The facilities at UoM are top notch. The Alan Gilberts Learning Common is a fantastic place to study, with plenty of work spaces, computers and helpful staff. The IT system is sometimes frustrating, with server outages making it impossible to sign in to lectures, making students appears as absent on a regular basis and the difficult to navigate blackboard being the main tool used for uploading files for submission, viewing assignments and course contents. The location is brilliant, its not far from the city centre (around a 10 minute bus journey), with plenty of places to eat, drink and go shopping nearby. The residential areas are also not far at all, making it easy to get to and from classes and lectures. The student support is also great, mental health services are readily available to all students and I've felt well supported in my time here so far. There's always someone friendly to help out with queries and other minor issues as well. Student life here is great. Compared to other universities in small towns, Manchester has access to a huge variety of clubs, bars, restaurants, cafes and other things. The nightlife is great, with a vibrant city centre as well as plenty of other places to go if clubbing isn't your thing. There is also great food available, with the famous 'Curry Mile' close to the campus. The students' union is fantastic here. They have great facilities, an amazing pub, regular gigs and concerts as well as events for all students. I also feel well supported by them, with the SU rallying for a cost of living payment to all students as well as backing the rent strike of 2023. In conclusion, Manchester is a fantastic place to go to university. The facilities and surrounding area is amazing, but be prepared for some truly awful living spaces. Make sure to do some proper research about where you apply to stay and ask current students if you can about the best places to pick.

As a music student, I am thoroughly enjoying my course, with plenty of variety in the modules I can pick, interesting learning experiences and a whole host of performance opportunities. The instrumental teaching is unparalleled, with masterclasses and fantastic performance workshops with some of the worlds top musicians on a weekly basis. All of the lectures are in person and teach a variety of skills, including composition which you can choose to specialise in as well as transferable research and writing skills through the musicology modules. Music has one of the lowest contact hours out of any course at this university. I find myself with plenty of free time from uni, but spend a lot of it working on my own personal musicianship and acting on other opportunities which the course provides. Despite the relatively small amount of time spent in lectures, music students learn to develop their skills via the extra curricular activities available with both the university and the music society (MUMS) which is the largest student led society in the country; organising its own concerts, rehearsals, groups and more. The city of Manchester is also great for musicians, with lots of spaces for performances (both paid and unpaid), proximity to Media City and opportunities to interact with other musicians. You will be able to organise your own gigs outside of your course as well as attend various world class performances, ranging from the Halle orchestra to Beabadoobee. Lecturers in the department are busy, but have dedicated office hours for students to come with questions and all manner of things. They are also very helpful in responding to emails and looking out for students in general. I had a fantastic experience in the first term with my tutor Dr. Kevin Malone who was exceptionally caring and helpful, as well as a great lecturer. Overall, the music course at the University of Manchester is unparalleled. It perfectly blends the study of classical performance and study with more modern studies as well. It is not rooted in western classical art music but certainly pays it its due respects.

The University campus itself is great, however, some of the student accommodation provided is appalling. I've experienced rodents in my kitchen, black mould in my bathroom, leaking taps and broken cooking facilities. What's worse is the lack of response to most maintenance requests: I had to wait 4 weeks for anything to be done about the black mould in my bathroom which was so bad I had to shower in other people's flats as it was making me physically ill to use my own bathroom; I had multiple cases of skin infection during my first term. When someone finally came to sort my bathroom, all that was done was a fresh coat of paint on top of the mould, which effectively did nothing. I could still see spores and the bathroom still had an awful smell to it. To add insult to injury, the accommodation is outrageously expensive. I paid £160 per week for what was one of the worst living experiences of my live in the University of Manchester's Burkhardt House. I have heard from friends who live in the legendary Oak House that their food and possessions are often found chewed by rodents, leaking cracks in walls go unrepaired for years and the general feel of the place is 'prison like'. After applying to reallocate and having to wait around a month and a half, I was reallocated to IQ Daisy Bank. As the university has leased a private accommodation, Daisy Bank is a pleasant place to live. Maintenance requests are dealt with swiftly, the rooms are new, clean and functioning and the property is well looked after.

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