Choosing Salford was quite an easy decision to be honest. Although it was nearly four years ago since I first visited Peel Park and MediaCityUK for an open day, many of the things that excited me back then, still do and after completing my undergraduate degree at Salford, I knew there was no other place I wanted to be to complete my postgraduate degree. I’ve spent a long time here in Salford, I explain why below.
Peel Park
I came to an Undergraduate Open Day towards the end of 2016 and didn’t actually realise how nice the Peel Park Campus is. The mixture of old and historic buildings combined with the more modern New Adelphi appealed to me and although you are just minutes away from a busy city, it doesn’t really feel like it when you are walking through Peel Park. If you are looking for that busy city life, then it’s only a few minutes away on the train which is another huge plus that drew me towards choosing Salford, it has a train station on campus! More about that a little later. Continuing on a tour around Peel Park I arrived at the University accommodation, Peel Park Quarter. I ended up being the second year of students to live in the newly build accommodation however even now, it’s only four years old and it still is stunning. It’s spacious and modern and you do really get value for money compared to accommodation at some other universities which can be a lot more expensive even though you get a lot less in terms of quality.
Salford Crescent
As I mentioned above, the University has a train station situated on campus, which is so useful! From Salford Crescent, you can reach numerous destinations including heading up north towards Preston or south towards Manchester Airport, travelling through Manchester City Centre. It’s a perfect way to head into town with the train to Manchester Victoria taking less than six minutes. The station is a five minute walk from Peel Park Quarter and 10 minutes from the University’s other accommodation complex, John Lester and Eddie Colman. The station is also served by various bus routes that can take you across Greater Manchester from Wigan to Fallowfield. This was something that was important for me as for the first two years at university I didn’t have a car, so public transport was essential for me to reach work but to also go out and enjoy Manchester City Centre.
MediaCityUK
It doesn’t matter how many times you visit MediaCityUK, whether it’s in the day or night, you will not get tired of the view. I said earlier about how when you walk through Peel Park, you don’t feel like you are just minutes away from the busy city life yet when you walk through the piazza outside the University building at MediaCityUK, you do feel like you are in a busy metropolis. When I visited for my interview, I felt like I was already a working professional and that helped to convince me that this environment is where I wanted to study. Being in such close proximity to the BBC, ITV, Dock10 and more is also great if, like me, you are studying a media related course. The BBC especially are always keen on engaging with Salford students and with the number of media related companies nearby, it’s the perfect location to make use of the available work experience opportunities. I’m not exaggerating when I say that the picturesque views played a big part in convincing me to choose Salford, you’ll know if you come to one of our open days!
Journalism facilities
This ties in with media related courses being based at MediaCityUK but for me, the facilities and the lecturers within the Journalism department at MediaCityUK were pivotal to me choosing Salford. If you are interested in studying Journalism or a media related degree, the University’s facilities are some of the best. The television and radio studios are industry standard and you will find industry standard software on all computers, available for students to use. There is also a huge newsroom which was recently extended to hold Journalism students ‘Newsdays.’ From seeing the facilities and set up when visiting for my interview, I was extremely impressed and it was so much better than what I had seen when visiting other universities. What also helped me to make my decision was meeting the Journalism lecturers. All of them have worked in the industry before and a lot of them still do. Their experience and expertise was something that shone through during conversations at the open day and interview I had and on top of that, they were a friendly and welcoming group of people.
Salford for me has been the perfect place to come and study. It’s close enough to Manchester City Centre but is also far away enough so that you aren’t surrounded by noise and commotion. There are loads of green spaces especially around Peel Park and the Peak District and the countryside of Lancashire and Cheshire isn’t too far away for a few nice trips out of the city. Combine the location with the facilities at MediaCityUK and I had no doubt after my visit back in 2016, that this was the place for me!
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