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The overall ranking is decided by students from this institution rating them in a 2026 Whatuni review. This forms the basis of the Whatuni Student Choice Awards (WUSCAs for short).
4.04.14.01113 Student reviews
Sort:Latest reviewsLocated in the town centre so it’s easy to get to from basically everywhere in York. The campus is quite modern, however it doesn’t have much greenery or decorations. The food places on campus have some hot food for quite cheap but will charge you £2 for a bottled drink which is ridiculous. Student support is wishy washy at best. Not all teams have a phone number, meaning they can take several days to reply to you (if they bother to even reply at all)
18-24 years
+ Very good location in the city centre, and most student accommodations are not too far away + Beautiful campus with historic buildings, but also new ones which feel well-maintained and have good facilities + Student life very enjoyable due to the aforementioned location - Some of the student accommodation is not very nice; dated decor and low quality furnishing that could do with a refresh - Online services for timetabling, library etc. aren't amazingly reliable and have outages fairly often
18-24 years
The lecturers are helpful and there is plenty of opportunities to talk to them since the classes are quite small. They also have drop ins where you can discuss anything you are struggling with, as well as extra sessions with students who are on similar courses but in the year above to help up with our studies.
18-24 years
As the uni is relatively small compared to other unis, you are able to meet more people and get to know them. However, this also means that the campus is quite small so places like the student union can be hard to get a seat at as the space is limited in terms of seating and space
Covid was crap, not a lot of support. But I recently had to isolate and actually recieved a lovley postcard which was actually really nice.
18-24 years
The teachers are very helpful and supportive of students and acknowledge that we have lives outside of our studies. there are also always many activities going on that we can participate in.
18-24 years
The accommodation is in a great location to the uni which is in an even better location in its proximity to the city centre. Lectures are incredible when responding to help whether that be in person or through email, making our life that little easier when working on documents
18-24 years
Amazing location and facilities. Amazing lecturers and brilliant support. The cost of clubs is too expensive.
18-24 years
I love my course, it’s always been incredibly interesting. The lecturers are encouraging. My first year was disrupted by covid and the teaching wasn’t as good due to the majority being online. However, my second year has been amazing & so engaging, with majority in-person teaching. The city of York is incredible as well and I love the location of the uni. It’s right in the centre of York. Socially, York St. John doesn’t have as much going on as it seems other unis do. But there’s always lots to do in York anyways so this doesn’t bother me personally.
Seems to be ran more like a business rather than a university. Would like to see more support given from academic tutors and more care towards struggling students rather than not caring. Would also like to see more international and oversees students.
Love the course - however food is over priced for what you get
Was great during first year . Second year first term that’s when the level of teaching dropped . My grades have been great since first year but unfortunately I’m second term I failed two modules and they terminated my studies . I’m now debating life choices
4.4
18-24 years
First gen student
I suppose one thing I notice is that all the tutors help no matter what, and they generally reply very fast. Also, when studying in general, the buildings here are nice, they have everything you need (and if it's not in one building, it'll be in one right around the corner), and overall, I feel like there's a greater sense of community in a way with it being a smaller uni and campus than Uni of York for example. There's not much that could be improved off the top of my head, but I suppose maybe support and people to talk to when it comes down to getting wellfare support or trying to get in contact about accommodation, as it generally takes a while, which in all fairness is to be expected as there's so many people to reply to no doubt, but if nit-picking has to be done, probably that. Aside from that, honestly, I can't think of anything.
I'd say the best aspects of the course seem to be that as it's all in person, it helps me understand the content a bit easier. However, when it comes to if you missed a few lectures as I have for one reason or another, the actual stuff on Moodle isn't nearly as helpful. Some tutors recorded their lectures last semester and that really helped, but now, I think only one of my tutors does that, which is a shame as it feels like I'm behind even when I've caught up. Also, due to only having about an hour and a half for the lectures, I know with timetabling stuff has be quite limited, but the lecturers always seem in a rush so it's hard for them to explain, and it's hard for us to listen, understand, and take in the info. Seminars make up for this in a way, but not entirely.
I think York being so small and uni being so close to the city centre makes it feels like everything's in arm's reach, and you're never too far from your friends, the shops, the clubs, whatever. I suppose one downside though, which if it happens with who lives here, it happens, there's not much you can do, but there's not much diversity in the ethnicity of people, which honestly makes it feel like I stand out like a sore thumb sometimes. Oh, also, not a major downside but a real shame if you ask me, no gay clubs.
I quite like the space I have here in terms of the actual house, like you can go out your room, have a wander, talk to your flatmates, and maybe go to the living room and have a chat. Also, having a washing machine and dryer you don't need to pay for always helps. However, there are a few issues, such as the WiFi being pretty much flat out awful some days, some places in the house you get no signal on your phone (including some rooms), the boiler is too small for the house so it can't push the hot water to enough places so someone needs to fiddle about with the pressure every so often (what the boiler people said), and on a personal note, the room I was allocated in the house that'll 'be better for someone of my height' is the smallest in the building, which I wouldn't mind if it wasn't on the corner of the house so there wasn't a beam in the roof taking us most of the room, and, I've hit my head on it a few times which isn't fun, let me tell you!