The Course and Reputation
At Southampton, I'm going to take a BA Modern Languages degree (French + Spanish with Portuguese from scratch). At the time I was applying to University, Southampton was located very high up in may University league tables for Languages-even reaching 3rd on the Guardian's table behind Oxford and Cambridge. As a member of the prestigious Russell Group, Southampton is a highly respected institute where I expect to be getting the best education available for my subject area.
The Place/Location
Southampton is a medium sized city on the south coast of England. There is a strong student population and culture there and based on what I've experienced of the place so far I find this quite appealing in comparison to living just outside of Manchester for over 10 years. For me, a change of scene is all part of the Uni experience plus being in the south I hope to lose the Northern twinge that has crept into my accent over the years!
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| Distance from where I live in Stockport to Southampton, it's pretty far away! |
Clubs and Societies
From what I gathered through word-of-mouth, I don't get the impression Southampton has the best student union in the country. However, there are tonnes of sports teams and various different societies to keep me busy when I'm not studying. As a swimmer, one of the big things for me when applying to University was making sure whether I went there would be a good team for me to join and sure enough, Southampton certainly does. My sister Imogen has been a member of the club during her time at Southampton and has even taken me to train with them and go out on a social so I know first hand exactly what they are like. Very much a work hard-play hard attitude. Can't wait to get back into training and meeting some new swimmers!
Inside knowledge
I'm not going to lie, having my sister Imogen already being a student there has been very useful for me. We've both studied the same and similar subjects throughout our years of education so when I decided I was interested in doing a Modern Languages degree it was great to know someone with so much useful information to share with me. I've learnt much more about my course, the education and student life through my sister than I could've got from any University prospectus and although she's probably not too keen on the idea, I think it will be great to spend a year at University together.
How I chose Southampton
When it came to accepting my offers, one thing I found useful to do was to make a table like the above image in Microsoft Excel. I put down all the criteria I considered important in choosing a University and ranked all 5 of my Uni choices in each of those categories with the best receiving 5 points and the worse receiving just 1. It's safe to say Southampton came out on top with Birmingham in second so it made sense to put Southampton as my first choice and Birmingham as my insurance.
So, there you have it. That is why I am going to Southampton. Please bare in mind, these are all my opinions prior to attending the University and for all I know I may live to regret these decisions in later years but I sure hope I've made the right calls. I'm sure I'll find out soon enough!
At University, I imagine I'll be much busier than I have been this past year therefore I'm probably not going to blogging as regularly as once a week. However, I will try to complete at least one post per month to keep things ticking over.
FP
#FraserOnTour
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