University of Bath reviews

Bath is one of the top Universities and although you may have to get higher grades to enter most courses, the quality of the Uni is worth it.

The Science labs and equipment are cutting edge (not those naff wooden benches you get at Keele). All this is in the prospectus though or can be seen in a visit.

Watch for top up-fees in the future though Bath may charge a little more than most. If you get accepted to Bath via the normal routes then you are guarenteed on-campus accommodation. I ended up in Brendon court (level 4 room 1 if you are interested). I would suggest you go for room WITHOUT showers, toilets. The communal facilities are no problem at all. The rooms with showers in Westwood are tiny and the corridors narrow. I would recommend Brendon court because it is new and the rooms have a bit more space in them.

The big downside to on-campus accommodation is the noise. I lost count of how many times I was woken up by people coming out of the club early in the morning singing. You would probably avoid most of this if you had a flat in Eastwood.

Beware of top floor rooms, carrying all your stuff up there is a nightmare, bring lots of help. In the second year and beyond you have to find your own house in town. THIS CAN BE EXPENSIVE. I have just got a flat for £72 a week and that is now about the average for a student house in Bath although there are cheaper ones about.

Bath is a very pretty city and I have never felt threatened when I go out in the city at night. Everywhere is clean and I do not know of any really dodgy areas in Bath. Because there are a lot of tourists in Bath you do get a lot of beggers and homeless people and they can become extremely annoying on your way to uni.

My biggest criticism of Bath is the night life. Others would disagree but most of the Bath clubs resemble cattle sheds or dungeons (all are underground). Because the clubs are poor, you don't really get any good DJ's/bands visiting, and the regular nights seem to rotate cheese, 70's/80's and funk. Anything else tends to be pretty unpopular. A lot of people still really enjoy themselves and if cheese is not your thing, then Bristol is a really short train ride away.

Drinking in Bath is also expensive and drinks promos for students are not great. If you can hold your drink then you can easily spend £30+ on drinks in one night.

Forget about bringing a car to Bath. They have just built a new car park, but I expect they will only let final years and visitors on it. Parking in Bath will often need a permit and the one way systems can be a bit confusing for infrequent drivers. The Uni bus system is so good that it just is not worth the hassle unless you really want it. They have also had a problem with car crime on the campus recently but they have installed a lot more security cameras now.

Overall Bath is a relaxing, attractive, safe city to live in and is unique for that reason. Student support at the uni is excellent as are academic facilities. If you are in to sport Bath is simply the best place to go, no question. There are so many opportunities.

Bath also actively supports industrial 3rd year placements which I would consider essential for anyone. I have also learnt that employers have a large amount of interest in students from Bath, especially those with a distaste for any of 'The Big Three'. My industrial placement is at one of the worlds largest pharmaceutical companies, which has only recruited students from Bath Uni for the past two years.

Its reputation precedes it as they say.

John Wood Court or "the wood" as it's know to its inhabitants is pretty much the perfect student halls.
Imagine a block of flats (well 6 blocks of flats) enclosed in a private courtyard around a central grassy bit, good for footie and the like, 300 odd students, reasonable resident tutors (the guys/gals that supervise you are PhD lads so they are a good laugh and fairly leinient in people bending rules) in THE CENTRE OF BLOODY TOWN!!! It is legendary, no hassle of having to get a bus/taxi back to campus after a night out, you can find a decent pub/bar and be there weeks before the campus residents have a chance to stake a claim on it... dont go thinking its gonna cost six arms and three legs either, my place there was £56/person a week, with four sharing and very nice it was too, thats damn good price for a centre of town lad-pad. it does have one or two little problems (but then it wouldnt be fit for students if it didnt) you have to get the bus to campus every day... yes, even if you have an 8:15 lecture... THAT MEANS WAKING UP AT 6am... but if your lucky enough not to get many of them or you dont make a habit of going to them them all is good. also (not actually a problem) "the wood" generally has a fair sized foreign student population, of all sorts, french/spanish/italian/german/swedish/chinese/arabian/pretty much anything and they (naturally) tend to socialise with thier own kin, so if you end up in a flat with three chinese, dont expect conversation to flow freely. that is of course a sweeping generalisation and the vast majority of them really do try and mingle in. Its genuinely eye opening to be around such a diverse mix of people (all 18-20 ish) and go out on the piss with people who end up ratted and speaking incoherent russian to you because they have gone beyond the point of being able to speak english anymore! its great, i loved it and all the brits/europeans/asians i knew there loved it too. if its your first year in bath coming up. Go. Now.