Student Life and Opportunities at Royal Holloway University of London

What I didn't quite realise before starting university was the vastness of extracurricular activities I would encounter. University is truly like its own little world with such a range of societies, events and things to take part of that everyone is able to find something fun to do outside of academics. Here is a little breakdown of my experience of student life at RHUL, and what I have personally chosen to take part of.
 

Student Life

RHUL is located in Egham, which is a smaller town in Surrey with only a 40 minute SWR trainride to London. People have very mixed opinions about Egham, because it is really a small town, but personally I really like it. It’s pretty quiet with lots of greenery around, but still very close to the hustle and bustle of London whenever you want to go shopping, go to museums, go out for dinner, etc. Besides, Egham truly has everything you need in your day to day life; grocery stores, cozy cafés, gyms, some thrift stores, Boots, etc. Egham is also close to Windsor, just 20 minutes away by bus. Apart from the famous Windsor Castle, there are some really nice thrift stores, pubs and restaurants.

As far as night life goes, the clubs that are in Egham are the ones on campus. Again, students have mixed opinions on the SU club, but I have had lots of fun there. They have many different fun themed club nights, some of my favourites from last year being Abba night and Chappell Roan and Charlie XCX. If you want to explore other clubs, there are great ones in Ascot, Windsor and obviously London.
 

Nordic Society

When attending Fresher’s Fair in my first week of uni, I was connected with people from the Nordic Society. The two girls who were there were very sweet and welcoming and encouraged me and my friend to come to the taster session and see if we wanted to join, which we did! Throughout the year, I attended bar socials, gingerbread baking, group study sessions and club nights with Nordic Society. I always had a great time with very nice people, so much so that I myself wanted to be part of the committee in my second year.

I was elected Secretary for the society and have already gotten started, together with the rest of the committee, to prepare for the year ahead. There is much more that goes into planning events than you would think when you are just a member attending, but I think it’s going to be very fun. I love that Nordic Society provides a home away from home for Nordic Students, and is just a warm and welcoming place to make friends and have fun!

Being part of societies and sports clubs is a great way to make a new, big place like university feel smaller and more welcoming to you. It’s a good way to make friends and just do more fun activities. Furthermore, taking on a committee role, apart from being a nice way to give back to a society you have had fun within, gives lots of transferable skills like teamworking, communication, planning, delegating, etc.
 

Academic Representation

Next year, I have chosen to become an academic rep for the Languages, Literatures, and Culture Department. At RHUL, the levels of Representation work like this:

• Course Reps voice feedback on course structure, resources, feedback timing, timetabling, and more.

• Senior Course Reps support Course Reps, co-chair departmental meetings, and collaborate directly with academic staff.

• School Reps connect with VP Education and represent students at high-level forums like School Boards and Education Committees.

• At the top, the VP Education is elected SU leader responsible for academic quality and representation University-wide.

Course rep is a voluntary role that builds leadership, communication, and negotiation skills, and reps drive tangible change. For instance, in Economics, Course Reps influenced feedback delivery, exam support, equity in workload, and even Bloomberg training.

I am very happy about stepping into this role in my second year. I attended a two day training conference where I got to attend interesting sessions about academic representation. I believe this will be a great opportunity to be more involved in the department I’m part of, to hone skills which will be great for future jobs, and to meet new people!

- Molly