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Hi, my name's Yvonne Ambow. I'm studying my final year
in Real Estate Management at Kingston University.
What attracted me to the course was that it is RICS
accredited, so it means you're already on the way to
becoming a chartered surveyor once you've completed
your degree. You just do the two years’ experience for the
APC. Also I attended the open day and I got a really good
vibe about Kingston University – there's a lot of
opportunities there to take advantage of; they've got
excellent links with employers; also what really attracted
me to the course was the year out placement
that you can also do if you so wish. I've just finished my year
placement at the Valuation Office and it's been a fantastic
learning curve for me – everything that I've learnt over the
past few years at my course, I've actually been able to put
in perspective and actually do. I'm assessing commercial
ratable values, I've been meeting some fantastic people,
agents, doing many write ups, valuations, going from large
office buildings in the city right down to your smallest tiny
shop in Liverpool Street Station so it's been fantastic.
There's so many opportunities at Kingston University.
I actually was nominated for the Excel Built Environment
Student of the Year Award which I actually won. I was
quite surprised but it was absolutely great to be
recognised for my achievements that I had done over the
past few years and also I think it was in recognition of my
efforts and my determination throughout the course as well.
Kingston's a great place – if you work hard, you can do
really well. I get on very well with the lecturers there. My
advice to someone who wants to go to Kingston is be
willing to work hard – it is a challenging course, but
there's a great social vibe at Kingston as well,
the lecturers are really supportive and I didn't know much
about surveying at the start, but I've learnt so much
through it all. The best bit about the course are the
projects – it's a very practical course, it's not just academic
in the lecture room. Our last project was actually in Dublin
which I absolutely loved. You get to go out and meet
industry professionals. We went at a really interesting time –
it was the recession – we saw how development was affecting the
developers out in Dublin and it was great, working as a
group and meeting other students on the surveying course
as well. So there's an integration with building surveyors,
quantity surveyors and the planning people. We kind of
understand the different roles that they play in surveying.
I would definitely like to give some advice to potential
Kingston students, which is make sure that you do make the most
of your opportunities that are on offer to you. Being
in my final year, I'm currently applying for graduate schemes and
one thing that makes you stand out is work experience.
So if you can get a summer placement, it's a perfect
opportunity and, alongside a year placement, it makes you
very marketable; and employers really are looking for
people that will stand out and have that passion to work
in the industry.