what was Uni like for you?

[Laney]

Love the course, the people, the rampant lefty tutors.

The what? My lecturers are flipping Nazis on a good day.

 

[sojourner]

Same ere Soj, none of my family went to University it wasnt the done thing where I came from, it was a case of go get some shitty job and that's your lot, I wanted more than that, I kind of learnt a lot through punk, it was a bit of a shover on in the motivation stakes for me.

Yeh, that's all you did round ere, leave school and get a job, any job. As long as it paid the rent and you had beer money that was all you needed. I didn't realise I needed stimulation so badly until I got to 27 and wanted to cut my wrists before doing another day in that fucking no-brain dull bigoted environment called me job

It really was like being born again for me, can't begin to explain how much of a thrill it was. People understood what I was on about for once in me life, instead of lookin at me blankly, and I got answers to a lot of questions I'd been thinkin about for years. And why I got so utterly fucked off with the rich kids who took it all for granted and moaned about being there, and didnt even try. What's the point in going if your not gonna turn up for lectures, or read a book?

 

[i-am-your-idea]

i *love* uni! starting second year of illustration soon. lots of friendly, eccentric people. and i get taught how to doodle! lots of animators on my course too, which is interesting to watch.

 

[Crispy]

My tutors were (nearly) all polo-necked waffly intellectuals. Three weeks to go untill the deadline, the pressure's mounting, your project's a bit muddled. Go to the tutor for help. What you want: Clear advice on what to change, which drawings to make, where the strengths and weaknesses are. What you get: Have you read any Deleuze & Guitarri? Don't you think this project has a lot to say about the destruction of the extended family in the age of the internet? FFS! - Didn't help, and I totally lost faith in the course. It was only my earlier naivity and enthusiasm that bumped my crappy final year mark up into a 2:1

I went back (to westminster this time) to do the post-grad bit of architecture and found that it was exactly the same. I quit after a year. Waste of time and money. I can learn more, be more relaxed, have more fun, and earn money in my job. So that's where I'll stay thank you very much

 

[northernhord]

Yeh, that's all you did round ere, leave school and get a job, any job. As long as it paid the rent and you had beer money that was all you needed. I didn't realise I needed stimulation so badly until I got to 27 and wanted to cut my wrists before doing another day in that fucking no-brain dull bigoted environment called me job

It really was like being born again for me, can't begin to explain how much of a thrill it was. People understood what I was on about for once in me life, instead of lookin at me blankly, and I got answers to a lot of questions I'd been thinkin about for years. And why I got so utterly fucked off with the rich kids who took it all for granted and moaned about being there, and didnt even try. What's the point in going if your not gonna turn up for lectures, or read a book?

There was only me and two bristol people on my entire course who hadnt been to a private school, some of these affluent cunts were fuckin off skiing in February term time, I reckon other Uni's probably have better students than some of Bristols crowd who by all rights had failed to get into Oxford or Cambridge and lumped for Bristol as a third option.

 

[Stigmata]

University of Kent, studied History.

The first year was difficult in some ways because I got in through clearing, which meant I was put in whatever accomodation was left over. I shared with a Pakistani, an Israeli and two Chinese guys, one of whom had his girlfriend living with him so there were really six of us. The only one who spoke enough English to have a conversation with was the Israeli, and he was the most infuriatingly pretentious arse i've ever met. As a consequence I was forced to go out and actively seek out people to be friends with, which I suppose was a good thing in the end.

The second year was when it all came together, lived with some acquaintances off-campus. The one other guy was into his drugs, so I got lots of free weed. One of the girls didn't much like it, but she became more insufferable in general as the year went on anyway. Biggest drama was when my druggie housemate smashed the house up during a bad mushroom trip, put me right off.

Third year was a slightly different mix of people, a lot of my friends had quit or gone for a year abroad. One guy I lived with was an absolute cunt but funny with it, so we got on pretty well. Lots of daytime TV and weed, less going out on the lash.

The course was a doddle, for the most part. The History faculty was very old-fashioned, ex-public schoolboys in tweed and all that. They didn't care much for the university regulations imposed on them, so us History students got away with far more than anyone else in terms of handing in essays late, missing lectures and the like.

All in all, I had such a good time I can hardly wait to begin my Masters in a year or so.

 

[Poot]

I did Spanish and German. The German department was frighteningly efficient and the Spanish department was so laid back it was horizontal.

