Sheffield Hallam University reviews

Sheffield Hallam University review

I've graduated from Hallam with a 2:2 in Geography. I really enjoyed my University experience and so far it has been the best time of my life! It has opened up so many opportunities for me, (for example, I'm now working in the Students' Union!)and I've made so many friends, some of which I'm going travelling with!!!!!
My course was good,and quite straight forward, which was nice. I got the relevant support ans and when I needed it, but to me, my course was only part of the reason why I came to uni. I was really determined to make it on my own, living away from home and looking after myself. I won't deny that the first few weeks away from home were really tough cos I missed my family so much, but I soon made friends and that took my mind of being homesick!
If I was to offer any advice to any students thinking about going to uni, then it would be 'go for it'. It doesn't matter really, where you go because it's what you make of it that matters!
You'll have a ball!

Sheffield Hallam University review

I do BA Packaging Design, and to be fair, I dont think I've learnt a thing since starting here 3 years ago. That isn't to say I haven't enjoyed it, I think its great, especially for people who don't wanna do much work - in the first 2 years anyway. You have to be good at design to get on with this course, and you have to be an 'arty-farty' person to get on with the lecturers!! On this course you'll probably have about 4 hours tutored time a week, and maybe the odd lecture, but you should be in 9-5 apparently(!) If you do these hours, you shouldn't have to do ANY work at home - a bonus i think :)

Sheffield is good for nightlife, tonnes of clubs and bars for all tastes, the most popular probably being Republic, Leadmill, Bed and Kingdom. There aren't many societies at this uni, so if thats your thing I'd try elsewhere.. although theres a good system to get them started. There doesn't seem to be much musical stuff going on, ie an orchestra or anything, although this won't affect many people, those that do want to persue playing a classical instrument will probably be disapointed :(

I was in new halls in the first year, most people get into halls and they're building more and more new ones - but you wanna avoid Norfolk Park if at all possible!! This uni is on 3 sites through sheffield, and Packaging design is on the one furthest from the city centre! Not too fun to walk first thing in the morning - although you dont have to be in before 9.30 :) I think this campus is moving to town soon - but if it stays on Psalter lane you wanna probably budget for a £8 weekly buspass if you live nearer the centre of Sheffield. The other highlights of sheffield are: TRAMS!! they're great :D and Meadowhall, nice for shopping! I like Sheffield a lot. Not too big, not too small, very easy to get used to, and pretty friendly. Although some of the locals are a bit scary..! A final bonus about Sheffield is of course the snooker - if you like this then you can hang around the crucible all day during the tournaments and see the likes of Jimmy White and John Parrot - CLASS!!

Sheffield Hallam University review

Ill start at the beginning, sign-on day, we had two days (Saturday and Sunday) allocated to sign documents etc. I went on the Saturday and it took me over 4 hours to sign two documents and get my SHU card… wasn’t impressed. After meeting people I found out if I went on the Sunday it took all of 10 minutes.

Okay first year, my course is how complete beginners, since I took A-Level Computing, this year was boring apart from learning C++. Most of the stuff is covered in the A-Level.

Second year, a lot my practical sessions which I liked – hands on. Although one of the options I wanted to do, I couldn’t because it was only allocated to another course, although they have now changed this, the option was Games Programming using Direct X.

Third year, my placement year at Wakefield Council, this was brilliant - the uni helped to get this placement and it was the best time during uni. I actual did a 14 month placement and I didn’t want to go back to uni after this.

Final year, after the placement I really didn’t want to go back and study, so it took me quite awhile to get back into the studying. There is hell of a lot of work in this year, but you don’t get a degree for nothing.

Lecturers - most are brilliant and down to earth. They don’t expect you to know everything, but they do want you to learn. I got on with everyone of my Lecturers.

Students, again down to earth, very easy to make friends here. Vast cultures and backgrounds.

I would recommend coming to Hallam, although I wish I start my degree from the start as they have changed my course and it sounds a lot better – learning Java straight away, better OO lectures, Games Programming now on this course. Never mind its been a blast.

