Southampton Solent University (Southampton Solent University in general)

Member Name: wxcat

Product:	Southampton Solent University in general
Date:	30/08/09 (51 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great for maritime faculty

Disadvantages: Prices for Halls

I was at Southampton Institute (as it then was before Southampton Solent University) between 2000 and 2004 studying Yacht And Powercraft Design and then later Yacht Manufacturing and Surveying. With a foundation year on the front of the degree as my A-Level results hadn't been as well as expected!
Out of the universities I'd visited Southampton hadn't been one, and I'd never been here before I suddenly plumped on choosing Southampton during clearing after getting my results. I came down to visit on an open day at the end of August, unlike most the major univeristies around the UK it isn't a really imposing campus. Which made it more inviting to someone as its less of a jump between FE and HE. It was also a big difference in the facilities it had, some being better than Southampton Univeristy for the courses I was interested in, which was also a good pull. No surprise after I started the course, the UCAS requirements went up from 12 points to 18 points.
The Halls of Residence were a different matter, they were also completely different to ones I'd seen. Highly expensive (one of the most expensive outside London), no transport to and from them through Southampton, no catered halls at all (I'm not afraid of cooking btw!), and hardly any en-suite halls available.

Still I went to Southampton for university, and I can truely say I loved the experience. The now univeristy has extensive maritime facilities on campus and down at Warsash Maritime Centre down near Hamble. I learned alot of skills and experiences I wouldn't have learn't if I'd gone to any of the major red brick universities. Academically they set you up well with the skills you need to start a career, the only two criticism I have on that note are the lack of One To One Tutoring that they seemed to cut every year I was there and the fact they didn't offer us the chance to do a Job Placement Year during the degree (which probably left most of us with little or no experience at the end of our degrees).

Socially Southampton Institute has a good ( a bit small) Student Union, based on campus with three bars over three floors, cheap drinks, events, live music, and pool tables. Plenty of events, careers fairs, student balls, sports clubs, social clubs, and soo much more. Southampton as a city has 30000 students (If I remember right) coming from two universities as well as students coming in from Winchester and several colleges. It has lots of clubs/pubs/events dedicated to student nights and were often extremely popular. You'll have only heard of Kaos if you're a student and you'll have also been in Ikon on a wednesday night for student night!

All in all Southampton Institute was great, I enjoyed the time I spent there...the major gripe is we seemed to be paying London prices for living on the south coast!

Summary: A great place to live and study!