UCL V101 or Leeds V100

I wish I could say what you wanted. To be honest I think History is one of those subjects where the better the Uni, the better your job prospects and UCL is looked upon more favourably by employers than Leeds.

Having said that, doing History at A-Level has taught me that you will get absolutely destroyed by it if you don't enjoy it.

So, if you won't enjoy UCL's course at all I'd say go to Leeds, if there isn't much in it go to UCL

Haha most definitely, i'm really not too fond of the course at SSEES, I sort of applied without fully thinking about it. I know I'll move to London no matter what after graduation so it doesn't bother me if I don't go now, although it could help. I think I love the course at Leeds a lot more so I'm likely to do better, thankyou!

Im having huge difficulty with deciding where to go, either UCL (SSEES V101) or Leeds V100. The main concern with UCL is the course and cost. The course is Eastern European History and the offer is ABB, now the course doesn't look that appealing to me really, there's only a couple of things I like but I applied for its prestige and thought it could be a backdoor into UCL. Leeds has a much better course being V100, it's cheaper, good nightlife and I hate to mention it, but my girlfriend is going there (ive generally excluded her from my decision making, but it has a slight influence).

Either way, I keep thinking should I go for the worse course for the sake of the UCL BA History title, or do I go for the Leeds course as its more interesting and I'm likely to actually enjoy/do better at it. When it comes to employment will the difference in univerisites have such a big difference? One huge problem is that I'd like to end up in London, so the experience at UCL would be very handy. On the other hand, many new graduates flock to London and don't find it too hard to settle in and get a job (or so I hope... a lot easier said than done I know).


So those are all the pros and cons, I simply cannot decide at all..


Please TSR give me your words of wisdom and advice, thankyou!

If you don't want to do the course now you will not be wanting to do it any more in a few months time when you're due to start. UCL isn't everything - plenty of people reject their offer there every year to go elsewhere and plenty of people do fine. I am one of those people. I rejected my UCL offer, went to Edinburgh (where I loved) and got a good degree and I now live in London. Not attending university in London hasn't altered my graduate prospects or ability to get a job here at all. Most of my friends are now in London and we attended university all over the UK - a couple of people came to London for postgrad but none of us were here as undergrads. My friends have jobs in banking, law, government and finance that a lot of people on TSR aspire to have, put it that way.

As you've rightfully said you need to go to a university where you will really enjoy the course and do well in it. For example, if you really love the course at Leeds then you're much more likely to get a first than if you're doing a course you don't even like at this stage of the application cycle at UCL. This is what counts once you've graduated - if you have a strong degree (2:i or a first) from a good university (Leeds being one) then it'll get you on the consideration pile for jobs. That's it - you'll get a job as a consequence of the experiences you had as an undergraduate, whether that's volunteering, interships, relevant dissertation study etc. It won't be on the basis of the name of your university - I know a number of people with a first class degree from Cambridge who have yet to get a job after graduating and we finished university in 2010. If you wanted you could come to London for postgrad study after you've finished your undergrad; but again; you need to be doing it for the course and not for the name of the university.

At the end of the day you're going to be putting the best part of £50,000 into this degree. It has to be something that you actually want to do. If it isn't then it's likely you'll be one of the people we see on TSR come November/December time who are nearing the end of their first semester and are considering dropping out as they dislike their course. If you drop out you a) lose a year of student finance funding and b) it will cost you about £15,000 as you'll still have to pay tuition and accommodation costs.

In five or six years time when you're looking for a graduate job no one is going to care that you once rejected a UCL offer to go to another university. However, they will care if you have a poor degree as a consequence of starting a course you didn't like from the outset purely because you wanted the university name on your CV.

This is literal perfection thank you so much, you're completely right, I think you have made my decision! If you don't mind me asking, how did you find settling into London and what do you do now?

I was unaware of the essential nature of extra curricular activities at university to assist in job prospects. I guess it's similar to the personal statement, except for a CV! I'll try to make the utmost out of the opportunities Leeds can offer me. On their website they state that they offer paid internships, courses after university and outside work which all seems to very useful after graduation. Thankyou so much for your advice