Aakriti Mathur

Email Aakriti: aakriti-link@leeds.ac.uk

Hi there! I am Aakriti Mathur from Mumbai, India. To give you a little background about me, I was brought up in Delhi and then moved to Mumbai after finishing school.

Since then, I have been interested in psychology and how people interact with each other. After graduation, I decided to expand my knowledge into the world of psychology and enrolled myself for a Masters degree in Applied Psychology at Amity University, Noida.

After completing my degree, I worked at an employee engagement firm in Mumbai where I worked with a number of clients and did a variety of projects with them, including building their teams and improving employee engagement levels. It was during this time I realised I wanted to gain a deeper understanding of psychology in the context of work, since we are all most likely to spend maximum amount of our lives working, whether it is for ourselves or someone else.

I applied to the University of Leeds as I was impressed by the content variety of modules and the focus on practical application through modules like “Commercial and Professional Skills”.

I had heard about the fantastic student support and life within the city by Leeds alumni and family members who had been to the city and all of them had very positive experiences with the University as well as the city. This, along with the amount of support being offered to not just the current students but also prospective students impressed me further and cemented my decision to apply here.  

After joining the University, I can see why all of them had such positive experiences – I’ve had the most wonderful experiences in this city and with the University. It’s been roughly six months since I moved to Leeds now and I am still constantly blown away by the number of activities that keep happening around the campus.

The Leeds University Union is one of the most active and ensures all of us feel part of a community in some way or another. It offers more than 300 societies and clubs, and they range from academic to leisure to science fiction to so many others, that I might run out of space to write about them. I am part of around five societies myself and have found them to be really useful. They keep organising events that not only help build skills, but also socialise with people from all over the world. 

Apart from the non-academic things, I am very happy about the diversity of my classmates, where I get to interact with people from different countries and even continents. It truly enriches the learning experience by adding valuable perspectives and experiences. There are opportunities to work with each other on group projects and assignments which has personally helped me find friends in these people.

Another aspect that I like is that the course content and structure are based on current world events and the assignments/ projects encourage us to think about whatever we are learning from practical and application-based perspectives.  

Being a student friendly city, Leeds has everything and more to ensure a comfortable living. Coming from India, food spices and taste are of utmost priority and was a huge concern for me before moving here but I was very pleasantly surprised to see the amount of Indian food, be it take-out, ready-to-cook, or raw ingredients. This has helped me feel right at home where I can cook in the same style as at home, without any major inconveniences. Even procuring these special ingredients hasn’t been a problem since most of the things are readily available at major shops at quite affordable prices.  

I currently stay at St Mark’s residences, which is one of the more popular choices among postgraduate-level students. It has a great location and is only a seven-minute walk from the Business School and just a two-minute walk from the Engineering School.

It consists of 500+ rooms and has great amenities such as an in-house laundry and ensuite bathrooms. The common area has games like table-tennis, pool, life-size Jenga, etc, which I really love as it helps me wind down after a long day and enjoy time with my friends. The common area also has basic gym equipment such as a treadmill and cross-trainer.

I also love the fact that, as University accommodation residents, we have a free membership of the fitness centre called The Edge. It is also right beside the famous Woodhouse Moor Park, which is a great place to go out for a walk or run or have a picnic with friends.

All of these factors are an added bonus to be living at this University accommodation, making my life here at Leeds truly enjoyable and enriching, in a holistic sense.