University of Leicester vs Macquarie University

Happy Halloween guys!!! I must say I do prefer having a warm Halloween compared to a cold one. However, I haven’t really been able to get into the festive spirit because it’s assignment season so I’ve literally been cooped up in my room for the last two weeks trying to finish all my assignments for all my modules. I did give myself a break last night though, I spent the night watching a scary movie with my friends. We ended up watching The Babadook and found it weird and funny rather than scary and creepy – I wouldn’t waste your time watching it. I’ve only got a presentation left and then I have just under two weeks of lectures and tutorials before exams start.

It’s times like these when I miss Leicester University; the workload was much lighter in terms of summative assignments and even though I used to complain about having to revise during the holidays, I liked that we had a lot of time to revise for exams without having to worry about tutorials and lectures.

There are a few other things that I prefer at Leicester in comparison to Macquarie, such as:

• The library – Macquarie library is not open 24 hours which sucks if you’re a night owl and like to do work late at night in the library (especially when you have to *cough cough*).
• The tutorials – I found it a lot easier to make friends in tutorials at Leicester which is probably due to the fact that tutorials are smaller in Leicester and a lot the time, I find the rooms are set up in a square and for some reason in my experience, that makes it easier to meet new people and make friends.
• The department – I’m not very familiar with my department over here and they don’t really make an effort to introduce you to the staff who aren’t your lecturers.
• The grade boundaries – they are slightly lower at Leicester so it makes it easier to pass.
• The Wi-Fi – it’s soooo much better in Leicester, I can’t express how much I miss good Wi-Fi.
• Societies – at Leicester, the societies have more social events in general which I miss and a wider range in some ways.
• The O₂ – Call me crazy but I miss the O₂ academy a little. We have a bar on campus called Ubar that does host free nights out but it’s no O₂.

At the same time, there are things that I prefer at Macquarie:

• Macquarie is more picturesque and has nice outdoor study areas (probably due to the warmer climate)
• Macquarie is more flexible, I was able to set my own timetable which I loved and if you do your whole degree here, you are able to finish early if you want by undertaking an extra semester in the summer. I mean I wouldn’t but the option is there.
• They have more food outlets with a wider range. They particularly have a lot of Asian cuisines.
• Despite not having a relationship with the department, I actually have a better relationship with my tutors here and I kinda like that.
• Lectures are recorded! This comes in super handy with my harder modules because I’m able to re-learn certain topics at my own pace.
• Despite not being a 24-hour library, Macquarie’s library is bigger (probably to accommodate the large number of students) so it has more space and they also have a reserve section where high-in-demand textbooks for certain modules are available for loan for up to 3 hours so you don’t always have to buy the textbook nor rush to borrow it from the library.
• Because of the higher quantity of coursework, exams tend to be worth less which is great if you’re not very good at exams (like me). Plus, negative marking doesn’t seem to be as common.

Maybe later on in the year my opinions will change but right now I think that both universities are great in their own way and they both have very good Career Services. At first, I thought the work was easier at Macquarie but I quickly learnt that is not the case. Anyway, I’ve definitely enjoyed my time at both universities and I can’t wait to see what lies ahead.