I love Lancaster University for so many reasons. For me, one of the most important things is the campus and collegiate system. Coming from North Yorkshire, this comes across as a much friendlier and welcoming community, which is less overwhelming than city-based universities. The campus is beautiful with woodland walks, lots of outdoor seating, green areas, wildlife and open spaces. The broad range of services and amenities on campus makes a massive difference to the university experience. From the careers service, scientific writing centre, the maths and sats hub, food outlets, the library, study spaces, shops, pharmacy, doctors' surgery, and so much more, there is little that Lancaster University doesn't have or can support you with.

I have enjoyed studying Zoology at Lancaster and have tried to make the most of the careers services. I undertook a placement year, which the careers service supported me through, and I found incredibly valuable. The contact hours are well-balanced with independent work, and the suggested reading is broad and provides ways into the literature. Lancaster University have excellent teaching facilities, and the staff are extremely knowledgeable, actively working on research in the topic they teach. Some modules have had more online-based learning than others, and I think a better balance between the two would be beneficial. Additionally, the assessments for most of my modules have consisted of exams and coursework with a 50/50 weighting, although some modules have been 100% coursework. For the coursework, most of my modules required a scientific report. I believe that scientific reports and exams have their place, and require essential skills that need to be assessed; however, I would have preferred other weightings and opportunities to be assessed. Additionally, as the Zoology degree at Lancaster crossed between the Lancaster Environment Centre (LEC) and the Biomedical and Life Sciences (BIOL) departments, we were often forgotten about in terms of who was responsible for us. I found myself on several occasions being timetabled for a lecture regarding LEC exams, but not BIOL exams. Or on one occasion, I had not done a core module in the first year that I was apparently expected to have done. The organisation of the Zoology degree, therefore, was sacrificed to be able to take modules from both departments.

My experience in university halls was mostly positive. The rooms were nice, modern, spacious and functional. I was in an en-suite room, in a flat of 8. The kitchen is big enough; however, the communal area did not have enough seating for 8 people at once, which meant it was a bit cramped if we had guests. Additionally, the soundproofing was not very good and if one flatmate was staying up late, everyone knew about it.

As a zoology student I find all the facilities (labs and interactive workshops especially) make very good learning environments for my course In terms of improvements this one can't change much but I still don't mind it, depending on where you live (on campus) the main campus/ places you have your lectures or workshops can be a bit of a walk and that is a mild inconvenience however it's alright as long as you manage time well. The university offers help with time management too if you're not the best at this. The campus as a whole is a bit further from town but there are frequent buses that come to different stops on campus and it's very peaceful and beautiful due to the location. We're surrounded by lots of biodiversity.

The lecturers are very knowledgeable and happy to help with any questions and support. They all appear passionate about what they teach and this in turn makes me more keen on the content. I personally don't see any bad aspects about my course as I am very passionate about it, even with modules I find slightly challenging. My course is mainly taught in person and has content quizzes at the end of every week and lecturers are quick to respond to any emails.

My accomodation is on the outskirts of campus and is quite far from most lectures, shops and food places (roughly 20 minute walk) however this also means that the area is very quiet and peaceful and it's not very noisy at night due to it being so far. I see this as a good factor as I do enjoy the peaceful environment. This also attracts lots of wildlife (mainly ducks and birds) and I find them very cute and this usually cheers me up very quickly on a gloomy day. The college porters are always friendly and helpful with everything and they're very easy to approach if we have any concerns about our accommodation.