· 16 May 2008 ·
Studying in Scotland
Recently, a few prospective students have asked me what studying in Scotland and particularly Glasgow is like. Thus I decided to write an article on my personal experiences and a brief overview on the Scottish undergraduate system.
I have now been studying in Scotland for almost a year now. Thinking back, I found it really hard to make up my mind on where and what to study. Whilst there are plenty of resources out there that are supposed to help you to make up your mind on what to study, I found it harder to find information on the university.
The Scottish undergraduate system
The Scottish undergraduate system is quite different from the English one. Instead of focussing on one subject you start with three. With a few exceptions (e.g. Medicine) you can freely choose and combine subjects of your choice, you are only limited by your time table. You start with three subjects, drop one in second year and pick a new third subject. Again there are only a few restrictions. If you are doing Psychology for example, you have to do Statistics for Psychology in second year. It is only in third year when you have to decide in which subjects you want to graduate. You can either do a Single Honours or a Joint Honours. As all subjects are equally weighted when you begin, you are very flexible. Thus you don’t need to commit yourself to one subject—-which is a plus if you find it hard to decide what to do or realise that you actually like don’t like you main subject as much as you thought you would. Additionally it broadens your view and encourages interdisciplinary. Personally, I love this flexibility. I am doing Politics, Psychology and Central and East European Studies. I do like all three of them and it’s going to be really hard for me to drop one of them next semester. However, if you are sure you want to do only one subject this might be a disadvantage, particularly as an undergraduate degree in Scotland takes four instead of three years in England, Wales or Germany for example.
The good thing about studying in Scotland is that the SAAS will pay your study fees if you are from Scotland or the EU. There used to be a so-called graduation endowment, but it has been scraped by the Scottish government. This means studying in Scotland is completely free, if you fall in the mentioned categories.
Glasgow University
The University of Glasgow is a fairly big university with about 23,000 students. However, according to the rankings its staff student ration is quite good. It scores fairly well in the rankings, too, although personally I don’t count that much on them. As an undergraduate, I value the library much higher.
Socially, there are many societies and almost every course has its own. We have several newspapers and magazines, a tv station and a radio station. Glasgow University has in fact two unions: The former male union, GUU and the former female union QMU. I will not go into much detail into which one is better, that’s a matter of endless debating and you better choose for yourself which one you want to affiliate with, if at all. Because even if you don’t the Student’s Representative Council will take care of all your student needs.
Living in Glasgow
The good thing about Glasgow is that virtually all you need is in walking distance. The West End has numerous facilities for food shopping, many nice pubs and cafés, like the 78 or the Tchai Ovna. Also, Glasgow – unlike Edinburgh for example – has many clubs and venues, so that you can go out almost every night—-if you don’t have any assignments to do!
Personally, I like Glasgow a lot. I love the diversity of the architecture, with 19th century brownstone buildings, grey 70s architecture and shiny new glass fassades. However, some of my friends hate it. I guess that’s a matter of opinion and you have to decide for yourself whether you love or hate this city.
Finding accommodation
Halls of residence
Staying in halls has many advantages, but also many disadvantages. On the one hand living in halls makes it pretty easy to get to know people. On the other hand, the standard of the flat isn’t very high, you usually share a bath room, a kitchen (can get pretty dirty!), the rooms are rather small and, whilst being adequately furnitured, lack anything personal as your options to customize them are limited.
Last but not least it is nice that a telephone line and internet is provided, but the latter is rather limited. Anything that would cause high band-width is filtered out. This includes mp3 files, videos (incl. youtube!), which sometimes even filters out university services such as the university library’s podcasts or the university’s internet radio station Subcity. Also, the connection speed is quite low, ranging between 2-7 kb/s.
Therefore halls is probably the best solution if you don’t have the time or nerve to go on proper flat hunting or don’t want to jump into the cold water and be responsible for your own flat.
Private Accommodation
If you cannot stand the thought of living in halls or want to get a decent flat after the first year, there are plenty of opportunities for an own flat. However, single rooms are expensive (at least 400 pounds/month) and thus it is almost inevitable to share a flat. A good address to find future flatmates is probably Gumtree and similar sites. If you are looking for an own flat, try out Glasgow University’s accommodation database or check solicitor’s websites, for example GSPC. Whilst flats offered on PAD fulfil minimum standards, others may not. It is essential that you have a look at them first. Check out the Student Representative Council’s (SRC) website on accommodation for general advice. They also have a list of the worst landlords, i.e. the ones you should avoid.
Option three: Private Halls
There are several companies that have specialised on offering cheap accommodation to students, similar to the accommodation provided by the university. Generally, they are of higher standard and include an en-suite shower and toilet. Also, although internet is not provided it is available for an additional fee and is much better than the one provided in halls.
Getting there
If you are an international student, you will probably take the plane to get to Glasgow. There are three airports that are recommendable: Glasgow International, Prestwick and Edinburgh. All of them have very good train or bus connections.
I hope this will ease your decision making. If you have further questions, feel free to email me.
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Other comments
Linnea wrote on 18 May 2008, 22:50
How can you be bothered writing all this stuff? Really, we should be studying for CEES! Good work though, I’ll tell my friends and my sis to come here and have a look :)