When I decided to take the leap of faith that is committing to a creative writing degree, I began my search the way any high achieving sixteen year old would—by Googling “best uk unis creative writing” and selecting the top five (which at the time were, if my memory serves me well, Warwick, UEA, Birmingham, Queen Mary, and Sussex.) However, where other schools only presented me with one option, UEA offered three: English Literature with Creative Writing, Creative Writing and English Literature, and American Literature with Creative Writing.  

Although I’ve always been an avid reader, it has long been a struggle for me to read books I wasn’t interested in. While I flew through Arthur Miller’s The Crucible and Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol and George Orwell’s 1984 were a slow and painful trudge. I found myself naturally drawn to the American books on my school’s literature curriculum, all of which had been published during or after the twentieth century, and this is why UEA stood out to me; I could choose a degree that guaranteed me absolutely no Dickens, no James Joyce, and no Chaucer. With an American literature degree, I believed I was signing up for a certain level of contemporaneity that no other literature degree could offer. Needless to say, I was not pleased when my first UEA module required me to read a journal from the 1630s.  

While Warwick was my number one choice for the majority of my UCAS application process, UEA quickly beat out the other schools for the second spot. Maybe this was because, other than Warwick, it was the only Open Day I had attended, or maybe it was because at the time, the Sainsbury Center being used in the Avengers movie was still a new and interesting fun fact. Mostly, though, this was because the admissions director had called my writing sample “poignant” and “sophisticated.” Not only was this a sign that my ego would survive the transition to uni, but it was also a touch of humanity that the other acceptances lacked. I had real, tangible proof that someone had read my writing, and had enjoyed it. 

But, in the end, what made me choose UEA as my firm choice was being selected for one of the University’s Undergraduate International Excellence scholarships. This scholarship, which covered three out of the four years of my selected course, nearly halved the price of my tuition. Where Warwick would have cost over £22000 per year as an international student, my UEA tuition was lowered to £10000, and the only condition to accept it was to make UEA my firm choice.  

Three and a half years after I made my decision, I have never regretted it for a second. The community I have built at UEA is one that I never could have anticipated, I have developed a true passion for media and American studies, I have gone to the pub with the academic who complimented my writing, and I have grown to love Norwich far more than I ever could have loved Coventry.

UEA may not have been love at first sight, it has become a true love nonetheless. 

Image Credit: Micah Petyt