By Patricia Obawole

2nd year BU Student, LLB (Hons) Law

UNI! UNI! UNI! By now you probably have the word uni spilling out of your ears along with words like “Personal statements,” “UCAS” and “student finance.” However, for some odd, strange reason (which the student population are yet to figure out) you’re still excited. You’re excited to get out into the world, you’re excited to meet new people and most of all you’re excited to experience new things that you may have not had the opportunity to do. Don’t worry, the excitement is normal (well it was for me) and this is all part and parcel, welcome to university.

Like I said, by now you most likely have gone to a few open days, asked a few questions and got a couple of freebies (we all love the freebies). However, now we get down to the nitty gritty, why choose BU?

I remember when I was choosing my universities. University websites became my homepage, league tables became my best friend, and I am pretty sure the UCAS website and I went out for coffee (okay slight over-exaggeration but you catch where I am going). I completely immersed myself in university and with all this I was still “drowning” in different options and had no clue where I was going to spend the next 3-4 years of my life. But then, lo and behold I found myself on Bournemouth University’s website and, let’s just say, it was love at first sight.

Why did I choose BU? The answer is simple. What other university has placement opportunities for every single course they offer? Or what other university has 92% of their graduates in further study of employment six months after graduation? What other university offers you an award winning beach on your doorstep (and no the last aspect was not the complete reason why I came to Bournemouth *cough cough*) Basically, Bournemouth University is the best in the west (I should really say South)

There are many student learning opportunities here, one of my favourite is PAL – Peer Assisted Learning, this is when people on the same course as you but in the year above give you advice on a weekly basis and they also share their experience from which nightclubs you ought to avoid to what the assessment markers are after. Basically they are your very own magic ball providing you with answers to whatever you may throw at them* (*this does not include assignment answers – how I wish).

Another thing which I particularly enjoy about Bournemouth is the shear amount of clubs and societies that you can join. I’m actually the President of Bournemouth University Law Society and the students union at Bournemouth have helped the society with all that we need.

For my course (Law) we have a mandatory placement year *queue moan* but I personally think it will be in our favour as you will have an edge in the ever-so-competitive world of work (yes! It’s real). The staff at Bournemouth help you in every way when finding placements. Whether that be looking over your CV and covering letter or writing a reference or even just having a chat with you about it, they are all friendly and keen to help.

So, I’ll say it again, why choose BU? Well it’s up to you to decide really. As they say “the ball is in your court”, but I will leave you with one last piece of information/advice (albeit bias). Bournemouth is a university that cares, it cares about is students and it cares about its staff. If that is what you are after, then half of the process is already complete.

Good Luck