The campus is nicely enclosed not in the city centre so it feels safe and quiet. There’s always pop up stalls near the student union building with lots of different lunch options and sometimes even thrift shops or free phone cleaning. The campus also is very well tended to and looks great in the summer. Glen Eyre Halls are super close, accommodation varies from very old to very modern, if you’re in an old building expect lots of water problems! City centre accommodation is very modern and only a 15 minute bus away. First years get a free bus pass and Unilink is amazing. It goes everywhere in Southampton and all buses stop at the interchange on campus. From the interchange you can go to the city centre, any halls of residence, the hospital, train station and airport. Buses are clean and new and almost always on time. Student voice needs some improving but it seems that’s been a focus of the student union recently. For my degree chemistry, the facilities and labs are very newly renovated and have 360° views of the campus and city. They’re well equipped, spacious and super bright. This was important to me as you will spend between 8 and 16 hours a week in labs.

The whole course is taught in person and exams are also in person. The quality of teaching is basically just the luck of the draw. I’ve had some excellent professors that I felt made great resources and we’re passionate and engaged however I’ve also had some that seemed uninterested and put little effort into creating helpful resources . For the most part my lecturers have been at minimum ‘decent’ and it’s not the end of the world if you have a lecturer you don’t particularly like because they change with each module and you can always ask your tutors or personal tutor any questions anyway. For chemistry expect a lot of work. It is manageable if you don’t fall behind and special considerations are available for difficult circumstances. If you’re organised and keep up it’s definitely manageable.

Halls are great for your first year as they feel secure and well connected. Some halls are brilliant and refurbished and some halls are a bit older but still well kept at minimum. Maintenance is easy to contact and they do fix any issues quickly and without charge. The main issue I’ve had at Hartley has been water and heating problems because the building is quite old. For example in winter my room gets very cold and the pipes break frequently leading to short notice shortages of 1-3 hours while maintenance make repairs. I am also on the ground floor next to lots of trees so get minimum sunlight in my room. It really depends what room you end up in as people’s experiences at Glen differ greatly. Ultimately I have enjoyed living here and never have felt stressed or eager to leave.

The department facilities are amazing but other facilities like the gym or swimming pool can be difficult to access due to the number of people trying to use them as well as all the societies that book the spaces. Accessing the swimming pool is especially difficult due to all the private bookings

Love the department facilities the labs are amazing

Halls are every expensive in comparison to private renting