BSc Biological Sciences (Genetics and Genomics), 2026, United States of America, Student
“I love the location and being able to experience such a historic city.”
“I heard about Oxford Brookes through a friend.”
When we were applying for university; I was looking overseas, rather than in the United States. As a child, I had always wanted to see the world, and this allowed me to do so. Also, the costs were much more agreeable than going to a university in the States.
I’ve enjoyed studying. I’ve been able to specialise in the biology field during my degree and this is perfect for me. The surprising thing for me is that undergraduate degrees in the UK are only 3 years compared to 4 years in the USA. Also, not all modules have an exam at the end and are fully coursework-based instead.
“My biggest challenge was living so far away from my family.”
I made such good friends in my first year house and through my course. Surrounding myself with new people helped to fill my spare time, so I wasn’t just thinking about my home. My home is a very sunny place, so the weather in the UK was a big thing for me to adjust to. I ended up buying one of my favourite jackets (a leather one) from the vintage pop-up sale on campus during fresher's week.
The museums and botanical gardens are some of my favourite places here. I like that the city is so easy to get around, making nights out fun and easy. I’ve also participated in women’s football for the past two years.
“I’ve been able to do a work placement abroad in Bali.”
Oxford Brookes has given me the opportunity to have hands-on experiences in multiple labs, from microscope labs, biochem labs, microbiology labs, and molecular biology labs, to more computer-based labs with genetic labs, and provided lessons in R Studio. My dissertation topic has enabled hands-on experience in a wet lab. The work I did while on placement has now been published, and my name is stated as an author. It was great, as it gave me real-life fieldwork experience.
I am planning to apply and hopefully stay in the UK and go to a graduate school to further my studies and to specialise in human characteristic genetics or perhaps brain science.