Human biology considers many diverse areas of biology including cell biology, evolution,
physiology, anatomy, nutrition, disease and ecology, to name but a few.
So I chose to study human biology at the University of Birmingham because it enabled me to specialise
in the areas of biology that I was interested in.
So I wanted sort of tailor my interest towards humans and the human biology course here it
was really focused down to human biology and human biochemistry.
In the first year we introduce you to a broad range of topics that you may not have covered
at school to give you a taster of the different aspects of human biology.
It keeps a wide variety so that you can sort of angle yourself with what you're interested
in once you've had a taste of it.
In years two and three you can explore the areas that you want to learn about and tailor
your course to suit your future career plans.
You could pick a lot more of the modules yourself there wasn't, you didn't have to follow particular
pathways.
Our degree programme is driven by research-led teaching.
Experts in the field feed directly into our course content.
Lecturers are always quite passionate about what they're doing, especially if it's on
a topic that they know they will definitely tell us like “Oh this is what I'm specializing
in” and I find that lovely and they incorporate the cutting-edge research.
The lecturers here are really good, they know exactly what they're on about.
My favourite part of the course has been my third year research project.
It was probably this project that initiated my interest in postgraduate research, which
would basically mean I get to stay here for another couple of years.
We offer an international year for students who wish to study in an overseas university
to gain knowledge in an area outside of our specialism.
So there were two options where you can gain an MSci qualification by four-year programs:
one is where you do a Professional Placement in third-year and the second one is where
you do a research project in your fourth year at the University.
I really think my placement year helped when I was applying for PhDs because it gave me
an edge over other candidates who hadn't had that scientific research experience.
I feel like it's made me a lot more competent in the lab.
We have a wide range of different teaching methods.
So it’s really varied, you can go to a lecture and then you have a tutorial and then you
go and do something in a lab and even the labs it's not just putting things in test
tubes, it's looking at specimens or making models.
And the teaching labs are incredible like they are ridiculously good.
They're really informative, they're really supportive for people because, when you're
coming in from a level, you've never been a big lab like this.
It helps you have decision-making skills and being observant, being decisive and just getting
on with like having to read instructions is a really really good skill.
It's a well ranked University, it's Russell group, I like the city.
I love the campus, it's one of the like major draws.
There are so many new things coming through at the minute.
There's the library, it's a beautiful building and they put so much effort into it and it's
a brilliant space just to sit and relax and do some work.
It's so green with all the trees but at the same time you're like eight minutes away from
the city centre.
The personal touch here in the school of Biosciences is very important.
You’re assigned a personal tutor at the start of your program and they will guide
you through your program and be there to help you throughout.
Come to us with any problems, if we don't know the answer we know somebody that does.
It's fun, it's versatile, you get a lot of skills from, sort of, statistical coding to
video making, to essay writing.
You get a lot of skills to put on your CV.
Go into, sort of, whatever career you like and I just really like it here.
We offer you flexible course content to take you in the direction that you wish to go,
we’ll give you guidance along the way and together we can help you to achieve your goals.
I think it's a very inclusive Uni and I think it's perfect!