I had an ace time and met people from all walks of life and got to spend a year abroad, and just about survived it, too!

Then I had to sober up and it's been downhill ever since

 

[sojourner]

I reckon other Uni's probably have better students than some of Bristols crowd who by all rights had failed to get into Oxford or Cambridge and lumped for Bristol as a third option.

Ah see, John Moores probably doesn't count as a proper uni, it being a former poly But at least we didn't get very many wibbly cunts in tank tops and grey mismatched suits lecturing...we got real people with real interests and passions

 

[equationgirl]

No, I got the ones that wibbled into their beards and wore manky tank tops

I did mechanical engineering in Edinburgh (but not Edinburgh uni, at the one that wasn't a poly until 1991), and was one of two women on the course. The lecturers all had beards to a man, and there was only female lectuers (beardless). The course was mostly mathematical, so I did ok. Very theoretical and not much use practically, but I loved it. I loved the people I was with (we had a laugh for four years) and when it was over I was really sad to see them all go.

Edinburgh is a brilliant place to be a student

 

[Poot]

Ah see, John Moores probably doesn't count as a proper uni, it being a former poly But at least we didn't get very many wibbly cunts in tank tops and grey mismatched suits lecturing...we got real people with real interests and passions

Can I join your John Moore's club? It's a shite uni but it's real alright! Were you at the Mount Pleasant campus?

 

[sojourner]

Were you at the Mount Pleasant campus?

Yep

It's really not a shite uni

 

[northernhord]

Ah see, John Moores probably doesn't count as a proper uni, it being a former poly But at least we didn't get very many wibbly cunts in tank tops and grey mismatched suits lecturing...we got real people with real interests and passions

The Lecturers were sorted at Brizzle, well most of em were one or two of them seemed to immerised in their own post doc work to worry about students.

 

[Poot]

Yep

It's really not a shite uni

Mr. Poot lectures at the uni here. The other day he said he was sick and tired of his students not addressing him correctly as "Dr.*****". I guffawed out loud as I remembered my lecturers at John Moores and their capacity to drink, argue and treat you like they valued you as a human being. I would never have dreamed of calling my lecturer by anything other than their first name. Maybe John Moore's is more egalitarian than other unis...

 

[northernhord]

Mr. Poot lectures at the uni here. The other day he said he was sick and tired of his students not addressing him correctly as "Dr.*****". I guffawed out loud as I remembered my lecturers at John Moores and their capacity to drink, argue and treat you like they valued you as a human being. I would never have dreamed of calling my lecturer by anything other than their first name. Maybe John Moore's is more egalitarian than other unis...

A student did that to one of the Bristol Lecturers, it was excuse me Dr Wilson, the lecturer looked at the student with the roger moore raised eyebrow

 

[inflatable jesus]

I always liked the work at uni but for most of my time there I was a bit depressed, drank too much and wasn't very sociable.

I always felt a bit akward because of my thick working class accent and found that I couldn't really relate that well to the other students there. So I just kept hanging about with my mates from High School and didn't socialise too much with people from uni.

I'm hoping to take a crack at a postgrad soon and I can't wait to do some more academic work. I think I'm mostly over the issues that put a damper on things first time around.

 

[Bajie]

Very boring, crap lectures and bad architecture.

 

[118118]

I spent the whole of the second year shouting at strangers cos I thought they were reading my mind! Didn't get sectioned though.

Off again in September to do it all over again

 

[xenon]

I took it a little to seriously I think although it might not have looked it.

Think I could have got more out of it, but on the whole pretty good.

 

[snoogles]

But at least we didn't get very many wibbly cunts in tank tops and grey mismatched suits lecturing...we got real people with real interests and passions

Does it really matter what they wear? Most of us didn't go to study fashion (?) John Moores doesn't have a monopoly on interesting and passionate lecturers though - some of the most captivating (and kind) people I have ever listened to are lecturers at Cambridge; some of them might wear dodgy clothes, but they got where they are for a reason and that is because they are pretty inspiring people. Obviously there are a fair number of annoying/nutcase/snobbish lecturers but almost invariably there is some kind of spark that makes you realise why they have got tenure. I have more respect for most of them than I do for the lecturers at my previous uni who wore fewer tank tops but weren't anywhere near as interesting.

