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

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Applying to a UK University

Applying to a university in the UK – in my case, Royal Holloway, University of London (RHUL) – was an exciting, but at times rather complicated, process. As a Swedish student who completed the International Baccalaureate (IB) in high school, I had certain advantages, but there were also several steps that weren’t always entirely straightforward.

For me, it all started with choosing which course I wanted to study. I chose to study in England primarily because of the subject I wanted to pursue. I wanted to study literature, and preferably Comparative Literature, which is relatively rare and mainly offered in the UK. I did a lot of research and picked a few universities offering English Literature and a few offering Comparative Literature. RHUL became my top choice, as its location was great and the course structure looked the most interesting.

I submitted my application through UCAS, which is the central application system for UK universities. As an IB student, I had to submit my predicted grades, and later send my final IB results directly to the universities. The application process also takes place during the winter, with the deadline in January—which, unfortunately for me, happened to be a particularly stressful time in school, as all my coursework was due. It was a bit of a hassle to ensure that everything was submitted correctly and on time, especially since IB results are released in July and the semester starts in September. Luckily, I had already received a conditional offer from RHUL, which became an unconditional acceptance once my final grades were released.

One of the biggest challenges was figuring out CSN (the Swedish student finance system) and how to fund my studies. Since UK universities have tuition fees—something we’re not used to in Sweden—I had to apply for both student grants and a tuition fee loan. The CSN process can be quite bureaucratic, and it took a while to get everything approved. You have to submit your acceptance letter, course details, and sometimes additional documents, which requires a bit of patience. My final university offer came fairly late, which meant I couldn’t apply for CSN until August. Because of that, it took a long time for my application to be approved and for me to receive my funds, which was stressful—especially since there wasn’t much I could do but wait.

What truly made the process easier for me was the support I received from Across the Pond. My contact person there was incredibly helpful. She guided me through the entire application process, answered all of my questions—big and small—and helped me with the UCAS application, CSN documents, and understanding all the important deadlines. That kind of support is a lifesaver when taking on something as big as applying to university abroad—especially since, for example, your parents often know just as little about the process as you do. I was lucky to have parents who were willing to learn about the system, and teachers at my high school who were very supportive. But having my contact person at Across the Pond was something else entirely. When everything felt confusing, it was such a relief to have someone who understood the system and could explain every step. Thanks to her, I felt confident in my choices and managed to complete everything on time.

Applying to a UK university as a Swedish student is absolutely possible, but it does take some extra effort and planning—especially when it comes to CSN and various documentation. But with the right support, like I got from Across the Pond, the process becomes much more manageable. In the end, it was truly worth all the effort—I’m really happy at RHUL and so glad I took the leap!

- Molly

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