BA (Hons) Management with Human Resource Management (HRM) student Rebecca Wheildon writes about her top five reasons for choosing to study at RGU.

Choosing RGU

When I first started to look at universities in my fifth year of high school, I had a lot of uncertainties. The biggest one for me was what I actually wanted to study. I knew that I wanted to study business but I wasn’t sure what I wanted to specialise in. I also knew that I wanted something different from the traditional university experience. I didn’t want to just stay on campus for four years. I wanted to gain experience in the real world and push myself out of my comfort zone. After attending one of the RGU’s Open Days, I knew that this university was perfect for me.

In this blog post, I’m going to outline some of the main selling points of RGU that pushed me to make the decision to study here.

Placement and semester abroad

Firstly, the biggest selling point at RGU for me was the opportunity to participate in both study abroad and a year-long paid placement.

Rebecca Wheildon, BA (Hons) Management with HRM student at RGU

One of my favourite subjects at school, apart from business, was French. I had always wanted to go and study in France. When I started looking at study abroad options in other universities, it seemed that students had to pick between a placement or study abroad. When I went to the RGU Open Day and found out that they offered both, I was delighted.

I studied in Clermont-Ferrand, France for four months during the first semester of my second year. And I lived and worked in Glasgow as a Commercial Analyst for an FTSE 250 company called FDM Group during my third year. These two experiences have set me apart from students and graduates from other universities. I have been able to develop my skills in different environments alongside getting my degree.

Management with HRM Course structure

What I loved about RGU was all the management programmes offered at the Aberdeen Business School. They have a variety of modules including Management, Management with Marketing, Management with HRM and International Business Management in the first year.

Rebecca Wheildon, BA (Hons) Management with HRM student at RGU

As I mentioned earlier, I was undecided on whether I wanted to specialise in a certain area of business or study a more general management degree. In high school, I enjoyed learning how to manage people. But we only had a brief look at the topic so I was unsure whether I wanted to dedicate four years to this area. When I found out that all courses studied the same modules in the first year, it was a big relief for me. It gave me the option to switch between courses easily.

Luckily, I enjoyed the People Management module the most in the first year, so I knew I had made the right decision to specialise in HRM. Someone I knew on the Management course really enjoyed the Marketing module we studied in the first year. So he switched from Management to Management with Marketing, which was done very quickly and easily.

Facilities at RGU

Furthermore, the facilities and infrastructure offered by the university impressed me a lot when I first visited the campus. All the buildings were modern. Once I began my studies, I realised that the spaces at RGU were perfect environments for both collaborative and individual learning. The Aberdeen Business School and Georgina Scott Sutherland Learning Centre were where I spent the majority of my time. I loved working there because I would talk to friends and have lunch whilst working. Or I would put on my headphones and concentrate on my work without getting distracted.

As someone who finds it very difficult to study in one place all day every day, the variety of working environments made available in the university was very helpful for me.

Rebecca Wheildon, BA (Hons) Management with HRM student at RGU

On days when I wanted to study in a more relaxed environment that wasn’t completely silent, I would go to the Learning Centre. I also loved the library in the Sir Ian Wood Building. The selection of books they had was unbelievable and served me very well throughout my time at RGU. Especially when I wrote my dissertation in the final year. I would usually study in the library when revising for an exam or looking for specific books to write about.

Aberdeen as a study destination

The final thing that really stood out to me when I was deciding on whether I should study at RGU or not, was the city of Aberdeen itself. Although the university is very important, the location of the university is equally important. This is because you will be living there for the next few years, so you have to make sure it feels right for you.

As someone who had never lived in a big city before, I thought Aberdeen would be great for me. It is not as big as places like Edinburgh or Glasgow. But it is still big enough to feel like a proper city. It also felt like students were a big part of the city. It has lots of restaurants and pubs, cinemas and clubs.

Because I went on a study abroad, placement and then the pandemic struck, I only lived in Aberdeen for two out of my four years at university. But I really enjoyed all the time I spent there. There were lots of options for student accommodation and lots of places for students to rent privately. The nightlife was great and there were lots of opportunities for part-time work as well.

I hope you enjoyed reading about how I came to the decision to study at RGU. Hopefully, you found this useful. If you have any further questions about this topic, or you would like to talk to a student about their experiences at RGU, please visit the Contact a Student platform.

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