Leaving home to go to a new city to study is inevitable to be daunting however you’re up North… Not once person I’ve met in Leeds is going to fuel the daunting feeling. Everybody is so genuinely kind! But it isn’t just this that makes Leeds a great place to study, the possibilities for students are endless. Leeds is one of the best cities to be in when you’re a student. It’s bursting with life but not to a point where you feel overwhelmed. The bars and pubs ranging from the city centre all the way up to Headingley are always bursting with an exciting atmosphere full of welcoming students. The transport around Leeds also couldn’t be easier to navigate, it’ll take you wherever you want to go! Now, aside from all the partying you’ll be doing as a student, there will be studying too. At Leeds Beckett university, the staff are incredibly supportive and welcoming, making the student experience a bit less scary. The campus is big and clean with lots of fantastic societies available to join. The worst parts of my university experience have been the race to find housing post student accommodation. The need for housing for students is immense and so many great houses get bought off the market so quickly. It was difficult for me to find somewhere to live for my second year in Leeds. However, after the panic of the first few weeks trying to find a house, us students in Leeds soon realise that there’s plenty of housing for all of us, in student areas such as Woodhouse, Hyde Park and Headingley. A lot of students also stay in student accommodation for their second years.

At Leeds Beckett University, the course tutors appear to genuinely care about your student experience. Inside and outside of course hours, my lectures have been very involved with my studies. All have made it explicitly clear that they are available for extra help and support at any time, whether that be with personal or educational matters. My course is exclusively taught face to face. This enhances the learning experience majorly, ensuring I am maximising my degree and further emphases Leeds Beckett’s involvement in their students studies. The worst aspects of my course are based upon personal feelings toward presentations. As a quieter student, I feel extreme resentment toward tasks that involve speaking in-front of a group of people! However, I am also glad that this is part of my course as it enables me to gain confidence for my future.

Mill Street was about a half an hour walk away from Leeds Beckett University, but when you’re eating packets of noodles for daily, I didn’t mind getting the steps in! Despite the accommodation being a bit further out than the others, it didn’t hinder anybody socially. The flats in Mill Street were big and diverse, guaranteed to meet someone you’d at-least enjoy chatting to. Due to personal reasons, I actually didn’t make any proper friends in student accommodation and I only did find people to chat to. However it wasn’t the end of the world, due to what I mentioned before about the good location. I was able to easily access the city centre to meet with people I had met outside accommodation. The accommodation had security all day and is gated, accessible only by a fob owned by tenants. Never once did I feel unsafe at Mill Street. The staff at reception were exceptionally friendly, making my stay very pleasant and adding to the safe feel. Regarding value for money, Mill Street was excellent. For my first year I stayed in a six bed flat. Each tenant had their own en-suite with a toilet and shower with a shared kitchen. The bedrooms, bathrooms and kitchens were spacious with no faults over my stay. The only problem my flat had was the heat detector alarms going off quite frequently however that was quickly sorted by the staff on hand at all times. There was nothing I disliked about student accommodation at the hands of Unipol or Mill Street.

This university is the best I have ever seen. They are extremely career-oriented meaning that they focus on teaching their current students how to get the careers they want while they are studying. They don't just push you out into the world without knowing anything. They have numerous career days and events. They are flexible with your needs and their Student Services office is especially approachable and helpful. The only negative aspect I can think of is that most international students wait until the last few days to do their check-in and the offices are not prepared for this. If you are an international student here, you have a whole month to do this. DON'T wait until the last day to do your check-in. You most likely won't be seen and you're left in a terrible situation. I did mine in the first few days and it was very fast and took no time at all. The people who came during the last week had to wait for four hours and half of them weren't even seen. I don't blame this on the school as much as I do the students, but you should be warned. Other than that, everything is amazing so far with my studies. I love my courses. Most of my tutors are very knowledgeable and answer emails quickly. I love the location even more than the University of Leeds because Leeds Beckett is closer to City Centre. There are a lot of accommodation options but I use private accommodation because I prefer not to share living spaces.

My course is taught in-person and they are always in the format of a lecture then a seminar on the same day. I usually have class three days a week with one module a day. My second year has involved doing hands-on work with a company. I'm writing blogs for a museum as my project. Today my course involved learning how to write a good CV. The teachers are very easy to reach and usually never take longer than a day to respond to an email. My pinky concern with classes is that most students don't attend enough. The university just implemented a way to make attendance better. You now have to scan a QR code every time you are in class to mark attendance. Anyone who doesn't show up more than 60 percent might be kicked out of school. I totally agree with this because students aren't attending enough.

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