Royal Holloway reviews

Royal Holloway review

Before I came to Royal Holloway I actually knew nothing about my course. The main thing that attracted me (and I think everyone else) to Royal Holloway is the Founders Building. It's such a spectacular setting and really gives you prestige. Looking at other universtities you realise how lucky you are to be studying in such a great place.

Thankfully I love my course as well. I had not studied politics before and not sure of what to expect, but the way the course is designed means you are not signing your life away. In the first year I did a unit in each of the departmental subjects so I could get a feel of what I liked. Now I'm at the end of the second year, which I have enjoyed even more as you are given a lot more choice on focusing on what you're interested in.

The only drawback of studying at Royal Holloway is that it can be expensive at times because you're in a nice area. Moving out of Halls in the seconond year has been quite expensive compared to other friends I've talked to at other unis. But again, you have the benefit of a nice, safe area. The student Union is great and there is always something on every night, so you don't have to venture out and pay the harsh prices.

If you're considering coming to Royal Holloway, I'd say go for it. The atmosphere is great, the location spectacular, and the people very welcoming.

Royal Holloway review

The first point to mention about Holloway must be its fantastic campus: Victorian elegance set in a landscape which is lush and green, without lacking in teaching space and sports facilities. The campus was the thing that really clinched the decision for me to come here. As far as the teaching goes, I am in 4 departments, and can say without reservation that the quality and commitment of the lecturers and seminar leaders is exceptional. There are some very eclectic courses offered and all taught in an expert manner, whilst there are plentiful facilities for extra-lecture learning available. Several of the departments have been awarded 5/5* ratings for research, but this does not necessarily mean a departure from friendliness and approachability. The system of personal advisors ensures that there is always someone to talk to. The Union has a wide range of sports and societies, which cater for more or less every activity and benefits from a relatively new sportshall and gym. Other than that, the accommodation can range from Victorian opulence (fancy living in a castle?!) to the expected concrete and breeze-blocks of modern university life. Egham is a small town but there are adequate shopping facilities and besides: London's only 30 minutes away by Train and we're right next to Heathrow. All in all, definitely a good first choice and one which just gets better when you are here.

Royal Holloway review

If you're expecting to have a wild social life at Royal Holloway, you are going to the wrong place. We have a tiny student union, which charges around £5 to get in, and then rips you off even more with the drinks prices. As for sunny old Egham, there is absolutely nothing to do. Unless you like bowls. Staines, which is 10 minutes away, is equally dull, and has only one nightclub, which has 'over thirties' nights. The campus accomodation, unless you get en-suite, is horrendously awful and ridiculously expensive. Athlone, Cameron and Williamson don't even have a proper water supply, and my hall in the first year had only orange gunk coming from the taps. Nothing gets done about it, because all Royal Holloway exists for is to get your money. I know this sounds harsh, but if I could go back and change the UCAS decision form, I would. And no, we're not even as close to London as the prospectus makes out. And the facilities are equally rubbish - printing and photocopying are outrageously expensive, the libraries are pretty much useless and the campus shop is twice as expensive as the local Tesco. You have been warned.

Royal Holloway review

Two parts to this; Royal Holloway itself and Physics at Royal Holloway.

As far as physics goes, I couldn't recommend it more. Brilliant course, fantastic choice of units, passionate lecturers, effectively one-to-one tuition, great facilities and world class research in a number of fields: I could go on. However, university is about more than academic study.

Step outside the individual departments to examine student life at Holloway and you will find very little. The university seems to have stopped bothering with student life. The halls are appalling. Catered halls are not catered: you have to buy each and every one of your meals. Dining rooms provide fantastically expensive, poor quality food and are not fully open on the weekend. Self-catering halls are designed for the conference guest and have no communal areas. All halls are more expensive than you can possibly imagine, as are all college services (shop, laundry, printing & photocopying etc).

The much-vaunted Founders building, where I lived in my final year, makes a grubby, unfriendly and depressing home. On my floor there were two showers between fifty people which were infrequently cleaned.

There appears to be no campus community at all, which is unusual for such a small college: it is deserted at the weekend. The campus itself, whilst leafy, comprises Founders Building plus an ugly, ill matched assortment of 70’s and 80’s buildings. The facilities are poor.

Nightlife consists of a single campus pub plus the pathetic union, which puts on perpetual cheese nights and charges heavily for entrance. The surrounding towns and villages are dull.

Students drawn by the proximity to London should not be fooled: public transport in the surrounding area is far too poor to allow any rewarding night there. The student body is at best apathetic: visit the Holloway union website and discover that the most important annual event is the preposterous fashion show.

If academia is your sole concern: fine, otherwise steer clear. I am not proud to have studied there.

interview day at Royal Holloway

I chose to do Theatre Studies at Royal Holloway and on their interview day i was really excited.
It was a little disorganised because it was a UCAS interview day as well but me and my dad got a lot from it. We saw founders hall which is truly breath taking. I will say that it is a beautiful uni and being a student there would hold a certain fairytale quality.
The course looks pretty good and the teachers seem alright although the guy holding the seminar whoich was actually a workshop didn't seem to want to hear anyone elses opinion even when he asked for it [weird] but one teacher out of so many is pretty good.
The accomadation is all right, theyre building new buildings with en-suits so that will be good, but like i said the founders hall is amazing, its like harry potter and if i go there i know i will just expect the stairs to move or something....or maybe just when im a bit worse for wear!
The interview wasn't too bad, i was given the chance to explain why they should let me in which was good.
If anyone is worried about not getting in to this course as it is ABB one of the lecturers did say that If you are predicted BBB but you are asked for an interview, it means that they see something speical in your application that they think is important.