Leicester!!!

I have a PhD offer for Leicester and loved the department, but I'm worried I'm not keen on the city. It didn't give me the greatest of impressions as we were driving by the city centre.
I would have loved to have stayed and researched the actual place a bit better.
What can anyone tell me / show me to persuade me it's a great place like everyone says it is?

Edit: my other option is pretty much to take a year out and formulate a plan to get more offers next year..

Reply 1

QI Elf

I graduated last summer from Leicester so have lived there for three years.

Whilst in comparison to Durham, Leicester certainly can seem a little grey and 1960s-ish, I really enjoyed my time there and personally considered going back for my masters (but have decided to stay at home and go to Nottingham Uni).

What aspects of the city did you not really like? Maybe I'd be better placed to help you if I knew what some of your concerns were.

Why not go back for a day or two and try and get a bit more of an idea as to what its like? The area round the university and where lots of students and lecturers live (Clarendon Park) is, in my opinion, really lovely.

University of Leicester

Leicester

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Reply 2

TheRandomer

Thanks for replying. Unfortunately I wouldn't have time to go back until after my final exams (beginning of June) and they need to fill the place in the next few weeks. I just didn't know what I thought of the actual city centre, it seemed like there was a lot of pound shop type places, just rows of things like that, apart from the mall there didn't seem to be many 'normal' high street shops in the centre. Or any definite centre to the centre.. if you know what I mean. I didn't get to get out of the car though, because it was rush hour and I know a lot of it is pedestrian only. :frown:

Original post by QI Elf

Reply 3

QI Elf

Original post by TheRandomer

Ok, I think the problem may have been the fact that just driving through, you wouldn't see the main centre of the city. The actual centre is very pedestrianized where all the 'normal' shops such as Boots, WHSmiths, cafes eg Costa etc, Waterstones. There are also 'The Lanes' which have a lot of independant shops which are pretty nice.

I'm not trying to say Leicester is up there with the likes of Paris and London etc, but its fairly typical of other cities of a similar size etc.

I'll try and post some pics later- I'm off out in a sec and have to get ready.

Reply 4

TheRandomer

Original post by QI Elf

Did you find those photos yet, please?
it would be really so so helpful!

Reply 5

snailie

Hi, just wanted to add my tuppence into the mix. I grew up just outside Leicester (quite a while ago now) and can confirm that most of it is pedestrian access only. I believe that a big shopping mall has been added onto what was the Shires (which was a fairly big centre even ten years ago). There's a mix of pubs and clubs, all of which are much the same as those you'd find in Reading, Sheffield or anywhere else. One of my friends did stay on to read medicine there and thought highly of the campus. The OP is quite right in terms of the Clarence Park area being a pretty area. Buses/train access if pretty good and you can walk to town from the uni which, in my opinion, is a good thing.

To be honest, it's fairly typical of any city centre (not immensely pretty like Oxford/Cambridge) but certainly not offensive.

Not sure what your subject is but if the department is good and you were impressed by the potential sup then maybe you could accept the offer, go to visit the town once your exams are over and if you still don't think much of it then just change your mind. That won't apply if they want an immediate deposit, of course... IMHO the potential supervisor and rating of the department in your subject area would be the deciding factor.

Reply 6

QI Elf

Original post by TheRandomer

Did you find those photos yet, please?
it would be really so so helpful!

I don't personally have any of my own photos but looking through the internet, these are pretty much the main shopping areas/ city centre streets.

Leicester 1.png

Hope this helps.

Reply 7

The University of Leicester

Hi there,

It's a shame you didn't get chance to see a bit of what Leicester has to offer. Here's just a little bit of information about the city, I hope it's useful :smile:

12% of the population of Leicester are students so there's always a lot happening. The Highcross is at the heart of Leicester's shopping. There's a flagship John Lewis, Boots, Debenhams, Topshop (plus all the usual high street stores) and lots of quirky independent shops on Leicester Lanes. We've also got Europe's largest covered market and a Cinema De Lux right in the city centre.

There's lots of bars/pubs/clubs in the city centre. Closer to campus there's London Road and Queens Road; both of which have a good selection of bars and cafes.

The city has lots more to offer in the way of entertainment. De Montfort Hall attracts big names in comedy and music and The Curve and The Phoenix are great for shows and productions. Leicester also hosts the music festival 'Summer Sundae' (which actually takes place on Victoria Park, right next to the University).

This obviously isn't everything at Leicester has to offer, but just a few things you might like to do some more research into.

Hope that's helpful,

Vic (Online Communications Officer)