Maia - Why I chose Herts

Hello! I’m Maia and I am going into my second year of Dietetics at the University of Hertfordshire. It was quite a journey for me to get here! I started first at the University of Nottingham studying Sociology and knew within the first week that it wasn’t for me! Besides the degree not being something, I was passionate about, I felt like a small fish in a big pond on a course of over 200 students! At Herts, I’m on a course of around 30 students, we all know each other, and I feel as though I really have a place here!

What initially attracted me to Herts was, unlike so many other universities, I could complete my Dietetics degree in just three years instead of four. This is rare for my subject, so it really appealed! I’d already decided that I wanted to live at home, and living in Barnet, it takes me just 25 minutes to drive to Hatfield. This is convenient for me, and it was important to me that my commute to wherever I decided to study does not take up too much of my time.

When I visited Herts on an open day, I was amazed at how friendly everyone was. Having been to university before I’d already visited loads of universities across the UK and none of the open days felt as warm or welcoming as Herts did. The ambassadors and staff members really couldn’t do enough to help – in fact, I remember talking to one ambassador (who happened to study Dietetics!) about the course for over an hour! No one had too little time for me.

I was really impressed with what I saw on the campus tour – College Lane is a green campus with interesting looking buildings. The facilities for my course just seemed great – we even have our own diet lab (aka kitchen) for nutrition practicals! The library is huge and has so many amazing study spaces, as well as a great café serving both hot and cold food! I loved the idea of Active Students – a scheme where all students are welcome to try and join in on a choice of daily activities, from aerobics to dance to Zumba to yoga! All for free! A timetable is posted weekly and all you need to do is get yourself down to wherever the class is being held and get active!

We do three practice placements for Dietetics, and one of which is a community-based placement – which is rare for Dietetics as most placements are all in NHS hospitals. To get that variety in placement is important and will help me to decide where I might want to work once, I graduate! I got the sense that the lecturers really want us to have the best, seasoned experience at the open day, and it is so true, they do! My lecturers really cannot do enough for us and the work, time, and effort they put into making your experience great is immense! Now, a year into my course, I can say with confidence, that starting at the University of Hertfordshire was one of the best decisions I’ve made thus far!