Sussex University, Brighton

I have been at Sussex University for just over a year now, and the main reaction that I get when I tell people of my generation (I'm 19) that I come here, is that they haven't hear of it! This may be because I know mainly people from 'up north', and perhaps Sussex is much better known 'down south', but it is a bit annoying when people haven't a clue about the place you study!
People of my parents' generation who went to University tend to ...
...
The Place
Sussex was built in the 1960s, and as such has architecture that is delightfully built from concrete and 60s red bricks. The buildings are quite distinctive, and are a good example of 60s architecture, but they aren't exactly the prettiest (or warmest) buildings on earth. Sussex is proud to boast the only grade 1 listed building anywhere on a university campus in the whole world, apparently (Falmer House, if you're interested), ... more

I have been at Sussex University for just over a year now, and the main reaction that I get when I tell people of my generation (I'm 19) that I come here, is that they haven't hear of it! This may be because I know mainly people from 'up north', and perhaps Sussex is much better known 'down south', but it is a bit annoying when people haven't a clue about the place you study!
People of my parents' generation who went to University tend to know Sussex though, probably because it was created in the 60s, and was a bit hotpot of revolutionary thinking both with students and the staff at the time. Things have cooled down now, though, and the protesting that is still a reasonably large part of the feel of things here generally has no link to the staff, unless it is a protest against some decision the university has taken. And as far as political activity here goes, this is about as left wing a university as you are going to get. I was accosted by about 20 socialist/liberal/left wing societies at the freshers' fair, but not a single right wing one!

The Place
Sussex was built in the 1960s, and as such has architecture that is delightfully built from concrete and 60s red bricks. The buildings are quite distinctive, and are a good example of 60s architecture, but they aren't exactly the prettiest (or warmest) buildings on earth. Sussex is proud to boast the only grade 1 listed building anywhere on a university campus in the whole world, apparently (Falmer House, if you're interested), although I am sure that it only beat such beauties as the old Oxbridge colleges to grade 1 status because no one in their right mind would try to knock down or alter them, where as I know a fair few people who would more than happily make some quite drastic changes to Falmer House. It is a memorable enough entrance to the University, but it's also very strangely designed and not particularly easy to navagate around.
The University is set completely in an area of outstanding natural beauty (the South Downs) and these are well worth a visit for a nice coountry walk if you ever end up here. They provide welcome rest from the concrete that can be found at every turn on campus.
The campus boasts many very useful features; a large library, a multi denominational church, two food/grocery shops, a couple of banks, a stationers, a dentist, a GP's surgery, a pharmacy, an optometrist, a cinema/theatre, a post office, several cafes and bars, a club, many computer clusters and everything else that you would expect at a university. This gives campus the feeling of a village, which is rather nice. However, once you are no longer living on campus (and it is really only 1st years that do) it is quite annoying that campus is a good 20 minute bus ride from town! The saving grace is that at least once you've got there, you don't need to travel anywhere else to get to your other lectures/the library/the doctors etc.
The uni is about 2 milews outside of Brighton, which is where us students head when we want to go shopping, clubbing, to the beach or pretty much anywhere that isn't campus. The bus costs £2.60 for an all day ticket, which works out cheaper than two singles. It's pretty damn annoying that you have to catch the bus if you want to go just about anywhere, but you get used to it. Brighton is cetainly a good city with a wealth of great shops, clubs and of course the pier. Don't be fooled by the promise of going to uni by the beach, though. Not only is campus a good 30 minutes from the beach by bus, the beach is also a pebble beach, which everyone neglected to tell me before I came here!

Academic Accomodation
There are many different blocks of buildings that house the different subject areas, so you can leave the university with no knowledge of the departmental accomodation for anything except your own school. The buildings are actually quite maze like, and sometimes the numbering system for rooms seems completely random, which is a bit of a pain. The buildings all tend to feel rather dated (apart from the medical lecture theatre, which was built just a couple of years ago). The 60s wood innteriors and love of straight lines and rather bark colours has a certain charm, but more than that, makes many places seem a little depressing. The University is also in a bit of a financial nightmare at the moment, and a lot of places look as if they could do with a lick of paint, but they just can't affor it.
All the rooms I have experienced have been adequate for their use, but tend to be on the cold side in winter, so I have to remember to take a big jumper with me!

