Queen Margaret University

What's it like as a place to live? The campus is located just outside Edinburgh. Its only about 4 years old, so the whole place is still quite new and very modern. Edinburgh's an amazing city to be a student in, so QM's pretty ideal with its campus community and everything Edinburgh has to offer right on our doorstep. It's only about 6 minutes on the train from campus into the city centre!

How's the student accommodation? The student accommodation is all on campus, 2 minutes walk from the main university building. It's co-owned by the university and private contractors. You will find cheaper accommodation in town but, for ease of use and location, it's a pretty good deal – everything's included and the uni is rolling out free wifi across all accommodation buildings.

What's the student population like? The student population is really quite diverse. We're a really small Scottish university with only about 5000 students, but we have students from all over the world and every walk of life. It's a pretty diverse bunch but because we're so small there's quite a nice community feel.

How do students and locals get on? Because there are 4 universities and 3 colleges in Edinburgh, it's a pretty student-orientated city and the locals are very student friendly. Our immediate locals in Musselburgh are still getting used to having a university in their midst, but are happy to have us because of the benefits we've brought to the town

What's it like as a place to study? Because it's a new, modern university they really focused on student study space in the design. It was built to encourage socialisation and communal studying, but there's plenty of space for people to go if they prefer to study in silence. There's a ridiculous number of computer terminals located pretty much on every flat surface with sofas and chairs dotted about the place for you to sit and read or study in.

What are the teaching staff like? The teaching staff are quite good – the only downside of the campus design is that all the teaching staff are in a staff-only area of the building, so you need to make appointments rather than just drop in for a chat. It's not necessarily a bad thing though as it means you can arrange to meet them in a more comfortable area rather than having to go and sit in some scary office.

What are student societies like? Being a small university, we don't have the same wealth of societies as some of our bigger neighbours, but we try to cater for everyone and it's relatively straightforward to start your own societies if you can get enough people interested. Our sports teams have been doing really well on a national level and our societies are gathering pace.

What's a typical night out? Like any student city, Edinburgh is littered with bars and clubs to fit any budget. There are more glamorous bars and clubs to go for cocktails, sweaty rock clubs to go and bang your head in or chilled, independent bars to go and hang out with friends over a beer. There's plenty to do other than drink though, Edinburgh's got masses of things going on all the time, being the festival city

And how much does it cost? It really depends on your budget and taste. You can do it on the cheap or push the boat out. Most clubs will run student offers through the week so you can get in free − and water costs nothing!

How can you get home safely? Unfortunately if you're staying on campus the public transport stops quite early (before midnight). But a cab back out to campus shouldn't cost you more than £20 from the city centre, so between 4−5 of you that works out cheaper than a night bus anyway!

Is it an expensive place to live? It's really just up to how well you can budget. If you're going to go out and blow your entire loan on a massive weekend bender then you might struggle. But Edinburgh is well used to broke students, so even they are catered for.

Average price of a pint? £3.

And the price of a takeaway? £7 − but you can get it waaay cheaper if you know where to look (pop in to the SU for advice).

What's the part-time work situation? Students are struggling across the whole length of Britain to get part-time work and Edinburgh is no different. Having said that, if you're ambitious and are willing to put yourself out there, you'll find something. Other than working for the SU or the university, you'll have to travel a little bit from campus, but there are big shopping centres nearby and the city is really close by public transport so it's still very do-able.

What's the best feature about the place? The size – you don't get lost in the crowd and we've got a nice community feel.

And the worst? It can sometimes feel like we're a little bit out of the way in Musselburgh – we are surrounded by fields, but you quickly learn that you get to enjoy the full Edinburgh experience as well as the campus life style.

And to sum it all up? QMU's small, but we've got big ideas and would love to have you join us!

Check out www.qmusu.org.uk.