Review: Northampton University

Hi everyone, so yesterday was the Northampton University Open Day 2015 and I thought for my future reference and for you guys who are thinking of going there in the future I would compile a list of the positives and the (very few) negatives that I have about the place.

So first I feel like I should tell you that I am hoping to start university in September 2016 and want to do the developmental and educational psychology degree.

Anyway, lets get on with the review :)

Positive

• Small campus: Ok so for me I much prefer the smaller campuses where everything is close together (literally from one side of the campus to the other is about a 15 minute walk. For me this is great because everything is easily accessible and it is difficult to get lost, I had spent 2 hours there after having a campus tour with my dad and a third year student and the course talk and then I was able to show my mum around with no problem at all and didn't get lost once. Obviously if you prefer the bigger campuses then Northampton University is not for you.

• Cheap accommodation: At Park campus there are twin rooms (but I didn't look at those) and also three types of single rooms at three different levels (all for a 42 week contract btw): Small Standard Single for £3,444 a year, Standard Single for £4,326 a year (this one is just larger) and a Single En-suite for £5,082 a year. 

Both standards are really nice, here are two pictures I took of the Single Standard.

If I had to choose between the three I would go for this one as it is very cheap and there is a bathroom with a toilet, a shower room and another toilet all shared between only 6 people with a rather large kitchen with two fridge-freezers and lots of cabinets.

The en-suite was also very nice with a very similar bedroom but you had a bathroom that consisted of a shower, a toilet and a sink. However it was very small and you had less storage in your bedroom and a smaller kitchen, still shared between 6, with only 1 fridge-freezer. Here are some pictures:

If you want to read more about the accommodation visit the website here. 

• Lots of clubs to join: There are so many sports or societies to join that I don't know if i'd be able to fit them all in! The students' union provided me with some brochures that you will get if you go to an open day but I'll tell the clubs I am interested in to give you an idea of the types of things they offer. Societies: Disney Society, Psychology Society, UNICEF on Campus Society. Sports: Cheerleading, Dance Club, Swimming, Trampolining. Those are my personal preferences but if you want to know more about the societies, clubs or about the stundent union visit their website here. Also, all the clubs are free to join, one of only two in the UK, and the gym membership is only £100 for the year which is very good value!
• Great course/professors: Ok so this is more of a personal one as, obviously, I only got to experience the talk for my course, developmental and educational psychology, but there was no welcome talk which I liked (they can be bloody boring!) but was kind of incorporated into the first 10 minutes or so of the course talk. The modules for my course is everything I am looking for and was very impressed with how they presented the talk. First they talked about the modules and what is in each one, then two students took us round to see the psychology facilities then we had a kind of mini seminar to see what it is like. I found it very impressive and interesting. Yeah, very impressed :)
• Good location: Northampton University Park Campus, I think, is in a good location quite close to the town and have all the necessities like a huge ASDA, Boots, Waitrose, and so on.
• Great facilities on campus: If you don't like the idea of going into town every week to get your groceries there isn't a huge need as there is a shop on campus with all the necessary things. There is also several launderettes that are very cheap. The library is huge with plenty of 'silent areas' for quiet study and LOADS of books for all the subjects.
• Free bus pass: To get from Park Campus and Avenue Campus there are frequent buses between the two and in between is that huge ASDA I was talking about, why not pop in?

Negative

• Unclear grade requirements: Again, this is, I think, is quite personal to my course but my requirements is 280-320 points. I personally don't like this as I am worried that if I put my target as 280 points (then when I, hopefully, surpass that I will look like a bloody genius) and someone puts their's as 320 points I would imagine that they would be the ones offered the place, even if I am hoping for 320 points or higher anyway.
• Not guaranteed accommodation: Like most universities if you do not put Northampton as your firm choice you are very unlikely to get the accommodation you want or even accommodation at all! This worries be a lot because you are never guaranteed the accommodation you want even if it is your firm choice and I am always worried that I might land with accommodation that I can't afford. However, this is the case for many universities so I wouldn't let that be a huge negative if I were you, it will most likely be the case at all the universities you look at.

As you can see there are, in my opinion, many more positives then there are negatives and overall I could definitely see myself going there; it is definitely a contender in my eyes!

I hope some of you have found this helpful as I know some of you are looking at universities as well, if you would like to know more about the university you can visit their website here and I hope you like it just as much as I did!

Always make sure you go to Open Days as it is a really good way to see what the university is like and it is always good to see the facilities and professors irl.

Anyways, I am hoping to do this for all the universities I go to so you can look forward to that! Have a great day and I'll see ya'll soon :)

♥

*Disclaimer - these opinions are all my own*