Daniel Ambler

From a young age, I have always had a passion for property. At first, I developed my residential knowledge from helping out with family property developments. However, I wanted to support this with academic theory, and studying BSc (Hons) Real Estate at the Royal Agricultural University, enabled me to do so. The course combined residential and commercial theory, which appealed to me and assisted me to build a firm foundation for my career in the property industry.

In addition, the RAU is a well known university to the major firms in the property industry – the University delivers an engaging environment for students to learn in and prepares us with the life skills we will need after graduation. The curriculum was interesting, and lecturers always taught their subject theory as if we were in practice. This was brilliant as it meant that wherever possible we would go out on site visits and have guest speakers who were in professional practice. The greatest benefit of this was that we have been prepared for practice – I hope that when I start my job in September it will not be as daunting!

I would definitely say that the RAU has prepared me for my career.

I have secured myself a place on the Valuation Office Agency graduate scheme, based in their Bristol office, where I will be a Non-Domestic Graduate Surveyor. This scheme enables me to obtain my APC (Assessment of Professional Competence) to become a Chartered Surveyor. A long-term aspiration of mine is to eventually start up my own property development firm.

Graduating with a First Class degree, and an award for the ‘Best Dissertation’ on the course, I would definitely say that the RAU has prepared me for my career. You do not just attain a degree when you graduate from the RAU, you gain many contacts and friends for life.