The Student Room Group

Choosing what university to pick!

Hey guys! I gotta cut down my choices to my firm and insurance choice and I'm not quite sure on which one to pick, i've narrowed down my choices to Sheffield Bristol and Cardiff, but I don't know which one to make my firm and insurance:s-smilie: if you guys have any info about these universities that can help me out it will be much appreciated :smile:
Reply 1
Hi, it really depends what degree you are going to study. I chose Sheffield because it widely known for languages and thats what I am going to study. Have you been to any of these institutions? What was your overall impression ?
Reply 2
Based purely on prestige then the obvious answer would be Bristol, but it does depend on the course as well :smile:
Reply 3
Theres no point picking an insurance which needs higher grades than your firm, so pick one with the lowest offer for your insurance if possible :smile:
Reply 4
Well I've applied for economics and management and all my universities have thensame grade requirement I.e AAB
Reply 5
Original post by Girka
Hi, it really depends what degree you are going to study. I chose Sheffield because it widely known for languages and thats what I am going to study. Have you been to any of these institutions? What was your overall impression ?

I want to study economics and management! No I haven't bent to any of see institutions since I live outside the UK, but I'm impressed by the numerous amounts of clubs and societies offered by Sheffield and also financially it works out I lil nitncheaper in Sheffield than Bristol
Reply 6
Original post by katehelena
Theres no point picking an insurance which needs higher grades than your firm, so pick one with the lowest offer for your insurance if possible :smile:


See, all my universities require the same grade requirement which is quite odd because I was hoping for cardiff to have a lower requirement than the rest!
Reply 7
Original post by kezzida
Based purely on prestige then the obvious answer would be Bristol, but it does depend on the course as well :smile:


Is Bristol highly recognized in terms of employment?
Reply 8
Original post by hash23
Is Bristol highly recognized in terms of employment?


For Economics, Bristol>Sheffield>Cardiff.

Same in terms of prestige and/or reputation.

All in all, they are all good set of universities so it's down to you and I hope you make the right decision :smile:
Reply 9
Original post by hash23
Well I've applied for economics and management and all my universities have thensame grade requirement I.e AAB


You got quite lucky with your offer from Bristol for economics as the general offer is A*AA (I study at Bristol and from my friends who study economics most got the latter offer)

Bristol has a strong economics department and is generally seen as the next choice down after Warwick/UCL economics.

How are your Maths skills? Bristol economics is a very mathematical course which would put you in good stead for more quantitative jobs/ applying for a Phd/Masters.

One of the main problems with Economics degree's is the varying standard of Maths taught in them. An example of this is Durham which is generally seen as equal if not slightly more prestigious than Bristol, however their Economics course lacks the mathematical rigour of Bristol's thus if you tried for a Masters/Phd you might struggle with the Maths content.

Trying to be as unbiased as possible I would have to conclude that Bristol has the stronger economics department over Sheffield/Cardiff. However I wouldn't choose Bristol over the other two universities on this factor alone.

I see you haven't been able to visit the cities which is a shame as Bristol is a lovely city, however quite a bit more expensive than Sheffield.
If you have no way of visiting the uni's I would look at the course modules and see which you prefer remembering Bristol is quite Maths heavy.

In regards to whether Bristol is highly recognised in terms of employment, yes it is. I don't want to cite league tables but Bristol was around 35 as far as I can remember in the world in terms employability. (Take this with a pinch of salt)

It's not targeted by IB as much Oxbridge/UCL/Warwick/LSE/Imperial etc... however you would probably have an easier time breaking into the sector with a degree from Bristol than the other two universities.
I'm really stuck! I want to study Music and German, and it's between Southampton and Bristol. The offers are the same, where do I go???
Reply 11
Original post by Phil1541
You got quite lucky with your offer from Bristol for economics as the general offer is A*AA (I study at Bristol and from my friends who study economics most got the latter offer)

Bristol has a strong economics department and is generally seen as the next choice down after Warwick/UCL economics.

How are your Maths skills? Bristol economics is a very mathematical course which would put you in good stead for more quantitative jobs/ applying for a Phd/Masters.

One of the main problems with Economics degree's is the varying standard of Maths taught in them. An example of this is Durham which is generally seen as equal if not slightly more prestigious than Bristol, however their Economics course lacks the mathematical rigour of Bristol's thus if you tried for a Masters/Phd you might struggle with the Maths content.

