Five reasons to book a campus tour before confirming your offer
Campus tour guide Peter Moor explains why visiting Queen¡¯s is the only way to get a feel for the university and the city.
1. You¡¯ll get a chance to explore the campus
Go through the wardrobe door to the C.S. Lewis room!
The award-winning McClay Library
One thing that amazed me on my campus tour was the Lanyon Building - my first thought looking at the building was ¡®Hogwarts¡¯. Aside from just seeing the main Lanyon Building, you get to explore some of the fantastic facilities such as the McClay Library which is one of Europe¡¯s largest university libraries. It has over a million volumes and has a study space called the C.S. Lewis reading room which conjures up all your childhood fantasies about The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (secret wardrobe door included!) Another place worth a mention is the Physical Education Centre (PEC). It contains a whole host of impressive facilities including two swimming pools, a sauna, two sports halls, eight squash courts, a climbing wall, 3G Grass pitches, four fitness studios and three different gym areas ¨C so it¡¯s pretty well equipped!
2. You¡¯ll get to visit your future home
Queen¡¯s has three main accommodation areas - Elms BT1, BT2 and BT9. What¡¯s more, every student from outside Northern Ireland is guaranteed university-managed accommodation in their first year. Each accommodation has a different feel to it - BT1 and BT2 are brand new accommodation blocks right in the heart of the city centre and are opening in September 2018. At the minute on campus tours, you¡¯ll get a sneak peek with a visit to our marketing suite which gives you a really good impression of the high standard of the accommodation (en suite, anyone?) On the tour we¡¯ll also visit Elms BT9 (where I stayed in my first year) which has a village feel to it and is home to around 2000 students. On the tour you¡¯ll get to see the different types of accommodation available along with the social spaces on each of the sites. You get a true feel for what it would be like to live there.
3. You can meet your future mentors
Often, it will be possible for you to have a meeting with a member of academic staff from the subject/subjects that you¡¯re interested in. Every course at every uni is unique so this gives you the opportunity to get a better idea of the course and see if it¡¯s the one for you. It¡¯s also a great chance for you to get answers to any questions about the course or the application process so you come away from your trip to Queen¡¯s completely satisfied!
4. You can explore the city
Crumlin Road Gaol/Tourism NI
Castle Ward aka Winterfell in 'Game of Thrones'/Tourism NI
Belfast is a really up-and-coming city - recently, Lonely Planet named Belfast as the best place to visit in 2018 and it is also one of the safest cities in the UK (ONS). If you come over for a tour, make sure you have a few hours spare to explore Belfast. I¡¯ve been visiting since a young age and loved it as a city. It¡¯s got great shopping centres and fantastic touristy spots like the Titanic Exhibition, Crumlin Road Gaol and, a bit further afield, the North Coast where lots of Game of Thrones was filmed. And it¡¯s definitely worth a visit for the food alone. I've written enough blogs on food so I won¡¯t go into more detail here.
5. Discover that 'first date' spark
It might sound cheesy, but when you find the right university, you will get that magic feeling that it¡¯s the right one for you. Kinda like a good date. I knew as soon as I visited Queen¡¯s, it came alive compared to reading a prospectus. Everyone was so friendly and helpful that I was immediately sold and that was even with the bad weather on the day! This is what people tell us once they¡¯ve done a campus tour ¨C they get a true feel for Queen¡¯s and Northern Ireland ¨C something that can¡¯t be shown on the website or prospectus.
***Campus tours are currently suspended until further notice***
Peter MoorEnglish with Linguistics | 2nd year | Huddersfield, EnglandI am 19 year old Yorkshire lad, born and bred but now studying English with Linguistics at °Ç¸ç³Ô¹Ï. I decided to come to over to Northern Ireland after many holidays visiting family across the country. I am part of the university politics society and the debating society. This semester I'm also doing a French language course - wish me luck! I'm a keen swimmer which is certainly needed when this country has so much good food to offer! |
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