York’s a great city for student life, plenty to do when you are not studying. The uni has so many sports, activities and other clubs that you can join - I have something different nearly everyday of the week to do outside of my studies! The quality of teaching is high, and the academic support too! Academic supervisors are brilliant, able to help you 1-on-1 with anything, even if it’s unrelated to your studies! Seminars are interactive, and you can gain as much as you want to out of them - there is little pressure to contribute if you don’t want to, and no judgement for anything you do or don’t say. Whilst the uni has a slightly odd 1960s architecture mostly, all the lecture theatres and seminar rooms are properly equipped and comfortable working spaces - the library has plenty of room and is well stocked with everything. Plenty of the newer uni buildings have relaxed spaces for studies or just social spaces too! The student’s union is less good, often slow to reply to enquiries that often need a swift reply, and seem to have little trust in the students who they represent. What I mean by this is that when submitting finance requests or bookings for rooms, there is a seemingly low level of trust placed on the students to actually do the right thing… I couldn’t say how it could be improved, but perhaps working for the students themselves as opposed to having greater concern for the university would benefit the student’s union and help it become more effective.

My course is great! First year was introductions to aspects of International Relations, great if you haven’t studied much about it before, and great too if you have, to increase your understanding! The lecture content is clearly laid out across the year, as is the reading content - all published at the start of the year so you can plan your terms and studies out accordingly - useful when you join uni and don’t really have a clue what is going on! The seminar tutors all had an understanding that the step up to uni is a big one, and were on hand to offer support within your studies, and very considerate of any concerns held by the students. All my content was in person in my first year (luckily), which was good that the uni tried to push this through with adequate safety precautions in place, as I feel online learning simply doesn’t cut it. Now in my second year, I’m really enjoying the choice of modules that I had - I was able to choose three from a long list that covered every possible interest relating to my course, which is great! Some of the seminar tutors continue through to second year from first, so I’ve been able to build great working relationships with them. I’m enjoying all my modules and finding the specialisation considerably more interesting than the generic ones in first year.

York is a brilliant city! Plenty of opportunities for both day and nights out - the compact nature of the city means all the places to go are close to each other, and served well by uni bus routes! So many pubs, restaurants and a small number of good clubs means all the students are in the same 4/5 places which is great! If you don’t want to drink, there are plenty of day activities, coffee shops, parks etc, and the Minster is great too! Its relatively cheap, owing to being in the north of the UK, for instance I’ve had quality nights out for less than £30/40 total! A lot of the attractions in the city are cheap or free to enter, and owing to York’s somewhat touristy status, there are plenty of things to do and guides on what to do, and when to do them. Honestly, the city is one of my favourite things about being at York, it’s just great! The uni is served by two consistent and cheap bus routes, or its only a 25 minute walk into the city centre. Plenty of Ubers and other cabs available too!

My halls were pretty poor, but I did have some of the ones at the worse end of the scale, this was because York managed to mess up the allocations as they accepted too many people into the uni… They did discount my room and catering as a result though. Maintenance was ok, its easy to submit requests for broken or missing stuff but occasionally it took a while to come and fix - e.g. we as a flat had to buy our own kettle as the one supplied did not work and the uni never turned up with a replacement. Small thing I know, but annoying nonetheless, especially in your first 2/3 weeks of uni. The catered food was ok, the service was good and it was a guaranteed meal - expect your average canteen experience, nothing horrific, nothing special. Our kitchen was too small for the number of people living there, lacking in cupboard and fridge/freezer space especially. Less of a problem with catered food in the morning and evening, but still a challenge as to what to buy and where to put it for your own meals on weekends etc. My room was very small, but it had a nice roof window that I could open and close easily, a bed and desk and just about enough wardrobe space, so I wasn’t too concerned. I am well aware that the newer accommodation on East Campus here at York is considerably nicer than what I had, with sofa areas and TVs etc, so would recommend that instead of West Campus if you are concerned about quality. Find out where your course is studied (East or West Campus), and choose accommodation accordingly, as the walk between the two is a bit of a pain.

Good university with a strong friendly feel that onlu yorkshire can provide, countryside minuets away and everything is comviently on campus. Course is good with adequete contact hours