St Mary's University Twickenham, MSc in Applied Sports and Exercise physiology
Reviewed on Feb 27, 2025(Enrolled 2022)What Students Say
Likes
- We were added based on assignments rather than exams. And given atleast one month’s time to produce our assignments.
- I got to test on many athletes
- Learnt how to perform and conduct ourself professionally
Dislikes
- We had classes on only one day a week
- We were expected to have already known a few things by ourselves and assignments were trickier considering not having such a strong hold of the basics.
- There was not much of an interaction between the students of other courses. Everyone kept to themselves.
Course Curriculum
8
- I wouldn’t say that it was a very easy or a particularly tough course. However it was challenging and you had to keep reading and learning more.
- Initially I think there were around 15-16 students in the course. A equally distribution between international and national students. However within two weeks, most students either chose a different course (international students, because you couldn’t pull out of the university otherwise you would lose the deposit) and the rest switched to part time (option only available for national students).
- The students who differed to the other courses, had not done a proper research in what the course would include and joined. They realised quite late that it was not clinical but purely applied and related to only sport.
- At the end only 4 people presented their dissertation at the end of the course. This was because either students were part timers or they didn’t qualify for the requirements of an MSc degree and would be provided a diploma.
Admission Experience
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Liverpool John Moore (Accepted)
Chichester University (Accepted)
St Mary’s University (Accepted) - I only applied to 3 universities as my focus was on applied aspects only, as well as pocket friendly. Leeds Beckett was also in the list, however, I decided not to apply thinking the weather would be too harsh.
- Liverpool's John Moore accepted me without any interview. Acceptance was pending from my side. I didn’t choose the course at the time, because it focused somewhat on microbiology.
- I had an interview with Chichester. The interview went well. However during the interview, it seemed like the students ratio dropped over the years and were grouped with students of sports nutrition course.
- Eventually why I made the decision to choose St Mary’s university.
- The modules provided my St Mary’s seemed better and more practical and applied rather than research and academic focused. However when I did join, I realised that in the course that they did provide practicals hours however, additionally you could get more only if you approached them. And the course consisted of both with equal weightage of practical as well as academic.
- I applied through a provider assisting in admissions in India, so they did most of the paper work and I was only asked to get tests and exams done.
- 55% min and more than 6 on the IELTS band.
- I was eligible for a scholarship, however due to miscommunication, I missed my chance at it and but the time a realised, the window was closed. I would suggest directly getting in touch with one of the representatives from the college and creating a rapport for better ease.
- The course at the time only has September intake. And if I’m not wrong, that’s hasn’t changed yet.
- I started preparing for my admission from December of 2021 itself, which is when I took my IELTS. And the process was started by January. However, at the time I was still a student pursuing my BSc and things got delayed because my internship hadn’t started when, it was due. Which pushed the dates to submit all the required documents (such as provisional degree, conduct certificate etc) very close to the deadlines provided. So any delay that happened, it did from my end. And most processes were timely from their end.
- I took me 6-7 months to finish my admissions process but like I mentioned earlier, I was completing my internship at the time and hence, the delay.
Faculty
6
- Considering the drop in number of the students I would say that the ratio was slightly high from the faculties side (meaning more faculties than students). We were given the attention required and the time to practise various things required.
- The course definitely did teach me a lot of things directly and indirectly. Directly by teaching me things which at once I had not known or not known enough about. And indirectly by giving us assignments, which would force us to do our own study and research.
- In my experience, no the faculties don’t assist you with helping you secure any part-time jobs. But there are instances based on how involved you want to get, they may introduce you to different professionals.
- The university did hold a gathering inviting different companies so that students could view each company and decide whether they wanted to work part-time with them or not. It was the university’s initiative.
Campus Life
6
- Like I explained earlier. Like it happens in Indian universities, there is no proper mixing of students from different groups, you wouldn’t know that they are planning an event until the very last moment and even then people wouldn’t show up in larger number.
- However if you do make friends who know the place very well, they will tell you which event you could possibly go to to have more fun and a good time.
Part Time Jobs
- Unfortunately, I don’t think I can help you on that front. I didn’t really get a part time job in the UK. However they do advertise various part-time job you could possibly do in the university and the pay is almost the same as what they pay outside.
- 20 hrs per week is the max that you get to work, till you finish your course work.
- Wages depend on how old you are.
- From my experience, most of my friend worked in service sectors. So they ended up working the Uni refectory or nearby supermarkets. Some did end up working part time in NHS as an on call physiotherapist, however that was very less. Working in restaurants does pay well is what I heard at the time. There are websites if you want to work outside the uni. But maybe getting in touch with other international students or nationally students might increase your scope of job procurement.
Placement
4
- Honestly, I’m not sure. Most of the people (national students) did have a permanent job already in hand. And I was the only one who presented my dissertation and did not get a job in the UK related to my field. I had to move back home and work in my field.
- I was very adamant on wanting to work only in my field and hence maybe the lack of job procurement. But I did hear that, if you you go to lots of conferences and meet people, it would be easier for you to get a job there, since they have met and interacted with you.
Accommodation
Off Campus
10
- When it comes to accommodation, there definitely are sites and universities websites that will aid you find a place to stay. However, I would also suggest you find an accommodation atleast 6 months prior to you flying in. Because the situation can be really dire if not prepared for well in advance and you might end up spending a lot more than necessary/expected.
- I lived with a Brit family in their house, they were very warm and welcoming and definitely eager to learn more about our culture.
Exams
- St Mary’s only required you provide an IELTS grade.
- We had to provide and LOR, Statement of purpose and course related documents such as provisional degree and transcript.
- No interview was conducted by the university. They did provide you an online open day scheduled on various days. Open days are essentially, where you get to tour the campus and see everything that they provide in terms of facilities, clubs, classroom environment etc. This way you also get to interact with the faculties in your course ahead of time and get your queries sorted before making any decisions.
Fees
- The course fees at the time was 14,500 pounds. Since it was just a year or two after Covid, the prices were down. It could be paid in one go or semester wise as well.
- Since I was a PG student, I could not avail hostel services, so I looked for an accommodation outside of the campus, which actually turned out to be more pocket friendly, because the hostel fees included food. It gets complicated because you can only collect a certain number of points collected from buying food and the rest comes out of your own pocket. It would add up to maybe 5-6 meals per week. Which means you could not eat food there three times per day and if whatever you buy exceeds the point limit, that money came out of your pocket.
- The university however does have a separate website to search for private accommodations nearby. And it lets you connect with the locals in the area. Which is how I found my accommodation as well. My room rent was 500 pound per month, which included almost everything except the washing, which was about 2 pounds per wash/and or using the dryer. However I have heard that the rent has gone up higher due to the hike in utility charges and as such.
Scholarship
- Yes. From what I can recollect, they do provide a basic scholarship based on your grade of upto 3000 pounds (for international students). However, they do have additional scholarship programs which differs from university to university. Might have to take a look at their website for further details.
- I think 2-3 people would be granted this scholarship.
