A fresher’s perspective

Warwick has been an incredible experience in the term and a half I’ve been here, enjoying a great standard of teaching and meeting so many new people. However, the major drawback to my experience has been being literally sent to live in Coventry.

As much as I have loved Warwick, I simply cannot get past the injustice done to me and many other freshers, putting a significant dampener on what has otherwise been the best experience of my life so far. Finding out I was going to be living off-campus was, as Will Moores rightfully put, a “major gut-punch”. I figured that freshers would be prioritised, and that Warwick would naturally accommodate the many freshers living away from home for the first time.

I cannot in good conscience guide people to join the University of Warwick if it maintains this atrocious accommodation policy for freshers

However, Rachel Gore wrote two articles exposing how the university sidelined its freshers in favour of returners and postgraduates, and that this was not by accident; they knowingly took more students than they could handle. I, and the many other freshers in this situation, were simply deceived and backstabbed by the avaricious executives running the University of Warwick, and it’s upsetting to know that my experience as a fresher does not matter one iota to the higher-ups.  

Inherently, my social life was negatively affected by my living situation. I miss out on flat parties, spend too much money on Ubers past midnight, and ultimately don’t get the full campus experience at Warwick, which is an absolute disgrace given that I am paying thousands of pounds for it! And like many, it’s part of the reason I chose it in the first place. I cannot in good conscience guide people to join the University of Warwick if it maintains this atrocious accommodation policy for freshers.  

Anything good in life requires work, and a thriving social life is no exception, but Warwick makes it very easy to get started

But it’s not all bad. In fact, ignoring the handicap, it’s been brilliant. I have had more fun and met more amazing people here than I ever have. Even living off-campus, it’s been very easy to get involved with the community, through societies, seminars, in the pub or just by random chance, and I have had many unforgettable experiences. It’s so easy to get involved here! There are so many opportunities to meet people, whether it’s signing up to events your department puts on, going to literally any society, or just chatting with someone in your seminar. Anything good in life requires work, and a thriving social life is no exception, but Warwick makes it very easy to get started.

My history degree has also been a highlight. I take four modules and so get a wide breadth of topics to study, while being able to go into depth as far and with as many areas as I desire. It’s challenging too, so I always have plenty to do. Often, I feel overloaded and sacrifice some work or reading for socialising – but I think this is an essential part of the university experience; working out a work-life balance. Overall, I do love it here at Warwick, and ultimately my main grievance is that I want to spend more time on campus. That says it all, I think.