Welcome to Leicester - A dawn of an Awesome Journey

Hello, welcome to the United Kingdom. If you are reading this, I believe you have made the right decision by choosing this university to do your studies. Well, hello there, I am Praveen Kumar, and I pursued my Masters in Cloud Computing from this university. Well, technically, my degree says, it’s Cloud Computing MSc with a Year in Industry and I came out with distinction! Woohoo!

I would like to guide you and others to get around and get along with the university, to make sure you have done what all I have done and those good things that I haven’t done as well. As an introduction bit about myself, I came to the England from Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, (for those who are unaware, I share the same state with the CEO of Google, Mr. Sundar Pichai). Also, for the same reason, this article is aimed at Indian students coming to the United Kingdom for the first time (or flying out of India for their first time) in their life.

I worked for three years with IIT Madras Research Park (at least this way I get to see IIT Madras, one heck of a dream university for the most!), TCS Innovation Labs, Tata Consultancy Services, in India, after doing my Under Graduate in Computer Science from a college affiliated to Anna University, and thought of getting out of India for personal and academic reasons, which was the best of decisions I have ever taken in my life, just like you. So, welcome again to the United Kingdom and to the University of Leicester. This is a world full of fun, enthusiasm, happiness and great achievements, if you fancy any or all of those.

I would also like to boast something about me. Believe it or not, it’s true and it worked for me. It’s at your risk to follow this path, but yeah, I would like to say that I am the only immigrant (from India) in the whole of United Kingdom to get an internship at a start-up to lead something without a CV or Cover Letter! That’s definitely an awesome achievement, and I am going to explain it in this article as well.

Another good thing about our university is that you don’t need any English language exams, if you are from one of the recognised universities in India that teaches in English.

psst: Also this is the only blog where there’s no ads whatsoever. I could find some ads by Disqus platform, but I urge you to install this cute AdBlock Plus, so that you get rid of those nasty things as well.

About this Story

This article is a first complete multi-part article that gets updated often and updates are notified in comments as well. So, if you are copying this article, please do add a link back so that once the article becomes outdated, I’ll make sure the article is updated with the latest of information possible and I will also be actively monitoring comments for questions and request to information.

This article is divided into following sections, where each of them will be an article of their own:

A good thing about our university is that they give a lot more preference (or care) to Indian students. Let’s dive deep into the different sections in this.

Thinking of pursuing Masters in the United Kingdom? Think Leicester.

This is just an introduction and summarising the whole experience of me, applying to the university. This article sets out a guidance and also will have information on each and every step, you need to take to get the guaranteed seat with the university and a visa to get into the United Kingdom.

Things to bring before you start your journey.

This article is aimed mostly at South Indians. Sorry guys, I am not being racist here, but since I am from South India, I know this works out for almost all the South Indians. Feel free to give me feedback so that I can include stuff and keep this thing alive and updated. Before you start your journey for the first time (or may be the nth time) from India, you need to keep in mind that you will be away from your home country for at least six months, which gives you the basic need to take care of yourself in the areas of health, mind, family, food, etc., for which we pioneers, suffered a lot.

This article explains enough about what all you would face and what you might need to prepare. Give me a shout if you find something crazy, because this country is crazy enough to make you do crazy things like what I do now.

University Life when you are at Leicester.

This article tells you about what you need to do when you come to Leicester. It also gives you an overall idea about how schools work here, the attitude of staff and professors, how a typical class looks like, how you commute to the university, how you are assessed while you are at the university, the university rules and senate that govern the university. You do get help with your assessments and assignments to an extent from here. I give you a personal promise!

Accommodation & Stay in Leicester.

The next thing you worry (or the only thing your parents would worry) about is your stay during your course time. You got to have a decent accommodation, just not like us. We had been staying with then unknown people who are now close buddies to us, like more than a dozen in a single house, paying pennies for rent and cooking together. If you are a vegetarian like me, I could imagine your situation. I bet this article would iron out all your queries about these.

Things to do at University of Leicester.

Okay, you are at the university now. There are a couple of things that you can do to stand out from the crowd. I bet you would like to stand out from the crowd of CVs and Cover Letters that a recruiter might get to shortlist just you. There are some do’s and don’ts that is compiled here, so that you can take your toll on this to either do it and succeed or not do it and well, succeed too.

There’s no way you are failing, putting so much of effort and investment to come and study here. Do you have a success story to share with? Email me!

Great places not to miss in University of Leicester.

How is it good if you have come for a trip to an awesome university and not exploring it out? There are a few places that require your attention to find it the most interesting and beautiful parts of the university. This article will be again a compilation of great places around here, so don’t miss it while you are at the University of Leicester.

Benefits of studying at University of Leicester.

You are in the United Kingdom. There are loads of benefits, goodies and great discounts here, if you are a student. You have some nice travel discounts from 25% to 100% off and services worth tens and thousands of dollars for free. Yep, dollars not pounds, as they are based out of the United States! Also, being a student of University of Leicester, a top university in the first twenty of United Kingdom ranking, you have a lot to explore.

Career Development when you are a student.

This is your obvious thing when you are at university. Do you want a job after completion of course, or an internship during the course (if you are in one of the Year in Industry courses)? Then this is for you. This article explains how you can increase your employability, while you are studying at the university and make sure you stand out of the crowd and impress the recruiter. There are some tips in this article here.

Working in Social Enterprise - My Experience in University of Leicester.

This is an article about a social enterprise programme, I worked for and I learnt a lot during my student life in the university. A must read if you are interested. Other than that, nothing much in this. It would be a good start to know how a social enterprise or a company works here.

Serendipity - ParticiPoll, my first working experience during my study.

I believe I said you previously, that I am the only immigrant (from India) at the time of joining, in the whole of United Kingdom to get an internship at a start-up to lead something without a CV or Cover Letter! I just spoke to the director of the company I wanted to get an internship from, just a single talk, one phone call to him and a single email to my department, and everything got sorted so quickly. Another must read if you are interested.

Useful places to visit in Leicester and nearby cities.

Last but not the least. How good is it, when you have travelled all the way from your home country to another country and you don’t get to see all the best things it has to offer? This article is another compilation of nice places to visit in Leicester, and the nearby cities, grouped into different categories such as Health & Well Being, (Free) Food & Apparels, Information Technology, what phone to use, etc.

That’s the summary of this master meta article (if you know what I mean) and let’s get going from here. Pen down your comments for sure to have a look at what you can do if you are here, and also break the myth that you can get a job in the United Kingdom, if you are not from here and you would like to experience the awesomeness of the United Kingdom, feel free to apply for the university soon.