De Montfort University Leicester

After relentless searching, I found a Creative Writing course at De Montfort University. Reading further into the course, I discovered that the course is offered as joint honours, combining with journalism

 

Searching online for creative writing courses proved to be very hard. There were only a small number of them that I could find, and the ones I could find were degrees combined with English.

Continuing to struggling to find suitable ones, I used the UCAS website to search. After relentless searching, I found a Creative Writing course at De Montfort University.

Reading further into the course, I discovered that the course is offered as joint honors, combining it with a list of other subjects.

One that caught my eye was journalism; I could study creative writing and journalism as a degree. Reading in even further detail, I loved the sound of it as it combines two of my greatest passions.

Creative writing courses offer opportunities for us to practice to write in many forms and genres as well as learning basic writing skills. The course at De Montfort University stood out, as part of the degree was journalism based.

We would learn journalism skills and how to put it into practice. Looking at the course on their course pages, I was impressed to see that the lecturers in both areas had a high level of experience, and interesting work backgrounds within the areas they’re teaching.

Impressed by the course and the lecture’s experiences, I looked at the university itself. Another contributing factor was to see the university is one of the top in the area.

The university was known to have a high level of graduates compared to other universities. Excited, my parents and I went to the next open day.

When arriving at the university, my first impressions were that it was very lively and active atmosphere, everyone there was helpful and willing to help.

They were eager to answer any questions I had, and tell me everything about the course and the university.

When I went to look at the degree, we were given all the information on the website for both areas, along with a break down of each year including individual modules.

The lectures outlined in detail including the theory and practice in each and the opportunities each offered in each of the areas in the joint honors degree.

Something that caught my attention and that I loved about the joint honors was how each area wasn’t treated as two subjects, rather two parts of a whole.

We would study four modules per year, two modules in each area. This was great as they worked side by side, linking to each other, this was impressive as it would help me pick up skills in each and build on when studying the other area and combine it with other skills I’d learnt, this eased the pressure on me.

In the Journalism degree in particular we able to learn how to write in many formats such as magazines and newspapers as well as writing for a website.

Through being able to acquire the skills to write in many forms and genres, we are given various opportunities for publications, which will further be enhanced by the assistance of the tutors that have their background in that area.

During the three years we will be able to gain experience in enough publications and the skills to build up suitable portfolios.

Alongside this we will have opportunities to go out and interview the public and develop a story depending on their responses and the material we are given. I was looking forward to hands on experience!

On leaving the creative writing and journalism talk I found that a film studies talk was about to start in next room. Just out of curiosity I decided to go to the talk.

Like the creative writing and journalism course, I would be studying film studies as a joint honors with creative writing.

As I’d only be completing two modules per year in the course, I was told that I would only be studying the theory modules not the practical modules. This was interesting to know and somewhat reassuring as film studies had its practical challenges.

However I deliberated and thought how the course would differ by just doing theory modules, though I would learn the theory behind film studies, however I wouldn’t be able to put the theory that I had learnt into practice.

Despite this being the preferred option physically, I would miss doing the practical assignments involved in the course.

Other than the course, I had to go and view other elements of the university. A very important expect of studying at university was the support I would require from their disability services.

The disability support talked with us at great lengths to explain their role in supporting those with special needs.

Not only with personnel support but physical adaptions to both the university itself and accommodation.

The accommodation was a necessity as I knew that if I came to study at this university, I would have to live in halls of residence as the university itself is an hour away from home so I would struggle getting in everyday if I didn’t.

This was an anxiety of mine, but I felt reassured in it only being an hour away, and I could go home when I got the chance.

Going above and beyond, disability support offered to set up regular meetings with me, to see how I was getting on, they also told me that they would be working closely alongside my course teams to make my course easier and enjoyable.

The disability support team also told me that the majority of the reading material on the course would be available on Kindle or as an eBook. This would be beneficial to me in my studies; making me feel confident and reassured if I did decide to attend in September.

Another aspect I liked about De Montfort University was the study facilities there such as the university’s library, which is open  24/7.

This means students can go into the library at any time to study any time. This is beneficial especially when students run out of time, usually because they’ve been out drinking and left it until the last moment. Typical students.

There were opportunities for us to be a student ambassadors to help out on open days. Becoming a student ambassador is a part time job and would a great way of increasing income, as well as standing out on my CV.

I was really eager to take up a student ambassador position at university. Determined for this university experience to be different and more enjoyable, I looked around at the clubs and societies to join.

Clubs and societies are a great way to be sociable with others other than in academically situations. By the look of the different clubs and societies, there were many to take advantage of, no matter what kind of person you and what your interests were.

An element that caught my eye was that there were clubs and societies for those who are nervous, who would prefer to stay in rather than go out drinking. For those who don’t find a club or society they were interested in, they are able to approach the student union and ask to set up a new one. This was another contributing factor for me at De Montfort University.

Personally I found the Harry Potter Society available at De Montfort University that I wanted to join.

Being a big fan of the Harry Potter books and films, I knew I would enjoy it, as well as being with others who like Harry Potter, to be able to share our interest in the books and films, to have debates with others about them.

Another club and society that I caught my eye was Interested in was ‘Demon Media.’ This society was highly recommended by lecturers and other students, the society incorporated different sectors of the media into one society, they had their own radio station ‘Demon FM’ and their own magazine ‘Demon’.

This particular society would help me with my degree, giving me more chances for publications as well it having its social benefits.

Overall I was impressed with De Montfort University, the courses and opportunities it offered. I would be considering it highly when making my final choice.