Leeds and Birmingham University Open Days

So this weekend I have spent my time in the car travelling across the country to check out some universities which I am interested in. First up was Leeds University - a very popular choice within the Lee family.

 

University of Leeds

 

 

We were greeted by many helpful and friendly students who were always able to help and direct us to the facilities we wished to see (which came in handy as my whole family has a horrible sense of direction.) I was surprised by how big the campus was and just how much there was to see. At first, I thought the university was very city-based as the ChemEng department was on the outskirts of the campus, so we had to access it from the road surrounding the campus and I was worried as I would prefer a campus-based university: but I was wrong. In fact, I was so surprised to see just how much of a strong community feel it has inside the university. The campus is your typical movie-like campus with it's beautiful tiles and trees stretching out along the whole area. Additionally, there are so many places for students to hang out and the hall's common rooms just scream FUN - there are pool tables, air hockey tables, Ping-Pong tables and more! Let alone, the amazing Terrace where there is a huge bar filled with every drink you could think of and the multiple night-life clubs situated underground for Friday night's 'Fruity' events (I found out about this from a current student.) The university is situated right in the middle of the buzzing Leeds city - therefore this university has the best of both worlds with a strong campus life and a different and exciting city experience at only a 5 minute bus ride away. (There is also a £1 'nightbus' which returns students right to their doorsteps after a night out!)

The beautiful campus 

View of the City of Leeds from the top level of a multi-storey car park

We first checked out the Chemical Engineering department: its only fault being that it is on the outskirts of the campus (typical; the department I'm interested in is the one which is furthest away.) The professors were very friendly and we listened to an interesting talk on the department from a current professor. We were given a tour of some of the facilities in the department and we saw the under-graduate lab along with some presentation rooms. The labs were very modern and large with many high-tech experimental equipment. Overall, I was impressed with this department.

The accommodation is very cosy and modern - the ensuites are also very modern and spacious (I have decided that I definitely want an ensuite bathroom!) We saw the catered and self-catered halls and the dining hall for the catered halls looked very good and I now think I will probably go catered for my first year to keep from having to worry about cooking for myself. I thought that the Charles Morris hall (especially the Storm Jameson complex) was my favourite Hall as it would suit me best and I liked the ensuite bathrooms and the style/set up of the rooms.

After we saw the accommodation we went to check out the other facilities in the university such as the sports hall and the library. We found a large fountain with benches where students could hang out and I thought it was really pretty:

Me and Dad by the large fountains

I was really impressed by the whole university and I felt a real vibe coming off from the students and the campus in general. I loved the aspect of city AND campus nightlife to mix things up and allow affordable student housing options for after first year. Leeds is now definitely in my top 3.

That night we drove to Birmingham and stayed overnight to allow a 5 minute drive to Birmingham University in the morning. Back-to-back open days allowed for direct comparison between the two and although it was raining for the whole duration of our visit at Birmingham, I still was impressed by this University as well.

 

Birmingham University

When we first arrived, we immediately saw the famous 'Old Joe' clock tower - the tallest free-standing clock tower in the world. This gave the impression of the university being old but also very traditional and beautiful: which is exactly what I thought it was. I actually found many contrasts between Leeds and Birmingham, one being how much more spread out the Birmingham campus was which perhaps lead to less of a sense of community for me but is still very student-friendly. I thought that the great hall was magnificent and some of the buildings possessed very intriguing and exciting architecture.

'Old Joe' -  the tallest clock tower in the world

Firstly, we checked out the Chemical Engineering department which wasn't as far away from the campus as Leeds which was more convenient. The department was very modern and big - there was huge variety in the different laboratories available and we got to see all of them when we went on the tour. The equipment was modern and there was a diverse mixture of different machines available. We also attended a talk by a former ChemEng professor who was very enthusiastic and easy to listen to. He gave more insight into what Chemical Engineering entails and confirmed my thoughts of studying this subject at university. I'd say that this department was very well equipped and I could see myself enjoying studying Chemical Engineering at Birmingham.

We didn't have time to see the accommodation but we spoke to a student who told us about it and how there is self-catered and catered, but the major issue is that all the halls are off-campus.  This would make walking to and fro more complicated and time-consuming which is perhaps not very appealing to me. However, I found the University as a whole enticing and I will consider this as a university choice.

To top off this jam-packed weekend, I am going on a Chemical Engineering course at Bath University from Monday until Thursday. I am very excited as I can learn about some more in depth aspects to ChemEng and it will also allow me to thoroughly see Bath University, which is another one of my university contenders.