In terms of my degree, Loughborough has some of the best Fine Art facilities in the country. We have workshops in paint, print, plaster, clay, metal, wood, and probably more that I've forgotten. Every workshop has dedicated tutors to help you with your specialism, as well as our module tutors, who give us feedback on the direction of our work. There isn't a house style at Loughborough, so you can experiment with different workshops, mediums and ideas. Students can also put on their own galleries and exhibitions, and have the opportunity to sell artwork at the Winter showcase. There's also a final Degree Show during your 3rd year which is a great way to show friends, family and the public how your work has progressed over the years. The student experience at Loughborough is amazing. There are so many ways to get involved. You can join your hall committee to plan events for your hall - this isn't something available at most universities, and I think it's an amazing way to boost your confidence and develop your leadership and teamworks skills. You can also get involved in sections like action (volunteering in the local community) or welfare and diversity (subcommittees like LGBT, Disability Support Network, HeadsUp) to help support fellow students and create a community of like-minded people - both of these can be done either in a leadership role, where you plan your own events, or just as casual volunteering, so there's really something for everyone. Loughborough's Student Union does amazing nights out, with two regular nights per week, and a Indie Night and LGBT Nights once per month (plus other specific nights out that I probably can't think of). This means there's something for everyone, regardless of your music taste. These nights have amazing union security staff, who can ensure that you get home safely. The campus police and 24/7 campus security also help with this. There's great student support at Loughborough. Because we're a campus uni, there's a real community vibe and it really feels like home. If you're struggling, you can always turn to someone for help. Whether thats your hall warden team, your welfare and diversity rep, a personal tutor, Nightline or HeadsUp (student-run mental health support groups), your friends or the University's counselling, there's always someone to help. There's not much to improve at Loughborough, I guess for some people they'd rather live in a big city with a huge nightlife so Loughborough might not be the place for them. That said, Loughborough is only a 10 minute train ride for Nottingham and Leceister. So you can still go to both big cities on a night out or during the day. This has been great for me because I prefer to live in a quiet town, but enjoy going to the cities to visit art galleries, go ice skating or bowling but returning to Loughborough where it's relatively quiet and safe at night.

The course facilities are the best aspect - we have workshops in print, plaster, clay, paint, metal and wood, each with dedicated tutors to help you with your specialism. We also have module tutors who gives us regular feedback on the direction of our work. There isn't a house style at Loughborough, meaning we're free to explore any medium, style or discipline. There also aren't any briefs from 2nd year onwards, so you can take control of your work and choose where you want to go with it. The lectures cover a broad range of topics, including a lot of contemporary art, so we can see how successful artists of today are working. Every course has a dedicated placement officer who helps support our applications. Unfortunately it can be difficult to find specific fine art placements, so a lot of offers on the placement bulletin (where the university shares placement offers with us) are design rather than fine art. However, the placement officer helps us in writing emails and finding fine art companies if we want to reach out individually.

Harry French is the ideal location. It's slightly off-campus so its closer to town, meaning you don't have to carry your shopping so far. It's also only a 5 minute walk from the Union, so walks to lectures aren't too far either. Loughborough has 24/7 campus security and police so if we're ever locked out of our rooms or lost on campus at night we can call and get help. Harry French also has dedicated reception staff so if we have issues with our room or flat (i.e. things breaking) we can get maintenance help quickly. Being closer to town does mean we occasionally get kids from town try to break in, but Harry French has security cameras so campus security usually deal with these issues quickly and efficiently. All the rooms in Loughborough are allocated the same way for first year: all students are given a time slot according to their course, with an equal allocation of rooms to each hall, meaning every one has an equal chance at getting into any hall. All halls also have a roughly equal allocation of course and gender because of this. The University is also very helpful if people want to switch to a different flat or hall. The internet across campus is usually pretty good. It occasionally drops out but the university are lenient with deadlines when this does happen. Harry French specifically tends to have better wifi than a lot of campus. Often when the wifi goes on campus, it is still working in Harry French. Harry French is amazing value for money. For the self-catered halls, we're about midpoint in price. We have double beds, a sink in our room, and two bathrooms between six people. We have our flat cleaned once per week and the reception staff are very helpful in reporting maintenance issues and having them dealt with quickly. We also have on-site post boxes and reception staff to take our parcels, which not a lot of the halls have. This is really convenient for if you have lectures and can't be in to receive a parcel or don't want to collect from the campus post office. As with all halls at Loughborough, you can get involved by joining your hall committee. This means you can plan events and boost the hall spirit. an opportunity which isn't offered at most universities. It's a great way to boost your confidence and grow your leadership skills, at it looks amazing on your CV. It's also a good step to getting involved in the wider student union, for example I went from being my hall's Welfare & Diversity Rep to joining a Welfare sub committee. These opportunities mean you can really take control of your student experience.

The university is great

The course can be daunting due to how much it demands. But I love it anyway due to the people around.

They’re really quiet and good.