Oh final words – move out, I didn’t and I so wished I did!

Sheffield Hallam University review

I came to hallam because even though everything is not based on one campus all facilities a student could require are all in walking distance.
Because i was doing Business IT this ment i was to go to the city campus which is the larger and more modern one based near to the city centre. The city campus is great, it is right next door to some quality student accomadations, the train station and slap bang in the centre of town. The University as a whole is very modern and offers good access to a variety of computers, sporting facilities and local boozers.
The course that i am doing allows be to do a one year work placement where i am able to gain valueable experience and also get paid a reasonable good wage. The course is a mixture of using different sofeware such as MS applications, database packages and web design along with the teaching of management skills. All the required skill to point you in the right direction for a business project manager. (or something like that).
The nightlife is OK but nothing special, there are plenty of bars, pubs and clubs but they all seem to be a bit run-down or extreamly cheesey. But depends on what you like, there is a night for every choice in music.

Hope it helped, i have enjoyed my time here and would recommend you to come.

Sheffield Hallam University review

Location of uni fine as in the centre close to train station which is handy.
Appearance- floors 1 to 2 are a bit shabby at city campus but the rest is fine.
People- on my course some are quite clicky, bitchy and two faced. But have made some good friends here.
Not sure about job prospects.
Library good but opening times could be better towards end of term and computers get busy and it is annoying when people leave computer without it being used for hours!
Food outlets in university bit expensive.
Never lived in halls and don't want to, always lived in house, quite easy to get house even a week before term starts!For 1st and 2nd year rent was £36 a week and now its £38 so not bad.
The course is ok, but some teachers not very helpful and look down at you I feel. Doing dissertation now and annoyed as already shown it to tutor and she said its fine and now she says to change it all! And sometimes they aren't nice to you- not very understanding as I had my wallet stolen and money gone from account in library- don't mean to put people off from library but some mean people in here that steal your things.
Also I was tired and just let things go on top of me as work load for final year is awful, too much is expected of you.
Course ok, enjoy some of it but now I don't think its what I want to do as a job.
Social life is good, but wouldn't go to union too cramped and no atmosphere.
Don't have time for clubs and societies especially in final year, but did go to womens group in first year which was good.

Sheffield Hallam University review

Sheffield Hallam Uni is, much like Sheffield, pretty damn good for students. The Law School is supported by some fantastic academic staff and, while a degree from Hallam may not be a degree from Oxbridge, it's a generally pleasant experience to study there.

However, students looking into the LLB Maitrise programme should be forewarned that Hallam does NOT print in it's prospectus the view of real students. The University of Paris (partner institution for years 2 and 4) is the most disorganised hell-hole I have ever had the misfortune of coming across. If you want to be treated like something that the lecturer has trodden in and generally made to feel as though you are totally stupid, then this is the degree for you.

Students are told on the first day in Sheffield of the horrors of Paris XII. However, by then it is too late to run off and do anything else. Just an LLB from Hallam is not worth the paper it's written on unless it's a 1st or a good 2:1. Since your marks from year 2 count as 25% towards the LLB classification, nobody has ever got a 1st.

All-in-all, I think it would suffice to say that two of the students in my year didn't come to Paris, two (inc myself) have left 1 month before the end of year two and the course only recruited 10 to start with.

In my opinion, signing up to this course is a sort of S&M desire to be tortured and toremented unnecessarily. King's College London and Cambridge offer the same degree, but use the Sorbonne and Paris II as partner institutions. Do what I should have done and apply there.

Sheffield Hallam University review

I'm on placement at the moment and cannot wait to get back to Sheffield. The city is fantastic for students and i have loved 1st and 2nd year. Don't know how it would be if you weren't a student as everything seems totally orientated towards them, but that's irrelevant when you're picking a uni.

The university is fantastic - really good facilities and loads of computers (although still a pain to get one at certain times) but one thing that bugs me is how expensive stuff like photo-copying and printing is. But i suppose that would happen everywhere these days.