Trying to be as unbiased as possible I would have to conclude that Bristol has the stronger economics department over Sheffield/Cardiff. However I wouldn't choose Bristol over the other two universities on this factor alone.

I see you haven't been able to visit the cities which is a shame as Bristol is a lovely city, however quite a bit more expensive than Sheffield.
If you have no way of visiting the uni's I would look at the course modules and see which you prefer remembering Bristol is quite Maths heavy.

In regards to whether Bristol is highly recognised in terms of employment, yes it is. I don't want to cite league tables but Bristol was around 35 as far as I can remember in the world in terms employability. (Take this with a pinch of salt)

It's not targeted by IB as much Oxbridge/UCL/Warwick/LSE/Imperial etc... however you would probably have an easier time breaking into the sector with a degree from Bristol than the other two universities.


your information is going to help me a big deal :smile: since you're in bristol, please tell me a bit about the city, student life outside studying (in terms of partying, how the people are, the clubs and societies offered by the uni etc) ,the accomodation recommended to stay in for self-catered? also, you said that Bristol can be a bit more expensive than Sheffield so maybe you can give me the average living expenses in Bristol annually?
my maths is quite strong, the course modules in Bristol and Sheffield are quite similar so the information on the Bristol course being more math orianted will help me a great deal!!
Reply 12
Original post by longtallemm
I'm really stuck! I want to study Music and German, and it's between Southampton and Bristol. The offers are the same, where do I go???


music and german is an interesting combo :smile:
do you want to pick one of em? if not then you can put one as firm and the other as insurance?
Reply 13
Original post by hash23
your information is going to help me a big deal :smile: since you're in bristol, please tell me a bit about the city, student life outside studying (in terms of partying, how the people are, the clubs and societies offered by the uni etc) ,the accomodation recommended to stay in for self-catered? also, you said that Bristol can be a bit more expensive than Sheffield so maybe you can give me the average living expenses in Bristol annually?
my maths is quite strong, the course modules in Bristol and Sheffield are quite similar so the information on the Bristol course being more math orianted will help me a great deal!!


The night life in Bristol is one of the best in the country especially if you enjoy the DnB and Dubstep scene.
You've got a massive mix of clubs from cheap student places such as Bunker, Lizard lounge and Ponana to massive nights out in Motion and Lakota which go until 6am.
Although Sheffield is a lot cheaper than Bristol it is still possible to do a night out on only £10/£15 providing you pre-drink heavily before hand or buy drinks in your student bar.

There's generally a lot going on around halls especially if you're in Stoke bishop halls where the majority of students are, you could easily find people to go out with every night if you wanted to.

There's a huge range of societies offered by the university but being in Stoke bishop can be annoying as you're a good 30 min walk from the union. (If you really want to be close to the union then you can apply to a Clifton hall which are generally a bit smaller but are a lot closer to the university.

Living expenses are cheaper than London by far still, however rent (non halls) is generally anywhere between £280-£400 per month depending on how nice he flat/house is an proximity to the university.

If money is an issue I would highly recommend University Hall which is the cheapest hall being around £3300 for the year I think. The rooms and kitchens are quite small but the social side is brilliant and people there are generally pretty down to earth :smile:
I'd highly recommend not applying for an en suite as it's really not worth it... I used shared bathrooms and I've only once out of my 2 terms at university had to wait for the shower.

I chose Badock hall for my first year accommodation which I would recommend if you're looking for a catered hall. Badock generally puts on a lot of events throughout the year and has the best bar in stoke bishop, however it is expensive (due to being catered) £5300 a year.

Bristol does have a high private to state school ratio (higher than most universities and definitely higher than Sheffield or Cardiff) Saying that I came from a state school and have found it perfectly fine.

You do get some people who have lived such different lives to you that you may find it hard to relate to them, but in general most people are lovely and the private state school differences are easily manageable.

I'd say the one thing I found slightly annoying was a lot of students came from the same school (generally a posh private school) thus already knew each other, which meant they weren't as friendly during freshers. However they were on the whole a minority and to be honest the large majority of people were fine fine :smile:
(edited 11 years ago)

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