Academia 15: University of Warwick and University of Birmingham Open Days

Hello my beautiful friends!

This blog post is my experience of the Warwick and Birmingham open days, which I attended last week. I do not mean to influence anyone through this post and these are just my own opinions. I thought this blog post may be insightful for some of you and useful for myself to look back on. I hope you enjoy!

22/06/ 18 - The University of Warwick Open Day

I attended the open day with my mum and we arrived by bus having made use of the Park and Ride. Immediately, I was very impressed with how modern and lovely the campus was as well as how well-organised the event was, which gave good vibes from the beginning.

With some time to kill before our first talk, we visited the SU and various social and food places. There are so many facilities for both grocery shopping and eating out - it is not necessary to leave the campus! The SU, like the campus, is very modern, which seemed very welcoming and a great place to socialise.

Personally, I had mixed feelings regarding the accommodation. The way accommodation is allocated through the university selecting one of your five preferred halls (considering there are only 13 halls) for you was unappealing. Also, I was not a fan of the halls with shared bathrooms (yes, maybe I am a princess 😂) as the rooms and corridors seemed small and I am not too keen on sharing a bathroom in general. However, I did like the halls with ensuite rooms (they seemed very hotel-esque), but obviously they are a lot more expensive and I am unsure whether I am able to afford them... Dilemma!

I attended two talks in the Zeeman building (the Maths and Stats building). The Zeeman building is well-located as it is close to many of the halls and near the SU. The building also has a lovely lawn and fountain outside the entrance (as shown in the photo), which is a lovely bonus and feels very relaxing. 

The two talks I attend were Mathematics (of course) and MORSE. Both talks were informative and presented by women, which I thought was very important to encourage women to apply to these often male-dominated courses. Surprisingly, I am strongly considering applying to MORSE instead of Mathematics at Warwick as I would like a career in finance and this course seems better-suited for this. I recommend looking at MORSE if you either enjoy the more statistical aspect of mathematics or would like a career involving statistics or economics/finance.

I have decided to rate each open day in the following categories out of 5, which will hopefully help compare them...

Location: ☺☺☺☺

Campus/City: ☺☺☺☺☺

Facilities: ☺☺☺☺☺

Accommodation: ☺☺☺

Department: ☺☺☺☺☺

23/06/18 - The University of Birmingham Open Day

Again, I attended this open day with my mum and we arrived by train as the University of Birmingham is (I think) the only UK university with its own train station, which makes travelling by rail easier. My first impression of the campus was that it is livable and I could study there, but the campus didn't give the same positive vibe as Warwick. Birmingham has more traditional buildings than Warwick; however, a lot of construction is currently taking place, so there are modern buildings mixed with the older buildings, but this does look tasteful and it is not tacky at all.

In comparison to Warwick, I preferred Birmingham's accommodation; however (again) I preferred the ensuite rooms. The university offers both catered and self-catered accommodation (I'd prefer self-catered) and the accommodation is generally more modern and cleaner. 

The main accommodation for undergraduates is on the Vale. The Vale has vast green space and a lake with the halls situated around it. It is about a fifteen minute walk away from campus, but I liked this aspect because it provides time away from campus. Apparently, many student events are hosted on the Vale and it is a lovely bonus to the accommodation in general.

The Mathematics course is appealing too as there is more choice and flexibility with modules than courses elsewhere. This will allow me to choose modules that are better-suited to my prospective career in finance. This course also delves into the application of mathematics in the real world as well as letting you take a module of any subject in your first year, which again tailors the course to open up a variety of career pathways.

There was also a good female representation at the open day in both the students and the lecturers. I spoke to one of the female students, who said that, due to the university's outreach projects promoting women in STEM, the difference between males and females on the course in negligible. This is very encouraging and I know at the majority of other universities there are still unfortunately fewer women than men on mathematics courses.

Now, onto the ratings...

Location: ☺☺☺☺☺

Campus/City: ☺☺☺☺

Facilities: ☺☺☺☺☺

Accommodation: ☺☺☺☺

Department: ☺☺☺☺☺☺ (Yes, 6 out of 5... mainly due to the flexible nature of the course! 😆)

Again, I hope that this blog post was insightful. Feel free to ask any further questions about my experiences as well as share your own experiences.