I’m currently at University (yes, I got there!) in my second year, having gotten into my University of choice, the University of Exeter. The only slight twist is that I’m not actually at Exeter; I’m living it up in Cornwall at their secondary campus, called Penryn Campus. Odd I know, but nonetheless very true. I’m just going to bust some myths about the issues of living on a secondary campus (which I have recently just read about in an article online).
So. How does it feel being so separated from our main University? I guess it would be an issue if we, as a campus, didn’t have the strength, independence and an entire life apart from this main campus. We have fun, we have beautiful beaches on our doorstep, we have a tight community because of the relatively small amount of students, and we’re very much an integrated part of the local community. Can you necessarily say that for a city-based University?
Also, we’re not the only University down here in Cornwall. Falmouth University’s down with us too, and this is the University we share a Student Union with. In reality, although we are Exeter students on paper, we are actually FXU, a collaboration between Falmouth and Exeter, which I absolutely love because of the far greater range of the types of students you may otherwise meet.
Another myth is that there is no night life to speak of whatsoever. Ok, sure, we may only have one extremely notorious club, which can only be happily entered with a high degree of intoxication, but, any small town with about 6000 students around for the majority of the year is always going to have things going on. We have big events on campus, we had George Ezra coming to Truro before he was as big as he is now, and we have a pub which is a pub and a bookshop, which I find completely and utterly amazing. Do city universities have a combined bookshop and a pub? Didn’t think so.
The last issue with generally studying hidden away in Cornwall I’m going to look at is that it is very difficult to get anywhere home-wise in a reasonable amount of time and comfort and affordability. I mean, it takes me 5 and a half hours to get back to London, followed by a trek to the other side of London for an about an hour or so, and I’m one of the lucky ones! But how can this be an issue when Falmouth is such a beautiful place, with beaches and trees, both of which you get so little of in London, and indeed on the main Exeter campus?
So, in fact, there are many reasons why living on a secondary campus is brilliant, and I’ve barely even started on the enormous list. So if you’re starting the UCAS process, ignore all of those ordinary main campuses, and come down to us secondary campuses. We’ll only be happy to greet you and show you the best three years (or more) of your life so far.