University Of Sussex

I did my summer study abroad here back in 2010 for the physics courses and it was a great experience! All the teachers, staff, and classmates were super awesome and friendly. I stayed in Park Village (farthest away from campus) and had my own room with sink and shared bathroom and kitchen.
The campus was not that big and you can easily walk from one one to the other in less than thirty minutes. There are a lot of grass areas where you can sit and study or play football.
There is a convenient store/​mini mart on campus near the dorms so if you ever run out of snacks, you can easily go down there to grab stuff. There’s also a post office so you can go there and send mail/​postcards back home.
There’s even a pub on campus!

Sussex, can I give you 500 stars? Please?
After two years at one of the best unis in the states, I decided to spend my entire third year abroad at the University of Sussex. It had all the courses I needed for my major, was located in the lushest of lush green hills — any nature geek’s dream — and had every society (USA: club) known to man. Throw in the flood of colorful buildings and quirky shops, the pier, ‘diversity’ — as evident in its restaurants as its people — and I was beyond sold.
Since I was going to spend the entire year there, rather than the traditional American Spring abroad, I was housed in a building full of Brits (and Brits with expat parents) and two Aussies. A dream come true! This was exactly why I had chosen to do a year abroad rather than a semester — I wanted to actually integrate with another culture and, trust me, British [uni] culture is VERY different.
I could go on and on and on about how much I loved Sussex. I never got «involved» back home. Not in high school, not really in college, and then I studied abroad. I joined every society I said I would in my study abroad application and then some. I went to the French Alps with Sussex Snow, the Peak District and Wales with the Walking (USA: Hiking) Society, took photos of cows and leaves (just behind campus) with the Photo Society, and made friends in the International Society from Sri Lanka, Germany, and Indonesia I still talk to today. Icing on the cake — I got a job at my uni’s Study Abroad office the second I got back.
I’m still in touch with my old flatmates (four-​floors worth) — I guess Facebook serves a purpose! My little ducklings graduated this summer. I love them all to bits. Living with freshers could have been horrific, but it was hysterical and I had a new family within my first week.
A word of advice for anyone going here: If you’re from America, INTEGRATE! Love of god. don’t go traveling every weekend and then complain you don’t know any British people (true story. I, on the other hand, didn’t meet other Americans until 5 months in!). If you’re a full-​time Sussex student, grab the Americans and get them ‘involved.’ I love the British meaning of that word. :)
Quick Summary:
+ people (watching your flatmates from London see snow for the first time is priceless)
+ pubs on campus
+ LOCATION. outrageously beautiful. Makes a return to the concrete world painful
+ societies (so many, and everyone is so damn enthusiastic. America could take a lesson.)
— classes were hit/​miss (but I had the ‘cultural’ education of a lifetime)
— multiple protests, everywhere, all the time (about everything from human rights to budget cuts)
— leaving (why does it have to end?)

If I could go back, I would! Coming from California and ending up at the University of Sussex was probably one of the best decisions I have ever made! I wouldn’t trade that summer for the world. I fell in love with the campus, the students, the teachers, Brighton, and everything about England! This was a great University!

I studied here internationally for a summer, and I loved it! I went to the University of California, Santa Barbara and the ambiance, shopping, and nightlife of Brighton resembled my college town so that was nice. However, the grassy green hills surrounding Sussex Uni secluded it from the busy town. In a word: lovely. Could have done with more sun though!

Oh, Sussex Uni… as an educational institution, you weren’t half bad, and any failings were predominantly mine. However, you’re pastoral care was conspicuous in its absence, the board seems to be more concerned with cutting funding than supporting the student body, most of the halls of residence resemble the worst kind of youth hostel (the kind that Eli Roth would film in), and that’s before we get started on the students.
In my salad days, when I was green of youth, I seemed to be the only student who wasn’t either a Maoist Trotskyite anarcho-​syndicalist (I have no idea either), or Ultimate Frisbee playing hippie. It’s quite something when a girl with bubblegum blue hair and a skirt made entirely of wheat tells you that YOU don’t fit in here. I never really recovered from that first day.
As much as you will meet some fantastic people, have a lot of fun living in a wonderful town (well, on the outskirts of Brighton), you will come to look back on your time as a Sussex student as something resembling an endurance challenge rather than the misty eyed ‘best days of your life’. However, this was my experience, it won’t necessarily be yours. Just be aware of how ‘radical’ Sussex University is, or, to put it more cogently, the fact that it’s radical reputation attracts the worst kind of pseudo-​political misfits, who are so enamoured at not being alone anymore that they become vocally angry and even violent at the prospect of non-​confirmism… Oh Lord, the irony!