Residential Accomodation
There are several different student residences on campus, all located towards the back of the campus. These range from the really nice (Lewes Court phase 2) to the really not nice (Park Village) although there are people I know that liked what I think are the most horrible residences! The reason that I am so opposed to Park Village (and East Slope isn't that great, either, but it beats Park Village!) is that it is old and in need of replacement. The bedrooms are reasonable, but feel worn out and old. There are no compunal areas other than the kitchens for residents in the Park Village Houses, which are shared between 12 students, which is a bit odd. Lewes Court and Brighthelm are much nicer, though, as they are modern and seem comfortable and homely.
There is no catered accomodation on campus, and although there are are several cafes on campus, when 2 friends and I tried to find somewhere to eat on campus last Saturday evening, at about 7.30, there was not a single place open! We had to order Chinese in the end, because Brighton is quite far away (about 30 or 40 minutes by bus). This is a bit annoying, and although non-catered accomodation offers you the independence of eating when you like, I would have liked the comunity spirit and opurtunity to get to know people that catered halls would have offered.

Academicly Speaking
Sussex, despite being unknown to most of my friends, isn't a place for the less academically inclined. Grades to get in here range from about ABB to BBC, I think, so the intake is of reasonable intelligence. It is also ranked consistently highly in world university listings, although for some reason it never does that well in The Times Good University Guide. (I like to think this is because The Times is right wing, but I'm pretty sure that's not the real reason). While Sussex beats many rival universities in the world rankings, it just never seems to have that status here in Blighty. Ask people to list the best universities in the country, and it will be a while before the get to sussex (and that's assuming they've even heard of it!) This is rather down heartening for me as a student here, and I wish the University would do more to publicise itself and give itself a good image!
The teaching here is ok, but seeing as I've never been to another university, it's hard for me to compare! The science department, in particular, seems to include some pretty impressive people, but not being of a scientifit nature, I wouldn't know about that!
My main complaint about the theaching is that there is not enough 'contact time' ie we don't see out tutors enough! I would love to be somewhere where I had a lecture, seminar and tutorial for each module I'm doing every week, but alas, this is not the case! This means that we are expected to do a lot of research and reading on our own. Also, we don't have to do that many assignments, which sounds good, but it's not! All the assignemnts that I've ever done have been assessed towards my course grade-I would have loved to do some smaller, practice ones to see how I'm getting on!
The courses are quite interesting, as far as I know, and seem to be quite modern, which is good, but I have never been able to get over how few hours of timetabled work I have each week (8 hours!). It's actually a little embarassing!
The university does offere a good range of courses covering many subjects, which is good, and there are plenty of opurtunities for sandwich courses and years/terms abroad. There are courses covering all the major sciences and humanities, as well as life sciences and medicine, so most interests are catered for. The only thing I've noticed missing is earth science/geology, although there probably are a lot of less widely taken courses that they don't offer here.

Societies
There are a fair few societies to choose from, offering many many choices of activity from rugby to film appreciation to role playing, and including most religions and some protest groups. There isn't a lot of music compared to some places, but there are a choir and an orchestra, so students aren't completely musically deprived. Societies all seem pretty friendly, but some are not very well organised and funding for societies seems to decrease each year!

Over all Feel
When I made my visit to Sussex before choosing to come here, I didn't imediately feel at home. In fact, I didn't feel at home at all; it just seemed like a place to study, much like any other place. I wish now I had thought more about what going away to university meant, because if I had, I would not have chosen to come to a place that I didn't feel I belonged to. There is a community spirit here for some people, and most people I know really like it here, but I really don't! It doesn't have anough history and tradition for my liking, and I would rather be going somewhere better known.
I rather wish that I had applied to Durham, Oxford or Cambridge, as I think I would be better suited to the collegiate systems that they offer. As it is, I didn't, so I ended up here. I mainly decided to come here becuause my course lookd interesting, and luckily it is. But university is about more than just your course; it's a place you go to grow up and make new friendships and in a way 'discover yourself'. Sussex is not the right place for me to do that! It feels almost souless to me, because it doesn't have a long rich history, a wonderful reputation, a strong sense of tradition or even a comunal meeting places that students tend to go to. Although Sussex is of reasonable academic quality, my grade were (and were expected to be) good enough that I could have gone somewhere of much higher academic standing. I chose not to, but I wish now that I had, becuase I sometimes feel a little intellectually out of place here. It's not that the people here aren't reasonably clever, but I guess because I went to a grammar school, I would have liked somewhere with generally higher entrance requirements more, so that I could enjoy all the intellectual debates and discussions I was used to!

Overall, I am not particularly fond of this place, and I won't really miss it once I've left. But don't let that put you off, becuase I know most people here like it. I would recomend visiting and seeing what you think, and if you get a sense of belinging here, then go for it. If you don't, don't make the same mistake as me and assume you'll get to like it. Choose somewhere that you feel you belong! 

...less