Malaysian born Maria Temporal is about to graduate in English and Economics from New College of the Humanities. She reflects on her time at the College and tells us all about the 'personal touch' she's experienced at NCH. 

What made you choose the New College of Humanities?
When I had my A-level results I sat down with my headmaster and went through my options. I really wanted to be in the UK, preferably in London because there’s so much going on and to explore and I really liked the vibe of the city. He suggested New College of the Humanities and I didn’t know much about it because it was brand new at the time. He said go along to an open day so I looked it up on the website, went along and it was great.

I had a chat with some of the staff and then an interview with the founder, A.C. Grayling. I thought it was just going to be an informal chat but then quickly realised it was an interview because he was asking me all these questions. It was a bit terrifying, but he was very friendly and made it so relaxed and I walked out of there with an offer in my hand!

Maria valued the one-to-one tutoring sessions at NCH

Do you think the personal approach attracted you to NCH?
Definitely. I did apply to Oxford but I didn’t get to the interview stages. I see the value of having time for tutors to really get to understand you and explore your way of thinking and have a look at your intellectual potential rather than a few lectures filled with hundreds of students and no personal approach. There’s only a small number of us so the attention can be spread among us all and obviously that’s not possible at other places. 

What would you say to students that think NCH is too modern?
I’m comparing wanting to go to Oxford at first and now going to NCH. Everything is progressing and if you don’t keep up with it you’re going to be left behind. NCH is just so fresh. Everything about it from the students, to everything being so new. There’s only around 150-250 students around in the whole place and it sort of gently forces you to make friends but not in a negative way at all. Everyone has a really friendly approach because everyone knows you’ve got to make friends fast, particularly in a place like London. From there it’s then spread out. It’s just a much nicer way of fitting into London which can be very daunting in the first place. 

London can be daunting, but Maria says NCH helped her settle in

What’s your long-term plans for the future?
I’m graduating in September, so I’ve just finished and I’m currently applying to SME companies and I plan to stay in London. It’s where all the best jobs are. NCH has been very helpful on careers advice. They’ll send regular emails saying come have a chat, if you need to brush up on your CV I’m here, that kind of thing. NCH is obviously pretty well connected, they know lots of people in the industry, you can even get an internship if you’re lucky. NCH also have a professional development programme called LAUNCH alongside your diploma and degree studies. You learn things like even basics, how to write a formal letter to a client all the way up to finance concepts and learning how to do a basic spreadsheet and work out your finances. We get some fantastic talks about body language. It’s a variety of things and it’s really helpful and it’s what NCH provides and I’m pretty sure not many other colleges do. 

New College of the Humanities, London

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