Tejasvi Shivakumar

Why I chose Surrey

When I received my offer to study on my Biological Sciences course, it turned a normal day into one of the happiest days of my life. By this time, I’d visited all the universities on my list and was 101 per cent sure I wanted to come to Surrey.

Visiting the campus certainly helped me make my decision. I looked around the facilities and I remember being impressed by how green the campus was and, for a nature lover like me, that made a solid first impression. Surrey Sports Park was another very appealing aspect for me as I wanted to continue the sports I pursued in high school. I was absolutely thrilled to hear how many social sports I could take part in, and playing badminton was a great way to meet new people

In addition to the top rankings and reviews, I chose to study at Surrey because I was keen to complete a placement and Surrey is not only known for its vast connections with industry, but also for offering support to students before, during and after placement.

My placement

For my Professional Training placement, I spent a year in Abingdon at Vertex Pharmaceuticals (Europe) Ltd, an American pharmaceutical company that produces transformative medicines to change patients’ lives. The best part of the placement was knowing what a great cause my work was contributing to and being solely responsible for protein production, giving progress updates and presentations.

I would strongly recommend a placement to any student wishing to get a head start in their career. It’s the perfect opportunity to network and get a grasp of the bigger picture in terms of future work and higher study options in your area of interest.