When I was looking at universities, what feels like a million years ago now, I had to consider different factors to help me choose which one would be right for me.
Distance
I knew that I wanted to go away from home to study at university, but at the same time I didn’t want to be a million miles away from my family (they’re not that bad). My journey from home to uni takes a maximum of two hours, depending whether I travel by train or car. Both myself and my parents felt like that was a good distance, for me to have my independent experience as well as being able to get home easily if and when I needed to.
However, the University of Kent is made up of a diverse community and we have lots of students who have travelled from different parts of the world to study here. With so many ways to make friends and the different support services available; anyone can be happy here, no matter where you’re coming from.
Campus
One of the things we’re so lucky to have here at Kent is a truly beautiful campus. There’s green spaces, wildlife, a wonderful city view, and plenty of places to spend your time studying or socialising. We have a huge, recently refurbished library that makes the perfect study space. We have cafés, restaurants, Essentials shop, gym (my personal favourite), a bar, nightclub and even a cinema on campus – what more could you possibly need?
The campus here is actually one of the things that really sold this university to me. Walking around on a beautiful July open day, I could really see myself feeling at home here. After visiting the uni on the open day I realised that finding the right university is somewhat like falling in love; you get a feeling, and when you know you know. I knew that Kent was the one for me.
Accommodation
Accommodation is of course important, as it becomes your second home and it’s where you make your first friends at uni. On campus we have a lot of accommodation to choose from. We offer some en-suite facilities, some catered accommodation, double rooms, single rooms, flats, houses etc. The accommodation offered here at Kent not only gives you options, but it is also modern, spacious and well located around campus.
The course
As much as making friends, socialising and having fun is a big part of university, we are, of course, here to get a degree. The course you choose is therefore extremely important. I still, to this day, remember meeting some of the lecturers for the first time at that open day a couple of years ago. They were so welcoming, so enthusiastic and informative that I instantly felt at ease. I was provided with information about the course and attended a talk from one of the lecturers explaining what the course was about and how it was structured. It was then that I got really excited about university. I loved the fact that there were so many modules to choose from; I could make my degree my own. I immediately picked out modules I wanted to study.
So yes, the University of Kent is a great place to study.