Having gone back to university this year after a break of almost ten years, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from my Sussex experience. Last time around, I went to a traditional red brick northern institutions, this time, the green field campus site at Sussex. Being a masters student, I haven’t got as heavily involved with student life as I might have, but I’ve found it easy enough to do so when I’ve wanted. As it’s a campus unviersity, it feels like a real community, as everyone is packed together on one purpose built site. I think if I were living on campus I might find it claustrophobic, but perhaps not if I were an eighteen year old straight from A levels. The on campus facilities are very good — excellent bars and shops, and the library and IT services are efficient and modern.

A fantastic university — I studied for an English Literature MA there, and got to work with some great people. I really hope the place sees it through the present funding problems, and the arts are able to stay at strong as they are presently. I was priviliged to get involved in many student/​staff events and organisations such as colloquiums attracting academics from across the world, zines of students’ creative work, fiction readings and seminars. It really was an atmosphere in which to thrive, and the downs surroundings make lovely walks.

A really great University. The first year of Sussex can be like a middle class Butlins situated in the Downs, going from East Slopes favela like tightness to lectures on things you didn’t even know where things… Pangender? semiotics? WHAT? For some this quite intense campus life can be too much and too claustrophobic, but for me in retrospect it was the best way to start University.
The next two years involve for most people, slowly moving nearer and nearer Brighton up the Lewes or London roads, or shifting towards town down Hanover. This means of course that less time is spent on campus, but after one year it does feel right, and also I think allows you to enjoy campus for other reasons than just hanging out around your flats.
Teaching wise I mostly (except for one!) had some incredibly interesting and engaging teachers. Notably Dr. Darrow Schecter who personifies the traditional Sussex tradition of being completely mental and enthusiastic to the point of bursting as well as massively inspiring.
Some of these types of teachers though are sadly being pushed out by a more bureaucratic and managerial system which has made some very unpopular academic decisions such as closing the successful Linguistic department. All in all though I would definitely go again, and this time throw myself into everything that it has to offer.

I spent three wonderful years at the University of Sussex. I chose the university on a whim, I had never even been to Brighton– it turned out to be the luckiest whim of my life! Its a really great campus, set in the Sussex Downs and close to Brighton and most importantly… the sea!
The year I lived on campus was one of the most fun-​packed to date. I lived in East Slope, which is mocked endlessly for its inferiority, but I maintain to this day that the best people live in East Slope. University isn’t about luxury, its about cooking for yourself, meeting new people, getting a bit messy and having a great time! Oh and learning of course! I met some of my best friends in that little East Slope flat and had some of the funniest nights ever. Sussex campus is extremely social– there are two great bars, reams of cafes and a very active Student Union.
On top of having a wonderful time socially, I had some truly inspiring lecturers and learned a lot. Sussex is a beautiful campus full of warm, intelligent and interesting people. If you’re considering studying here, I can highly recommend!

The University of Sussex holds a place dear in my heart. This was my real introduction to academia; to independence and most importantly, to Brighton. The leafy campus is situated within the rolling Falmer landscape and hosts nigh on all of the university’s facilities creating a community feeling and also a sense of security, which is assuring. The campus not only hosts the academic faculties, but also a number of social centres; banks, a bookshop, post office, bars and even a nightclub.
This review is maybe more for prospective students than members of the general public, but if you do fall into the former category then heed this advice: I was fortunate enough to have a choice of several establishments when going to university including some places in London and others as far away as Scotland. I am so genuinely glad I chose Sussex. Not only did I have some of the best experiences of my life there, but I was also gifted the city of Brighton & Hove on my doorstep. The combination of one of the country’s best academic institutions and the city of Brighton & Hove is, in my opinion, unrivalled.

I was lucky enough to study and live abroad for a year and this is the Uni I attended.
This university gave me one of the best years of my life. It’s a relatively new uni when compared to Oxford and the like and it make a great home for me for 9 months. The dorms are amazing compared to American university dorms and with 3 (I think) bars on campus and 2 grocery shops, how can you go wrong.
One of the best parts is… it’s just an hour away from London. And Brighton’s just a few stops away!
I miss it dearly.