Join me! (University of Wales, Aberystwyth in general)

Member Name: chooflafla

Product:	University of Wales, Aberystwyth in general
Date:	24/05/03 (1068 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Near the beach, Good facilties (mostly anyway), Make lots of new friends

Disadvantages: Lack of washing machines, Some rooms don't have carpet, At the top of a very big hill

Since I'm nearing the end of my first year now, I feel that I know enough about the university to give my overall opinion of it. However, my knowledge is pretty much limited to the main campus as there is also Llambaran Campus (otherwise fondly called "Cow Campus") a mile down the road (mainly for students who study agriculture as it is extremely rural over there) and the Old College, which is just over a mile away down town, which houses a myriad of classrooms for all subjects.

Let's get it on!

=====

FACILITIES

The university is home to many large (and somewhat intimidating) buildings and perhaps the most noticeable is the Parry Williams building that is used for Film and Television students (like me!) as its four storey floor to ceiling windows that face the ocean are a sight to behold. This building also includes a BBC Wales centre as well as a batch of editing suites with state of the art editing equipment and software. A word of warning though, the corridors within Parry Williams are plentiful and painted dark blue so it's like wandering inside a rabbit warren, even for someone who's been there for almost an entire academic year.

The library is impressive and well stocked with books as well as DVDs, periodicals, journals and workstations. A photocopying room and computer suite dominate most of the ground floor and the self-issuing machine is a Godsend! Gone are the days where you have to wait in a queue for ages just to take out a single book. The ground floor also has a short loan section (with severe penalties should you be even 5 minutes late) as well as those security systems that you?d find in most high street shops at the entrance. The library itself comprises of three stories, each spilt into different sections for ease of locating books. The beauty of it is that you can log onto the library database from any computer (on or off campus) to find out whether or not the book you want is
there to save a cumbersome journey (well, it's all downhill from where I live but you have to consider that I've got to walk back up again)! Reservations and requests can also be made over the net as well as renewals so you have no excuse not to research for essays!

If by chance the Hugh Owen Library doesn't have the books you need, you can always become a member of the National Library of Wales (membership is free and is valid for seven years) and reserve books on-line from them too. The only drawback is that you are not allowed to remove the books from the National Library and thus must do all of your notes down there.

Photocopying facilities are available all around campus, however, you must top up your library card via paypoints dotted around computer suites in order to use them. This is also true for computer printing credits too. This works in pretty much the same fashion as a PAYT phone whereby you pop your card into a machine and shove money down its money hungry slot et voila.

The computers all operate on Windows XP and have all the programs you would ever need for any of your courses.

Post will generally come straight to your door, however, with items that are classed as "packages" i.e. anything that?s too fat to fit through the letterbox, are kept in a designated postal retrieval room that is manned at set times in order for you to go down and pick up your goodies. ID is required for this and they usually ask for your library card as it contains your name and photo (don't lose it! You need it to get into some computer suites [24 hour ones at least] and it costs £11 to replace). The only drawback is if you're not expecting anything as they have no system to let you know whether or not you have packages awaiting collection.

If you have any problems at all, you can call the porters 24/7 (duty rosters are posted on every kitchen notice board) from the internal phones located
next
to each payphone within accommodation blocks or from a landline with the prefix of 01970 62xxxx.

Car parking is available outside each block and cost a princely sum of £18 per year. If you happen to have friends or family coming up to visit for a few days, a temporary parking permit can be obtained from the Porter?s Lodge free of charge.

Laundry facilities are also offered for £1.40 a pop and dryers are 20p per spin. I recommend that you invest in a clothes horse if you have the room for one, or as I saw the other day walking past Rosser, hang a length of string across your room and buy pegs! The only downside is that there are thousands of students living here and only 4 washing machines in Rosser, 7 in Cwrt Mawr and 5 in Penbryn. If my memory serves me correct, when I went to a random party in PJM, there was a washing machine in the kitchen (not 100% sure though, I was drunk, it could have been a microwave or a shoebox).

Sporting facilities are also plentiful at this university with a well-equipped gym as well as football pitches, swimming pool, squash courts and weight room. Membership is £28 per year and a one off induction is £7. Each time you wish to use the gym it costs £1 after 7pm and £1.20 any time before that, however, sessions are as long as you want them to be. The swimming pool is free. Well-trained employees, who are always willing to lend you a helping hand, staff the sports centre. There are many sporting societies to chose from at the Fresher's Fayre.

The university also has a free monthly publication called "The Courier" which includes up to date information about the going ons at the uni and is written by students, for students. The weekly e-mail that is sent out every Tuesday also achieves this as well.

