University of Glasgow: What it's really like

Looking for a large university in a city with loads to see and do? The University of Glasgow could be for you!

Glasgow at a glance:

Charlie Potter is a Student Recruitment Officer at the University of Glasgow. Her job involves visiting schools around the UK, giving presentations, and attending career fairs and UCAS fairs, where she represents the University of Glasgow and give students more information about studying in Scotland and the university. Here Charlie shares why you should apply to the university.
 

What is the University of Glasgow?

Our main campus, Gilmore Hill, is in the west end of the city of Glasgow. We also have two other campuses: one in Dumfries, just south of Glasgow; and our Garscube campus, which is where our Veterinary Medicine students are based.

We’re a large university, with about 36,000 students studying here and over 140 countries represented. We offer around 100 single-honour degrees and around 600 joint-honours degrees. This includes professional degrees like Medicine, Dentistry, Law, and Teaching, and something called a ‘flexible degree structure’ for our Arts, Science, and Social Science degrees. This means if you study one of these, you can pick up other subjects alongside the one you’ve applied for. One of our most usual joint honours degree programmes is Computing Science and Latin!
 

What is the top reason a UK student should study here?

I think a great reason to apply to Glasgow is our flexible degree structure. This allows you to study your subjects with greater breadth, as in Year One and Two, you pick up other subjects alongside the subject you have applied for. So if you aren’t 100% sure what you want to study or haven’t studied the subject you’ve applied for before, you get to try out other subjects for two years.

At the end of your second year, you make the decision as to what your degree will focus on. You can choose to stick with the subject you have applied for and drop the other subjects, change your degree to a joint degree, or even change your original subject completely!
 

“I started off doing a degree in Ancient History and Politics. I also did Latin and Comparative Literature in Year 1. Then, in Year 2, I decided to try out English Language and Linguistics. Finally, at the end of this year, I chose to drop Ancient History and continue with just Politics. I’ll be able to transfer when I receive my Year 2 grades.”
Current student

What is the top reason an international student should study here?

We welcome students from over 140 countries and our student body is very diverse. Glasgow is super friendly, so it’s easy to make friends, and joining our clubs and societies is a great way to meet people. We have societies for different countries, from Bulgaria to India to Japan, as well as different faiths. So you can join the ones relevant for you, creating your own community in Glasgow.

Being based in Glasgow, the biggest city in Scotland, means it’s really easy to explore the rest of the country. In a few hours you can be in the Scottish Highlands, and in four and a half hours you can be in London. Edinburgh, Scotland’s capital, is only 45 minutes away by train.
 

Who isn’t the right fit for Glasgow?

We are a large university based in the west end of the largest city in Scotland, so if you’re looking for a smaller and maybe slightly more rural university experience, we might not be the right fit.

Having said that, I think visiting us for an open day will give you the best sense of whether you can see yourself living and studying there. One more tip: if you type in ‘chat to students’ on our website, you can chat to our current students directly to find out more about what it’s like to study here.
 

What’s it like for students to live in the local area?

Here at the University of Glasgow, you get to experience the best of both worlds as we’re a campus university that’s based in a city.

We’re a ten-minute subway ride from the city centre, with its big-name shops, restaurants, and train stations. The west end feels like a community within a community, with lots of cool independent cafes, restaurants, shops and bars. Some of our students’ favourite spots to hang out are the vintage Hidden Lane Tea Room, and nearby Aston Lane for bars like Brel, a Belgian bar with a beer garden.

As a campus university, you’ll find everything you need on a daily basis in one place, rather than spread across the city. On campus, there’s a range of cafes and coffee shops for that caffeine hit, but we also provide kitchens with hot water and microwaves if you want to bring your own food from home. Everything is only a couple of minutes’ walk from your lectures to the library, the gym, or the Students’ Unions. You’ll find our sports pitches on the Garscube campus.

With five universities across Glasgow and over 180,000 students across the city, there’s always something going on for students to get involved with. International Student Tours Scotland (Glasgow), based on Facebook, plan amazing tours across the country specifically for students. The Student Representative Council (SRC) holds events during exams, like therapy dog sessions, alpaca visits, and jewellery making. And they screen Eurovision in the quad, which is always a firm favourite!


What accommodation options are available to students?

Our accommodation options are spread over eight locations. We have one accommodation base on campus, our Student Apartments, with our other accommodation options between 10ten and 30 minutes’ walk away. These are in accommodation villages, so you’ll be living with other University of Glasgow students. 

We offer a range of different flats to cover all budgets. At the cheaper end, you’ll share a bathroom, kitchen, and living space with 10-12 other students. And at the more expensive end, you could stay in our catered accommodation with an ensuite room. All accommodation includes utilities, wifi, and an off-peak gym membership. 

There’s also 24-hour security and live-in support from current students, who you can contact for help if you have any problems, day or night.


Tell us about some of the university's exciting facilities.

Our sports facilities include a 25m pool with a sauna and steam room, squash courts, and a REVOLVE cycling studio.

Unlike many universities, we have two Students’ Unions on campus, as well as the Student Representative Council, so there will be plenty for you to get involved in. You could join our debating society, try some volunteering, or sign up to sports teams like skydiving or ultimate frisbee!

One exciting new facility is our James McCune Smith Learning Hub, which is a state-of-the-art study space. It offers 500-seat lecture theatres, as well as a range of study spaces, including sound proofed group study pods and silent workspaces. The higher up in the building you go, the quieter the study spaces are.

We have also just opened the Advanced Research Centre, or ARC. This is an amazing research space which will allow collaboration between specialisms. For example, Arts, Social Science, and Science students are working together on research into the music industry and climate change
 

Any application tips?

When applying to the University of Glasgow, the first thing we will check is whether you have met the entry requirements. Many of our courses, like Medicine and Teaching, also have additional requirements. They might ask you to have studied specific subjects, or you might need to pass an admissions test or attend an interview. Make sure to check the course page of the subject you are applying for to check you have met all these requirements.

Another part of the application people often forget to fill in is the nominated access. This is where you can put down your parent or guardian to be able to speak on your behalf come results day. If for some reason you aren’t available on results day - maybe you’re working or on holiday - and you need to speak to the university about your results or offer, then having a nominated access means we can speak to that person about your application on your behalf. So, make sure this is someone you trust and don’t mind sharing your information with.


How does the university meet the needs of students with different accessibility requirements?

We offer a range of scholarships for students from Scotland, the rest of the UK, and further afield. For example, if you come from the rest of the UK and you’ve done well in your A Levels or equivalent, you can apply for our Excellence Scholarship, which awards you £1000 for each year of study. On our website, you can filter where you are from and what subject you are applying for, and it will bring up all the scholarships you might be eligible for.  

If you have a disability that we need to know about, I’d recommend mentioning it in your application. This won’t disadvantage you; it means we can put you in touch with our disability support team before you’ve even started here. You can meet with one of our disability advisers, either in-person or online, and they will put a support plan in place. This could be making sure all your teaching spaces are meeting your needs, arranging additional time in exams, or providing a scribe if you’re a neurodivergent student. 

Our student support service also offers counselling, careers advice, international student support, including things like visa and immigration advice, and welcome and orientation events.
 

Want to explore more UK universities? Unifrog’s Shortlisting tool can help you put together a list of great potential courses.