Student stories

Before arriving at Surrey to study for a PhD in Sociology, Dr Melissa Pepper read Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Portsmouth, followed by an MSc in Social Research Methods at London South Bank University. Melissa was keen to pursue a career in academia – which, with the support of the team at Surrey, she was able to do.

I chose the course because I was excited to be one of the first student nurses at the University. There were only 20 of us on the course, and I loved being part of its growth in those first few years.

When I came across the nursing degree at Surrey, I was really excited by it – choosing Surrey is the best thing I've done.

My course helped me to choose what kind of sector I wanted to start a career in and it gave me the skills to be a strong candidate for those jobs.

I found the University of Surrey to be highly understanding about the busy timetables that clinicians face.

Surrey was my absolute dream choice of University. I only had one back up option but I had my heart set on coming here; the campus is beautiful but the Creative Music Technology course was what really drew me in. It had the right balance of teaching hours versus time to hone our practice, as well as lots of module options that really gave me the flexibility to explore everything I was interested in.

Moreover, the flexibility offered by Politics to study and research areas I am specifically interested in made the overall experience enjoyable socially and academically.

Andy Josolyne served in the Royal Navy, before moving into the aerospace and defence sector. He then started an MBA at Surrey, which helped him launch a new career in business consulting and data analytics…

An MSc in Water and Environmental Engineering at Surrey set Anusha Shah on the path towards her current role as Senior Director, Resilient Cities, at Arcadis.