Uni was great for me!

1st year = drunken haze + parties
2nd year = drugged haze + bf
3rd year = work
4th year = very hard work
1st year PhD = bewildering (new subject, different uni)
2nd year PhD = settling in, doing some teaching
3rd year PhD = mastery of subject, lots of fun supervising project students (minions, at last!)

I made some very close friends too, though I've come to see a certain few of them in a different light now we've all left. They were just using other people to make themselves feel popular and twisting things people said to try to retain control over the relationships within their social group, it's really horrible and I wish I hadn't fallen for it at the time. Still, when it's all a whirl of new experiences, new places and new people, sometimes you don't make the kind of character judgements you'd otherwise be able to do...

 

[marty21]

politics/american studies at swansea 84-88

1st year, miserable for the first 6 weeks or so, just didn't seem to meet anyone i liked, then it just clicked and had a blast, got to know a load of cool people, and still see a lot of them now and again. Lived in halls, it was alright.

2nd year, lived with a bunch of lads in Mumbles, no exams just course work, mental year

3rd year - exchange year at the university of illinois - champaign-urbana, course work was easy, went with a couple of mates, found it easy to make friends, had a ball

4th year - back at swansea, lived with mates in uplands - more work, but still found time to play

great experience in all

 

[sojourner]

Does it really matter what they wear? Most of us didn't go to study fashion (?)

It was said with tongue in cheek, and with a remembrance of the one wibbly cunt who did lecture us I didn't go to study fashion either. Perhaps it's my working class snobbishness coming out eh?

 

[Donna Ferentes]

First time round: suffered breakdown at end of seventh term. It persisted for about five years.

Second time round: suffered breakdown in middle of second term. Subsequent events included two stays in psychiatric hospitals (one against my will) and a suicide attempt.

I'd recommend it to anybody.

 

[filthygypsy]

For me, Uni was a complete waste of time. Id excelled at computers at school and A-level and thought a computer science degree was the natural next step. But, there were people on the degree course who had never seen a computer before, and the level of stuff they were teaching was much below what id already learnt at A-levels. I stuck it out for 1 year, but knew more than the teachers and wasnt learning anything, so decided to jack it in and get a job.

13 years later, i now wish id done law at uni instead, or studied to become a doctor or dentist, as theres no money in computers but loads in those areas.

 

[Skim]

I quite enjoyed my course, but on the whole found the whole student lifestyle experience pretty disappointing.

 

[hatz]

I really really HATED my university. I was utterly miserable, though maybe in part due to my bf at the time, and the fact I was poor. I had an eating disorder and took too many drugs. I didn't like halls, hated the first house I lived in, but liked the other places I lived in.

Lots of people seemed to get a kick out of making you feel stupid. One of my tutors, 2 weeks before my finals, told me that one day maybe I'd find something I was good at. Most of the students wanted to be investment bankers or lawyers, and those who didn't were far too caught up in the whole student politics thing.

That said - some of our lecturers were ace. One used to come out drinking all the time with us. Another used to mother me and give me jaffa cakes. I met some lovely people who I'm still friends with. And on paper, I've got a good degree.

Let's hope uni the next time round is better (different uni, of course!!), less than a month to go! wooohooooooooo!

 

[hovis]

It was shit, lived at home a lot of the time and had to drive 1.5 hours each way on the motorway, forgot to shag around and get pissed up like you are supposed to.

Then got married and rented a 1 bed flat, had to work at the same time as studying and didn't go out, but it still wasn't enough and I had to pay some of the rent with money I got out on the credit card.

But it was cool in the end cos I got a 1st and then a PhD and now I have a job. Yay!

Overall I give my student days a rock n roll score of 1/10 I only went to the uni nightclub about twice in 9 years LOL!

 

[snoogles]

It was said with tongue in cheek, and with a remembrance of the one wibbly cunt who did lecture us I didn't go to study fashion either. Perhaps it's my working class snobbishness coming out eh?

also from a working class family yeah, tbh, wibbly cuntishness does seem to be a major occupational hazard for a worrying number of lecturers...

 

[_angel_]

Depressed miserable skint. Didn't go out or socialise much the first two years down to money.


Last year was okay tho things started to come together then, although I was still skint.

 

[Roadkill]

Uni? It was brilliant.

