So, I have recently finished university, I studied Criminology (policing) and I am going to be reviewing my university experience in general and the course itself. I may also do separate blog posts where I go into more detail on first, second and third year, so be sure to comment if they are some blog posts you would like to also read.
How my uni adventure began
I considered the decision of going to uni when I was in my final year of A levels at college. I never really thought about going to uni until a family member made that decision to go therefore, I started to become interested once I had seen how they was having a great time making new friends, getting to know new people in a completely new area and also gaining independence. Of course, my college also encouraged me to apply and pushed for uni as they usually do with students, but my decision ultimately came down to me personally wanting to go based entirely on my choice, rather than the college deciding for me. So I applied to 3 uni’s in total which were Middlesex University, Uclan (University of Central Lancashire) and Canterbury Christ Church University. I had gone to all visiting days for each uni just to get a feel of each campus and the courses themselves. Once I had offers from all 3 uni’s I then had to make the crucial decision as to which uni I wanted to put as my first, second and third choice, in the end I decided to put Uclan as my first choice, Middlesex University as my second and Canterbury as my third choice.
It was dependent on my maths grade from college as to if I would get into UClan. Whilst waiting for my grades, I spent that summer keeping busy working and earning money in preparation for when I would move out. Results day arrived in August 2015 and unfortunately the maths grade was not the grade I had hoped for however, my other grades were more than what was required for that specific course. This meant more waiting for a decision back from UClan which took a further week or so, it felt like longer though, that week dragged SO much it was horrible. UClan then finally made the decision not to let me on the course without the maths grade they wanted, which meant the uni I ended up going to was Middlesex University to study in London which was my second choice. I wasn’t too upset that I didn’t get into my first choice, as getting into Middlesex University did have its perks such as living in the city of London for 3 years like who would have thought? Also it meant that I would be living closer to my boyfriend so I was able to see him all the time, as the first year of our relationship was long distance until I moved to London.
Once finding out which uni I was finally going too, it was one huge rush to sort out student accommodation, buying the last minute essentials etc which had to be done in around 4 weeks. It was stressful looking for places to live as majority of the student halls had already been taken by students who had already received guaranteed offers way in advance or people who were returning second year and third year students. It was a stressful time and I really did not know what sort of place I would have to live in. However, I had luckily come across a website of a private student accommodation not too far from my uni, which had only just opened up as a brand new building, there were still rooms available so I applied straight away and managed to get a flat living with 3 boys and 1 other girl. As soon as the accommodation was sorted, I then spent the next few weeks packing up my life to move to London. I finished my job at the time the week before moving, and before I knew it, I was starting a new life in a completely new surrounding, not knowing anybody at all.
My overall uni experience
So I have now finished all 3 years at university, and it’s true what people say, make the most of uni because it will all be over before you know it. The last 3 years has absolutely flown by and it’s been one crazy journey. Personally I found university to be more of a challenge mainly at the start than I had anticipated. It took me a good few months to properly settle in to city life and to overcome my home sickness as I really struggled being apart from my family. I clearly remember the first time my parents left once I was all moved in, I was crying my eyes out as I said goodbye to them. I also spent that night ringing my brother up still crying. It’s a weird sensation because you prepare for it and you know it’s going to happen, but then reality hits you and you don’t know when you’ll next see your family again.
I soon began to slowly settle into uni life though once I began to make friends on the course and also made friends with other people who also lived in the same student accommodation as me. Uni is a weird experience, as you are quite literally thrown straight into being independent having to do your own cooking, laundry, keeping on top of your coursework whilst making sure you set an alarm in the mornings so that you turn up to lectures/seminars on time. This was quite an adjustment but I have absolutely loved the independence that I have gained from my uni experience because it has also prepared me for the next step in my life (whatever that may be).
Uni itself has been great but if somebody asked if I would do it all over again, the answer would simply be no. This is because the work load at degree level is S T R E S S F U L . The third and final year is where I was mentally under a lot of pressure which did affect my mental health more so than the previous two years did. Again, I will go more in detail about this when I talk through in detail each year in a separate blog post. The truth is uni destroys you but having the positive mindset of reaching to the end of each year is what got me through, and certainly now there is a feeling of accomplishment and relief after getting through all 3 years and actually completing this degree. Whilst uni can be stressful, the holidays in between each semester and the long summer holidays at the end of each academic year were great and allowed plenty of time to do coursework whilst also having plenty of time to mentally prepare you for returning back to uni after the summer.
Overall uni has been a lot of fun, I have made many friends who I know some of those will be friends for life. The friends you make at uni are basically counted as your uni family because you’re all there to support one another through the good and bad moments. I have made many fab memories which I will treasure forever and I have throughly enjoyed living in London the last 3 years. It’s going to be so sad to leave this city considering this has been my home more so than my home back down South. I have enjoyed the challenging experience (despite the constant stress) uni has taught me facts about myself I never knew and has made me realise that I am a much stronger and more confident person than I think. This experience has also prepared me for adult life which I am so ready for, here’s to an exciting future ahead!
The course itself
As stated above I studied Criminology (Policing) and being truthfully honest, every time a person has asked me what course I study, as soon as I say the word “Criminology” they are super fascinated and intrigued to know what the course consists of. In fact majority of people assume you learn just about the police which is definitely not the case. Criminology is basically a mixture between Psychology and Sociology because a “criminologist” tends to be associated with being a social scientist in crime. The course is a very heavy academic subject which I knew before I signed up to the course but it wasn’t until I was actually doing my studies which is when I knew how difficult/stressful this course would be. Regarding the coursework and exams for that specific course over the 3 years, I only had 1 exam in total which was in second year, the other two years were essays/individual and group presentation assessments. I am more of a coursework based person so I preferred having mainly essay’s and presentations to do in comparison to exams anyway.
During this course I did not actually realise how much Sociology would be involved, there was a lot of sociology…. like a lot…. it was honestly awful and has made me realise I absolutely dislike Sociology with a passion aha! Anyway, the course in general (despite the sociology part) was really enjoyable and the modules were very interesting and different for each year. Some of the assignments were quite difficult to do particularly the Sociology assignments where I had to conduct my own research through surveys and translate those findings into a software called SPSS which was super complicated to do. However, you don’t feel the full stress until you reach the dissertation module in the course which is in the final year. The dissertation is also conducting your own research on any topic you choose which is why I feel like Sociology was a huge part of our course, so that it could prepare us for the dissertations.
If you are genuinely interested in anything related to crime, then this Criminology course would be right up your street! Also if you enjoy conducting your own research then this would also be ideal, as I said above, this course involves A LOT of doing your own research. Overall I have no regrets with the course I had chosen, I wouldn’t have picked any other course as Criminology was the only course where I had a real genuine interest for. This made my studies far more interesting and more enjoyable which motivated me more! If you are going to/thinking of going to uni, I would suggest choosing a course that suits you best as you’re paying a lot of money for your degree therefore, you wouldn’t want to waste your money on a course that you have no interest in.
This blog post is just a brief overview of my general uni experience, the next blog post I will go into greater detail on first, second & third year on how I found each year, the friends I made etc. So keep an eye out for that blog post!
-Char x
