I chose to study at Warwick as I wanted to study at one of the top universities in my subject, and the flexibility of the course at Warwick was a huge factor. I wanted to take part in a year abroad, and study other subjects alongside my degree, and Warwick allowed and encouraged that.

Maths was always going to be my subject; it was my best subject at school and the subject I most enjoyed. I wasn’t particularly career-minded, just loved doing maths for the sake of maths!

Population dynamics was a module I did in my third year and was the first time I had been exposed to maths with real world applications. I really enjoyed seeing how techniques I had been using in a real situation. I enjoyed this module enough that I would go on to do a PhD in this topic!

Maths was by far my favourite subject, so studying it at university was a natural choice. I wanted a university which had a fast pace, a broad range of choices, and offered the flexibility to either stay in academia or transition into industry. Warwick excels at all of these, so was my top choice.

I developed good communication skills during Warwick in Africa when I taught Maths (and Italian and ballet!) to classes of up to 50 children in Ghana. Likewise, talking about my independent projects in oral assessments in front of lecturers and course mates developed my communication skills and my ability to throw myself into something I found daunting.

Mathematics was the only subject I enjoyed in school and found that calculus and probability really interested me because of how we could understand and explain real world phenomena. This motivated me to delve deeper into what maths has to offer, along with how it's applied!

During both my MSc and PhD at Warwick, I had several opportunities to communicate research to a range of audiences - some academics, some domain experts from industrial partners, some other students. This is something I am glad I started practicing early, as when I then moved into industry, I was already equipped to talk about science in a range of different ways depending on who the audience was, and what was most relevant to them.

Whilst the second-year essay and final year project were good opportunities to hone my communication skills, I found working on weekly assignments with other students equally helpful. Knowing a solution isn't the same as being able to explain it or teach someone!

From never running a long-distance race in his life to becoming New York’s fastest runner in his age group, David Hill (BSc Mathematics, 1978) garnered a brand-new hobby that he didn't expect to excel at. All thanks to a catch up meeting and drink with a fellow Warwick alum and friend, Piers.