Did my first degree at Durham, and came out with a 2:1 and a desire to go on and study a lot more (which represented a major attitude-change, since before I couldn't even be arsed with A-levels). I never got into the whole student/college life scene at Durham: it wasn't my thing. But I made some superb friends and had a great time all the same. I was sorry to leave.

Doing my MA in Hull was like starting uni all over again, with a bit more wisdom and experience. I had a superb year, both socially and academically. After that I went on to do a PhD, also at Hull. By that time I didn't really feel like a student any more - too old, and doing a different sort of work - but ironically I probably saw more of the 'student lifestyle' thing then than when I actaully was a student, because I worked in the union bar, part-time from 2002-4 and then full-time from 2004 when my PhD funding ran out.

I was really lucky: I went to two excellent universities with some inspiring lecturers (my PhD supervisor most of all) and I made some wonderful friends along the way. Not everyone is as fortunate as me.

 

[wishface]

I arrived in Bristol in 1997 with a fiver, my clothes and my bass and amp and a chunk of the finest hashish.
For the first year I stayed in University accomdation cos I had no dosh to pay extortionate letting fees up front, I lived with 6 lads most of whom were stuck up pricks who were livin out of mummy and daddies pockets for three years and let me tell you their Dads were famous and mega rich, two of them were really great lads though, one of whom is still a good mate now the other went backs to France to become a Prof of Chemistry.

I hadnt realised how well respected Brizzle Uni was until I propely got into the swing of student life, my previous experience of Bristol had been in the late 80s-early90s when Id been Dubbin it down there and Lakota-ing, twas always a cool place to escape to away from the sometimes harsh Northern shires.

When I started my degree it was a double jobby philosophy/social sceinces My specialist areas of study were cultural identity in America, Hinduism social and theological, protest and politics/music, I fucked philosophy off at the end of the year and went solo on the social sciences.
I found the academic work fairly easy and the seminars fuckin great, spleen venting with a little articulacy was the main stay there, people came out with so much rubbish in these seminars I thought I was turning into a high octane Jeremy Paxman on crack.

The second year was fuckin boring but I stuck to it got all my work done, everytime a started flagging I began thinking about what I'd be doing if I was back in Salford, shovelling shite or carrying boxes round a warehouse.
My Mum died weeks before the start of my final year at Uni, if it wasnt for my old fella spurring me on I would never have gone back down to brsitol after my Mums funeral, he just said 'Look, wev'e all got to try and carry on doin what we do the best we can'
I drunk a fair bit in the third year and got myself a credit card so I didnt have to worry about money in the final run up to finishing my degree.

After a Victorious final exam about the Hindu caste system I walked over the road from the Wills building and drank ten pints of Kronenburg to bring me down then went clubbing it til four in the morning at a blues club in St Pauls where two of my mates were spinnin.
Bein a decade older than mosta the students dampened nothing, I got my work out of the way and went to many drumandbass/dub/garage/hiphop shows during the four and a half years I spent livin there, went to massive attacks private party at Lakota, did some mcing over drumandbass for my Dj mates, and drank fuckin loadsa kronenburg, vodka and cider (not together)
and smoked ounces and ounces of Bob hope, not to mention a few first class biscuits and a bit of the old richmans up the hooter.
I went to a few student parties in Bristol but found them a bit disconserting, some of the parties was just 'Tim Nice but dim' type people with hip hop playin in the background (Id never heard 'yo mutha fucker' in an oxbridge accent till then, teehee )

Unfortunately (for me) my uni experience was a joke. Bath Spa UNiversity College delivered a Creative Music Technology that was understaffed underresourced and didn't give a hoot about the problems. After a year of getting shafted thanks to teachers deciding to break rules, ignore their own complaints procedure and not fixing technical problems (that led to me failing work I was immensely confident and proud of) whilst not giving a damn I quit. I couldn't see any future in pursuing it other than getting into debt. Unfortunately also I have discovered that no one takes you seriously when you are in this kind of position; it's very much one person vs the system. Even the NUS couldn't give a stuff.

I would recommend people against going to uni at all given how I felt afterwards; I woudl say don't bother unless you are sure you can afford it or that you are going to definitely get somewhere afterwards. I wasted time on this course and got into debt. Certainly didn't get anywhere as a musician. Courses like this are great for the teachers, but are just an excuse for dolebound amateur dj's and the like to waste time in their lives.