I'm based at City Campus which is cool as it's right in town and easy to get to from where ever. I've got mates at Collegiate and i think it's a bit more friendly there - people know each other more maybe. I don't know - i'm just going on what they sometimes say when they come to City Campus. It's absolutely huge, but i like that. I went to a really small secondary school where literally the whole school knew each other and this is quite different.

Whoever said try to avoid Norfolk Park is quite clearly mad. I was there in 1st year and it was wicked. Yeh ok the flats are pretty grim, but i met so many people there and made most of my friends there, not on my course. It's what you make of it really more than anything else. But do be careful of the "neighbours" at the site next door!! I never knew about this till i moved in and that was a bit of a shock i have to say!! But seriously, if you can definitely try to get into Norfolk Park. That's what i reckon anyway - most people i know would rather be there than at Bramall Court or any of those other new security-proofed ones.

Sheffield Hallam University review

Sheffield is a wicked city to go to uni in, the people are really friendly and there's loads to do. The main campus is bang in the middle of town and the other two are in student districts of the city and the majority of halls are also in the town centre so you dont have far to crawl home! The halls have improved loads since i was in my first year and are virtually all up to a really high standard.

The Geography course was really good, especially if your in to human geography cos you dont do any physical stuff at all. The lecturers are all pretty sound and you get a week abroad in the second year! A lot of the people that did our course are now doing postgraduate course at hallam - its really easy to continue and they are a lot more career focused then the degree was. But on the degree you only do about 15 hours a week and by the third year that's down to about 8!

Sheffield Hallam University review

Facilities in general at SHU are pretty good - the only real problem is the students union. However, this will soon change, as SHU has bought the National Centre for Popular Music, so our union will be arguably better than Sheffield's.

Social life in Sheffield is excellent, there's loads to do and you'll soon make friends. Finding a place to live is easy. However, some of the uni's own halls are really poor - avoid Norfolk Park and Castle Court.

My course was BSc Hons Computer and Network Engineering. BNE (Business Network Engineering) is similiar. To be honest, I wouldn't recommend it to my worse enemy! Most of the lecturers in the engineering dept. are pretty good, but there are better departments within the university - such as CMS or Maths and Science.

The course itself was basically designed to attract computing students into the engineering department. Some of the modules are ok, but there's too much "padding" (mainly electronics and programming) to fill up available time. There's also too little actual network and business content, which are useful for most IT jobs. During my time here, I've never even configured a router (a pretty essential thing for a network engineer).

I've heard that SHU are going to either remove or change this course, so I would think long and hard before committing yourself to it.

Sheffield Hallam University review

The layout of the parts of sheffield where the universities campuses are situated are excellent. They are within easy travelling distance, by bus or foot, and have nice surrondings. Collegiate campus where my course is based at is very scenic and within a popular area within students, e.g. ecclesall road. There's a varied mix of people and sheffield has good nightlife, with a student night every night at different plces. The facilities around the university are excellent and aren't far away. The university facilites are excellent, plently of computers, and 24hr opening!

The course applied social sciences is excellent, you can customise it alittle by selecting modules you're interested in from a list. The exams are set out quite good, with a listy of questions then you pick out two of the questions to answer. They are in essay format, and you may leave when finished, not like A-levels where you have to hang around. Also, you get a longer time to answer the questions, e.g three hours!!!

Sheffield Hallam University review

Sheffield is a fantastic city for a student experience, between us The Other One, there are nearly 50,000 student sin the city. As well as being the safest city in Europe (2 years in a row) it is also just on the Peak District's doorstep.

Sheffield Hallam University is just about to move its Students Union to the odd looking National Centre for Popular Music which will be great for the students, as the current union building leaves much to be desired. Plans are also in place to build a brand new centre for Cultural Studies on the site of the old union.

In general, a great uni in a great city - its so friendly it's no surprise that so many students stay here after graduating - me included!