Newcastle University > Reviews > Local lad, Local University

Author's product rating:   

IT Facilities	Good
Libraries	Excellent
Societies/Clubs	Excellent
Accommodation	Good
Nightlife	Excellent

Advantages:	Great campus, friendly staff & excellent night life .
Disadvantages:	Hand in dates, uni work

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Just before I started Newcastle Uni almost 5 years ago i was on a bit of a low. I'd applied to do mechanical engineering at leeds, aston, edinburgh and glasgow, and had been knocked back by all of them. It was shortly after this bitter disappointment that a family friend had suggested applying to Newcastle.

I therefore deferred my application for a year, got a job in the relevant sector and then re-applied the following year to Newcastle Uni, a decision that I will never regret. Once I had been accepted for the interview I began to realise that after all this time, after all my life growing up in this city, that I had never even realised this place had existed. It was massive.

The campus mainly comprises of traditional red-brick buildings, with the odd modern building and tower block fitting neatly in the gaps. Considering that I had grown up here I had never fully appreciated the size and beauty of the University land. In my opinion, there are two main highlights to the Newcastle Uni campus. One highlight is (of course) the union building - cheap drinks, always full of friendly faces, a great place to meet people and a great place to enjoy a night out. And the other highlight, which is something that i have appreciated more and more as I have grown older, is the Quadrangle.

What on earth, I hear you ask, is the "Quadrangle"?

Quite simply, it's a rectangular stretch of land between four of the uni's oldest buildings. It's an absolute haven, the perfect place to contempate, chill out, or even work. In the middle of this massive built up campus there it is, with two small, very well kept lawns some trees,some benches, and some flower beds. When the sun shines it enters the quad in such a way that from whatever angle it does so, it seems to highlight a different feature. It was breathtaking when i first saw it, but seems to be even more so whenever i get the chance to get back to it.

The facilities are brilliant. All the staff are friendly and helpful, without being too pushy or nosey. This can be confusing at first, as when you leave school you are expecting uni to be more like an extension than a change. You're expecting people to chase you up and slap your wrists if you don't hand some work in, or if you mis-behave in class. But it's not like that. These people treat you with respect. They listen to what you have to say, and they try to help you when asked to. They treat you like adults. Magic.

The sports facilities and societies and clubs are fantastic. I was, and still am in my spare time, a member of the University Ice Hockey team, a place I have made some great friends. And that's the point of them. The societies and clubs are possibly the best place to go and meet people like you, and in Newcastle there's a lot to choose from. Everything from rock climbing, ultimate frisbee and water polo to the more classic uni sports like football and rugby is accomodated for. And if you're passionate enough about something that doesn't exist, the uni are very helpful if you'd like to set up your own club.

Of course I couldn't write a review of a uni without mentioning the night-life, as it is without a doubt, one of the main attractions of uni life.

When people get to university, with their student loans, all their free time between lectures, and their late starts in the mornings one of the most tempting things to do is to start to enjoy the local attractions. These tend to be along the lines of the bars and clubs of whatever city they may be living in. Newcastle is famous for it's nightlife. It has been from before i was even a twinkle in my mum and dad's eyes. And it's got even better.

In the last 5-10 years newcastle city council and gateshead city council have been striving to make the quayside a better place. It has become an extremely trendy place to be seen in, if not a little expensive. But then remind me, what are these loans for exactly...? The city also boast attractions in the Big Market (the local place to pull) and in Jesmond, with the extremely funky Osborne Road. All in all, there's entertainment everywhere in the city, and it's well worth while exploring it.

This concludes my brief review of Newcastle University. It's a place where have made some of the best friends I will probably ever meet, and it's a place I could therefore never forget.