I got some life long friends from that.

Now, on to the Persian Studies. This is an excellent degree. It ranged from intensive language learning (including a year in Iran) to middle Eastern History, to Iranian film. The department is very small, so it felt as if we were really looked after. I will carry on developing my Persian language, and learning about the Middle East for the rest of my life.

On top of studying the core degree, at Edinburgh you study an outside course – this means you get to study something completely different to your degree. For example, if you study maths, you can take french. Or, if you study biomedical sciences, you can take a course in the history of art. If you study Nursing you can take a course in Islamic history 1B from the successor states to the gunpowder empires. Amazing. While this seems like a great idea, I found it frustrating; it was hard to concentrate on this outside course, and it was in such little detail that it seemed pointless.

As part of my degree, I got to do a 10,000 word dissertation. This was an excellent opportunity to do my own research, and really understand what academic life is like. I delved into original sources, understanding the minds of early 19th century Iranians. Great times! Miss it.

And now – onto the city of Edinburgh. By Jove! What a place. Stone, beautiful houses on every corner, this great cradle of academic reason exudes elevated glory; from it’s the tiniest wynd to its grandest thoroughfare. Nothing brings me greater joy gallantly striding up Arthur’s seat in the early hours of the morning, the dawn light striking the noble spires, to reach the top and look across the city of Edinburgh. My city.

In conclusion, highly recommend.

Give it a go!

Especially Persian Studies!

I really loved my programme at University of Edinburgh. While the head of my programme was a little unclear, the support I had from my dissertation supervisor was absolutely amazing, and the support from the rest of the faculty was second to none.

The course was extremely flexible considering my background in general linguistics from my undergraduate, and they allowed me to take courses throughout the School of Language Science that suited where I wanted to take my degree. Provided someone has the background, the department really helps you get the most out of your degree by eliminating redundancy, and I couldn’t have been happier.

I would absolutely recommend this course to anyone looking for a more academic and less second language teaching focus for applied linguistics, which is what I was looking for. I now hold a well-paying job in my home city that was relevant to my thesis.

Edinburgh is a great university for most degrees and depending on what courses you choose your life can be easier or harder – it all depends on you. The student body is a great mixture of nationalities and you make friends for life, living in the city is great and there’s something for everyone – nature or party lovers. One thing you should know before coming here is how there is a LOT of opportunities career and personal-growth wise (at least in Informatics), however you will have to be the person who looks for those opportunities. Nothing is handed on a plate and if you do want something, it is your job to find ways of how to get it.

I’ve rated the professors on a lower scale, but it includes the school itself as well as there were a lot of problems regarding timely and thorough feedback, mostly because some courses accepted too many students than the current staff could handle and I really hope the uni stops doing that in the future. It doesn’t benefit either of the parties. Some professors also were not really engaging since quite a few of them are forced to do the courses as part of their daily research job, which is the main driving force in Informatics for UoE – Research. However, there were some professors that actually made me love the courses I was doing, so again – really depends. Don’t be afraid to ask other students what they thought of certain courses before taking them!

Overall, positive experience and I wish I could come back again one day in the future.

The quality of the education, the professors, the curiculum are all very good. The career service and the student life could be better, you can quickly feel a little alone. Very good experience overall.

Not only were all of the courses I enrolled in great, the professors were all attentive to the students’ understanding of the material and to their well-being. They were helpful, as was the staff, to make the student’s experience at uni as inspiring as can be. I was also positively surprised by the emerging consciousness (although there is still work to be done) not to use single-use plastic, etc. One of the best things during my time in Edinburgh was, without hesitation, the university societies. If anything, there are too many interesting ones!