By Noémi Hutubessy, Human & Applied Physiology MSc
As a public research university, King’s College London is many things but above all, it is a community of people: from students to professors and researchers, from deans and administrators to wardens and janitors – without these people, the institution would not be what it is. I have always found that the people I meet and the connections I make at a certain school or place, greatly impact my experience in that place and eventually form the most significant memories I have of that place. Naturally, before starting my course here, I was curious about what the King’s community would be like: What kind of people would I meet here? Would it be easy to make connections? In this blog, I will tell you about my personal experience with the King’s community, and hopefully, this will give you, as a prospective student, an idea of what to expect.
In September of 2021, I joined the Faculty of Life Sciences and Medicine at King’s to start my master’s degree. Within the few months that I have been here, I have had the pleasure of meeting all sorts of people and this has greatly been encouraged by King’s. In my experience, staff members have been helpful and friendly; professors and lecturers have been enthusiastic and supportive. Within my course, I met ambitious people with similar academic backgrounds and aspirations, but with different non-academic interests. On the other hand, thanks to the societies that I have joined and the events that I have been to, I have had the opportunity to meet people with different academic interests but with similar hobbies and passions to me. These connections and conversations have inspired me. They have opened my mind to new perspectives, career-wise and academic-wise, but also otherwise. As a postgraduate student, it has been very interesting for me to meet professors and lecturers that are experts in the field of work that I would like to go into. They have been keen to help me, to give suggestions, and have been open to my ideas. Similarly, the students in my class have helped me gain a better understanding of my ambitions and possibilities, as they have shared with me their own reasons for attending the course and their own career wishes. While the master’s course I am attending is the main reason why I am at King’s, the university has offered me ways to grow my interests and passions beyond my study of interest.
With over 38.000 students and over 5.000 academic staff members (in 2020/2021), the King’s community is very big and diverse. The university provides plenty of opportunities to form connections, not only through your regular classes, but also through societies and events, and at plenty of shared spaces. No matter your interests, nationality, identity, and/or background; you will undoubtedly find like-minded people within the KCL community. You will also undoubtedly meet interesting and insightful people that will open a world of ideas and inspirations, and thereby extend your opportunities and possibilities. After all, this university has been the alma mater of people the likes of Virginia Woolf, Desmond Tutu, Dina Asher-Smith, and Peter Higgs!