University of Warwick

[DorothyL]

Went last week to the open day with dd. Apart from queuing two hours for the park and ride bus we liked it a lot - what did other people think?

DD loved it - she did say beforehand that Warwick's offering was her 'dream course', so I was glad that she wasn't disappointed. It is up there with Exeter for her atm. Hopefully once she has all of her end of year exam results, she can be confident of suitable grade predictions.

It's worth finding out a bit about the surrounding area. I think most students live off-campus after year 1, and many prefer to live in Leamington Spa rather than Coventry. Getting to the university from Coventry is not a trivial undertaking, and it's pretty intense in morning rush-hour.

One of my DC went to Warwick. As Skiltan says most prefer to live in Leamington for second and third year.
Obviously the course is the most important thing but if your DC likes a campus uni it seemed to me very similar to Nottingham and York.

Personally, I think the Nottingham campus is nicer, @GarciaFlynn, but Warwick's Arts Centre is pretty spectacular.

but Warwick's Arts Centre is pretty spectacular.
Not to mention, the current temporary loos are arguably nicer than most permanent ones

It's not 'in' Warwick as you know. Having said that everyone I know who went there really rates it. DH went there (many years ago)..at the same time as Simon Mayo (apologies, not relevant)

Ds has just finished his first year at Warwick. He has been very happy there and will be living in Leamington next year.

Campus accommodation (Arthur Vick) was great too.

Because so many (most?) students live in Lem after first year, there’s a lot of student activities there. Sports trips and socials with the uni sports teams will usually do pick ups and drop offs both in Lem as well as on campus.
Plus the uni owns and has links with lots of accomodation providers there, and has an offsite study area in Lem with access to the uni computer systems (sorry I’m not a technical bod) so students can study from Leamington if they don’t need to be onsite on a particular day.
However it is a separate town and you need to allow time for the journey in.

DS2 really likes the look of the course at Warwick. Can students live on campus after the first year?

He would prefer to live within walking distance of lectures for all four years of his course (he can use trains but buses are more challenging and he cannot ride a bike).

He's not into parties or socialising, and doesn't feel the need to do the house-sharing-with-friends experience unless he has to.

They couldn't in my day the thirdofhername but that may have changed.

If your son has a particular reason eg disability to be on campus, check whether that will be possible (it should be).

Thank you trumpetoftheswan he has ASD and is mostly very high functioning but he does have difficulties with large motor coordination (hence not being able to ride a bike) and unpredictability (e.g. can take the tube but buses are harder).

He plans to apply for DSA, and could explain all this in his needs assessment, but would have to decide where to apply to before that happens.

It's easy to travel in Coventry to the campus there's loads of buses and do short hops for 90p.

My dsis has just graduated from.warwick. she comes home tomorrow.

She has had an absolute blast Lem is a very nice town and she lived there for two years after her first year.

She really doesn't want to leave .

With a bit of googling and following links, I've found this which suggests that Warwick would offer him on-campus accommodation

I visited with DD - it's always been top of her list - but certainly isn't now! She was totally put off by the talks/lectures in the Film department unfortunately and just didn't get a positive feel about the place. We were only there for three hours and she is definite that it won't be anywhere that she'll be applying to. Each to their own …. I know it's a fantastic uni for those who want to go there!

We took dd earlier in the year as we were in the area and open day dates were inconvenient. She met a course tutor, had tour with a current student and loved it. Although it was quiet as it was reading week we got a pretty good feel for the place and the activities on offer. Also know several there atm who are enjoying it. Leamington and Coventry seem popular for living out although there are nearer villages.

DS1 has just finished his 2nd year there. He chose to live in Coventry as it makes it cheaper with bus fares etc. Very few live on campus after the first year, but they probably will make an exception if there's a genuine need.

We aren't at all well off and he gets the maximum loan so he chose the cheapest accommodation on campus which was fairly basic, no en-suites etc. The big advantage of this was lots sharing a large kitchen which made it easier to find like minded friends.

He lived with one group of them this year but due to lots doing a year abroad, he's in a different house next year.

The course has been much harder this year, (maths) but he's working hard and playing hard!

No problem getting from Cov to campus by bike when I was there. I'd advise against falling off after a heavy night in the union bar though - the memory still rankles!