Why Westminster?

I've had a lot of people in my life when I tell them I am going to grad school abroad they ask me two things: where am I going to school, and why I picked that school.

So I decided to write up why I chose to attend the University of Westminster for my Master's Degree.

The location. When looking at schools I knew I wanted to be in central London. Central London or bust, as it were. I had researched some other schools, but ultimately they were too far from central London for me. I knew central London was what I wanted and I didn't want to settle. My campus, Marylebone, is right across from Madame Tussauds Wax Museum. It is also a 5 minute walk to Regent's Park. I can totally see myself spending some time in the park catching up on my assigned readings before class.

The cost. Having loans from undergrad I knew I wanted a university with lower tuition fees rather than higher ones. In my research, there are a lot of schools in London and they all range in tuition fees. While Westminster was not the cheapest in tuition fees, they certainly were not the most expensive either. I've seen some schools with fees of 26,000 pounds a year (that's $40,000!) Compared to my undergraduate university, and other schools I was pretty happy with Westminster's fees of 11,500 pounds a year.

The degree. With my undergrad degree being in Travel, Tourism and Hospitality Management, I knew I wanted to get a Master's to coordinate with that. When I was looking at schools, several schools had travel or tourism related degrees, but they just were not appealing to me. They featured various types of tourism or focused on certain aspects of the tourism field, which don't get me wrong, are important but ultimately not what I was aiming for. When I found Westminster's it immediately peaked my interest. Westminster's program deals with the demand for tourism, tourism marketing, how tourism shapes cities around the world (as well as London itself), and also deals with mega events and festivals and how they stimulate pride and energize the local community. All of these aspects have greater interest to me than any other degree I have found.

The housing. I also researched where I would be living while I attend school. If a school was not centrally located, their living facilities probably wouldn't be either. If I wanted to study in central London, I knew I wanted to live there too! The first thing I liked was Westminster offers 2 housing options specifically for post grad students ONLY. That was a huge plus for me because being 24 I knew I wanted to be with people of similar age ranges, not with a bunch of 18 year old freshmen. The second thing I liked were the options of the housing. By this I mean, you could choose to live in an old, Victorian building or a brand new renovated building. However probably what I liked the most was the location of the housing complexes. The new one is located near Kings Cross called Depot Point, while the other older one is located actually in the borough of Westminster near the Victoria train station called Wigram House (and is located a 7 minute walk to Buckingham Palace!) The prices per month for each are reasonable too, when you consider you are in central London. Depot Point, being brand new is about 1000 pounds per month, while Wigram House is about 640 pounds per month (for the largest room).

Overall, I really don't think there is anything I don't like about Westminster. There is usually that one big thing staring you in the face that you know you'll just have to get over...but here there really isn't. I love everything about Westminster; the location, the housing and costs, the degree, the tuition fees...everything seems reasonable.

I guess the compromise with that is dealing with the heart attacks I get when I add up the costs of tuition, housing and personal/travel expenses and wonder to myself 'how am I going to pay for this?!'