ACCOMMODATION

I don't think that I can really say much about accommodation to be perfectly honest as I'm only in my first year and thus have only had experience in living
in one set of halls. However, the knowledge I DO have is that there are seven main accommodation sectors within the university. Firstly, there?s mine, Cwrt Mawr, and then there?s also Rosser (en suite), Trefloyne (very nice), Petre Jane Morgan (the student village, otherwise known as PJM which have a plethora of houses), Penbryn (self catering and thus poorly equipped kitchens), Pantycelen (Welsh students only [how elitist! They're VERY nice]) and finally the flats on Cow Campus. Each room has an Internet connection point, which costs £75 per year to connect, however, next year, this will be included in the price and is essentially free (grrrrrrrrr).

Accommodation in halls is guaranteed for first year students, overseas students and third year and above students; so basically, they?re kicking me out next year and I have to move down town (into a nice big house with two cookers!).

Prices vary depending on where you happen to be staying. You can get single rooms, large single rooms and shared rooms. It also depends on whether or not you live in catered halls and also whether or not you have en suites (these halls require you to remove all of you belongings out at holidays, but Penbryn has a storage area that costs £10.50 per box [box included]). Accommodation fees are generally paid a few days into each term and are taken out for the entire term.

Before you start here, you are given a short form to fill out so that the accommodation office is able to place you in halls that suit your tastes. The questions that I can remember off the top of my head were:

@ Do you require Internet access?

@ Do you wish to live on a loud floor?

@ Do you wish to live on a single sex floor?

@ Do you know anyone at this university and thus would you like to be placed on the same floor?

I think there were a few others but I no longer have the questionnaire (if you can call it that).

Some of the views offere
d are simply wonderful and from my kitchen window, you can see the sun set over the sea!

In self catering halls, the kitchens are well equipped albeit you have to provide your own utensils, however, there is a grill, cooker, microwave, oven, fridge and freezer as well as chairs and dinner tables so that?s not a problem. There are also ample cupboards and drawers as well as a large notice board in every kitchen to post up important announcements... or drunken photos!

Rooms come complete with desks (with several built in drawers), bookshelves, one of those horrible plastic chairs that you get in schools, a wardrobe or two, bed (bedding is provided and linen can be exchanged at a designated location weekly) and a sink. This is only my room though, as it?s one of the very few blocks that has yet to be renovated. Some of my friends also have noticeboards and comfy chairs instead of the awful plastic ones.

Smoking is permitted in all bedrooms.

I apologise for being vague in this section, however, to learn more, log onto:

http://www.aber.ac.uk/accommodation/

COURSES

There are lots of options to choose from in the way of courses. They even do Television and Film Studies with Maths (almost took that)! Most combinations are available, however, to be 100% certain, check with UCAS first (http://www.ucas.com) to ascertain whether or not your course is available here (the code for Aberystwyth is A40).

The course I am currently studying myself is a BA Single Honours in Television and Film Studies and the module plan is excellent. Necessary screenings take place in the Hugh Owen lecture theatre, which seats over 400 in comfortable padded chairs complete with surround sound, VCR and DVD player, and a large screen (not quite sure how big it is, but you can see clearly from the back row). Unfortunately, there is not much room for choice in your first year on most subjects, however, in the second year, you have a m
ore diverse range of subjects to study along side single honours subjects. The only gripe I have is that some of the lecturers don't like to use the microphone and thus you have to strain to hear them. Most of my lectures take place in this room as there are 377 people in my class and it's the only room that is big enough for all of us. Seminars are a bit higgeldey piggeldey as they tend to allocate random rooms as there are usually a maximum of 12 people per seminar group. Seminars are every other week, which means that if you're lucky like I was, you get every other Monday off (three day weekend! Rah!).

Assignments and essay titles are generally e-mailed to you so it's worth checking them every day if you can.

BARS(!!!)

There are three main places to drink when you're on campus. There's the kitsch Cwrt Mawr Bar that looks like it's permantly stuck in the 80s), the trendy Rosser Bar where the decent pub quizzes are held on selected Sundays. Then there's the Union, which is spilt into two bars, Bar 9 and The Joint (both drug related names... hmm...). Theme nights are held at the Union including Beach Parties, Reload (cheesy 80s music), Select (pop music), Str8 Up (monthly night for gays and lesbians), as well as Skool Disco nights and holiday related nights (for example, Rocky Horror at Halloween). PJM also has its own bar but it's not really classed as being on campus and I've never been, but I've been PAST it and it looks nice and posh inside.

If the Union and campus bars aren't your thing, go down town! There are 63 pubs in town so you'll be spoilt for choice (my mission is to visit them all within the next 2 years) and then there's also Pier Pressure, a nightclub built on the end of a pier (duh). But enough about town, this op is about the uni!

=====

I'm pretty sure that I've covered everything, however, if you want to know more, don't hesita
te to leave me a comment on what you want to know and I'll add it ASAP.

Thanks for reading.

Summary: