Deciding on University of Bristol
Many people in Year 13 struggle to decide which university to go to. For me it was fairly easy as my criteria cut down the options very quickly: it had to be a Russell Group uni, in a city, out of London, and offer Neuroscience (or biomed). As you can imagine, this left very few options, and even then only Bristol satisfied every criteria. When I was visiting universities, there were only two that I fell in love with: Cambridge and Bristol. After getting rejected from Cambridge, I had to submit a first and insurance choice, and since many of my mates were going to Durham, I wanted that as a back-up. The dilemma was that Durham's entry grades were higher than Bristol's so it couldn't be the insurance, and so I ended up putting Exeter as the insurance choice, knowing that I would take a gap year if I didn't get Bristol. I would also have loved to study in the US, but between the lengthy applications and high drinking age, I decided against it.
That summer, I remember many friends being nervous about starting university and making friends, whereas I was more nervous about the course itself as I hadn't ever studied Neuroscience and I'd completely based my degree off of a few books I'd read (mainly Incognito by David Eagleman). Bristol had one of the earlier Freshers weeks, and at a house party the night before I remember a few of us crying as it hit us that we wouldn't be seeing each other for a while. I was also scared that we'd drift away and it wouldn't be the same when we were all back in London (spoiler: it was completely fine).
Each Year in a Nutshell
First year was probably my funnest year as it mainly consisted of going out 4-5 times a week and meeting a lot of new people. I was in a city centre halls (Orchard Heights) with 8 others (although 3 of them had moved out by Christmas), and initially we all got along very well and would go out together, which helped us all settle in very quickly. A few months later there was a divide between some of the guys and the girls which resulted in a couple of meetings with the accommodation officials, but we were so busy we didn't care by the end. In Bristol, there are two main locations for halls: Stoke Bishop and City Centre. Stoke Bishop is quite a trek from all the clubs and uni so they'd have to get a bus everywhere, whereas we were very close to the clubs and only a 15-20 walk to uni (albeit up a hill). Nonetheless, most people I know who lived in Stoke Bishop seemed to love it, and I would've ended up there if it hadn't been for my brother (who also studied at Bristol) warning against it. I managed to get an ensuite with my room, which I was very grateful for and I was extremely lucky to have made good friends in both my accommodation and my course, which made university a lot easier. The only time I remember feeling homesick was after about 5 days into Freshers (until that point I'd felt completely fine) but after spending the weekend at home in London crying constantly, I got a grip and never felt homesick again. My advice for first year would be to just put yourself out there and say yes (within reason).
Second year was a lot more relaxed as everyone had more established groups and work was taken slightly more seriously. Bristol is big enough that there was still a lot of things we hadn't done and places we hadn't visited, so second year mainly consisted of trying new bars, cafés, and clubs (some of which are recommended below). I lived 10 minutes from uni and loved our flat, however food kept disappearing and weird things kept happening so we ended up buying a camera for our kitchen (after which, one flatmate moved out and nothing went missing again). My favourite memory of second year was celebrating my 21st, as I'd arranged to have pres (pre-drinks) at ours with everyone as usual, but had gone for cocktails with the girls beforehand, and when we came back everyone surprised me in the kitchen and my flatmates had bought a cake and decorated. This was also the year that I quit smoking!
Third year was very fun, as my flatmates were all very chill and there weren't any issues between us. We were only a 5-minute walk from uni, which was life-changing and meant that I never woke up when it was dark, even in Winter. Our house was interesting, as you open the door from the outside through a cupboard, and the attic had kids' toys in it (don't ask). The whole year was very eventful, with memories of firefighters having tea with us, one flatmate waking up to another having a piss in her room, several trips to A&E, and two squirrels (Jerry and Reggie) - alongside a ghost (Veronica) - in the attic.
Many courses at Bristol weight third year quite highly, meaning that the few exams we had in third year somewhat dictated our degree result. This meant that after Christmas, most of my mates were in the library from about 10am until 9pm, and I was very bored. I'm not the sort to stress about work as I know it'll get done in the end, and I found that at school work was a lot more intense than at uni. I also actually enjoy exams (crazy, I know), I just hate revising as no one is keen to do anything during revision periods. Thankfully, my brother also doesn't revise a lot and so in third year I spent a lot of time with him, going on road trips, having brunch, or chilling at his flat. I came back to London often as some of my home mates studied in London, and I became bored of Bristol as I felt like I'd done everything there was to do (especially compared to London where the options are endless). What I did find stressful in third year was job-hunting and Master's applications, as I wasn't sure what I wanted to do and all of the tests and interviews took up a lot of time. We watched A LOT of TV and films in third year (I'd recommend Outnumbers, Money Heist, and The Haunting of Hill House), as I was trying to watch IMDb's 100 'Top Rated Movies'. I also managed to solve a Rubik's cube this year!
The Course
Neuroscience itself was an interesting course. The range of responses when I told anyone that I studied Neuroscience were very predictable: 1) people were impressed and thought I was very clever 2) people had no clue what it was 3) people thought I'd become a neurosurgeon (spoiler: neurosurgeons study medicine not neuroscience). The professors on the course varied greatly from just reading out slides, to being very engaging and entertaining; I especially loved my personal tutor and dissertation supervisor. Compared to other universities, our dissertation was very short (less than 6000 words) and we only had about three months to do it (January to March). Many of my friends from other unis had to start researching for their dissertation in the summer of second year, and handed it in in April of third year. As mentioned before, third year was weighted very heavily for us, and we only had 1 exam in January, meaning that our 4 Summer exams and dissertation were very important and we had no idea of our grade until completing the course. For our third year exams, we had to reference several papers (meaning that any research we included needed to state the author's name and date of publication), which was impossible and I think slightly ridiculous, but I taught myself to cram very well from GCSEs so it worked slightly in my favour. It also meant that at least one person cried in every exam I took in third year. Neuroscience consists of many contact hours, especially in first year, mostly due to labs. These were the bane of my existence that year, but a few memorable labs include my friend getting told to see a doctor, me spilling my lab partner's urine all over the computers (accidentally), and having to drink vodka for an experiment. We also had 'DR' labs, where the room was filled with brain slices (and in some cases cross-sections of people's brains inside their skull, so you could see half of the person's face). This was my favourite part of the course as we got to hold brains and our exam consisted of pins placed in specific parts of the brain, which we would have to name and state its function. The course did teach me a lot and I think it's perfect for those wanting to be an academic or scientist - it also made me realise just how little doctors actually know and how hard it is to remain knowledgable about new developments in research.
The City
Bristol's location is perfect for road trips around the country, and I went on several trips up North, as well as to Wales, Bath, and London. Like all cities, Bristol had some beautiful areas (as well as some sketchy ones), but everything we needed was within walking distance, which I loved. From paint balling, to watching magic shows, to riding hot air balloons, Bristol has it all. Every holiday was celebrated fully (including St Paddy's Day, Guy Fawkes Day and Halloween) and birthdays were always a lot of fun. Bristol holds some of my favourite memories, and I especially love the city during the Christmas build-up, where there are multiple Christmas markets and ice skating rinks (my favourite being at Cribbs Causeway). Bristol can be very wholesome too: you can see Banksy's art, play Adventure Golf in Cabot Circus, do pub quizzes at the SU or Colston Arms, go to gigs at Thekla or the O2 academy, watch a film at (the luxurious) Everyman cinema, do an Escape Room, or watch a play at the Hippodrome (all of which I did often). Below are some of my recommendations:
For nights out: Spanish nights at Walkabout, Fridays at SWX, Bingo Lingo at Motion.
For brunch: Primrose Café, The Crafty Egg, Boston Tea Party, Browns, Riverstation, The Ivy, Mrs. Potts Chocolate House, Ironworks
For cocktails: The Milk Thistle, Red Light, Her Majesty's Secret Service, Bar Humbug
For day trips: Brecon Beacons, Cheddar Gorge, Abbots Leigh, Bath Christmas Markets, Western-Super-Mare
For chill spots: Leigh Woods, Brandon Hill, Clifton Bridge, Clifton Downs
For lunch: Cowshed, Spitfire, Mission Burrito, San Carlo
For pubs: The Apple, Cori Tap, The Colston Arms
Final Thoughts
Despite being very excited to move back to London by third year, Bristol will always have a special place in my heart and I love the city. University in general was exactly what I expected lifestyle-wise, but what really surprised me was how much free time I had. I could easily have had a part-time job, however I made the most of that time to travel and socialise. I probably travelled to more countries in those three years than I had before in my life and I truly fell in love with travelling during this time. I also found that people had over-exaggerated the workload hugely, as I had much more work throughout school (specifically around GCSEs), and felt that the workload at uni was more than manageable (which, having done a Master's at another university, I still agree with). Studying at Imperial made me realise that Bristol's Careers Service was lacking greatly (at least from the perspective of a Neuroscience student), which led to me submitting a 2-page CV for job applications; although having said that, business schools are known for having exceptional Careers Services.
Bristol's stereotypes are that the students are very posh and druggy - which although I'd agree with, personally almost all of my friends had gone to state schools and I heard many comments in first year from people who actively disliked 'posh people' and 'private school kids'. I learnt a lot at Bristol and my main advice to anyone going to university is to make the most of it and get involved. Specifically in first year, it's very easy to convince people to go out, so enjoy life as much as possible before people decide to knuckle down with work. Also, if you want to do something, organise it (or do it) straight away, as otherwise it never happens.
Bình luận