Do less prestigious Universities offer less of a social experience?
Do less prestigious Universities offer less of a social experience then more prestigious unis?
So would the social atmosphere at say Loughborough or Bath be more vivid and out going then the social atmosphere at Oxford or Cambridge. Im not suggesting anything, its just will i by going to say York or Bristol be missing out on a half decent social life, partying etc then if i went to Bath or Lough. Obviously the course comes first but im not going just for the course. With me its more 60% course, 20% sport, 20% social.
So would the social atmosphere at say Loughborough or Bath be more vivid and out going then the social atmosphere at Oxford or Cambridge. Im not suggesting anything, its just will i by going to say York or Bristol be missing out on a half decent social life, partying etc then if i went to Bath or Lough. Obviously the course comes first but im not going just for the course. With me its more 60% course, 20% sport, 20% social.
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Obviously depends where you are. I'm at Warwick and the night life is terrible to be honest. The campus has the artistic grace of Hitler's bunker after a nuclear strike has hit it, Coventry is a dive and Leamington is a farce to get to if you don't already live off campus there.
In general, it's not the prestige of the university, but the size of the town. Liverpool, Manchester and Newcastle will have bigger night-life scenes than smaller towns/cities like York, Oxford and Cambridge.
However, the nightlife will be good wherever you go. Every university has plenty of students who want to go out partying/clubbing/drinking as well as daytime socialising and sports. Don't make your decision based on the fact that Cambridge only has 4 nightclubs, whereas Liverpool has 40.
However, the nightlife will be good wherever you go. Every university has plenty of students who want to go out partying/clubbing/drinking as well as daytime socialising and sports. Don't make your decision based on the fact that Cambridge only has 4 nightclubs, whereas Liverpool has 40.
Original post by OedipusTheKing
Obviously depends where you are. I'm at Warwick and the night life is terrible to be honest. The campus has the artistic grace of Hitler's bunker after a nuclear strike has hit it, Coventry is a dive and Leamington is a farce to get to if you don't already live off campus there.
Warwick's an exception because it's in the middle of nowhere.
Seems to me like you've got your question the wrong way round.
Original post by PythianLegume
Warwick's an exception because it's in the middle of nowhere.
Indeed
Original post by OedipusTheKing
Obviously depends where you are. I'm at Warwick and the night life is terrible to be honest. The campus has the artistic grace of Hitler's bunker after a nuclear strike has hit it, Coventry is a dive and Leamington is a farce to get to if you don't already live off campus there.
Warwick is such a fantastic university situated in such a run-down area.
Original post by PythianLegume
Cambridge only has 4 nightclubs...
You are kidding?!
Original post by Americanism
You are kidding?!
I'm fairly sure there's only 4. But bear in mind it's a small town. And those are 'nightclubs' - there are obviously pubs and bars too.
Original post by OedipusTheKing
Indeed
I lived in Coventry before moving to Uni... don't you just go to Birms for a night out? Colly is great on a monday in cov, and smack is good in leam. I'll admit Jak's is a ****hole though and Scholars is just too small.
Original post by Folks
I lived in Coventry before moving to Uni... don't you just go to Birms for a night out? Colly is great on a monday in cov, and smack is good in leam. I'll admit Jak's is a ****hole though and Scholars is just too small.
That's a bit pretentious.
Not at all. I'm studying for a FdSc in Garden and Landscape Design at Reaseheath College; not much of a University. But the "social experience" here is strong. I've never heard such a claim that prestigious = better social experience... This is not what -makes- a University.
Original post by M. de Barthe
Not at all. I'm studying for a FdSc in Garden and Landscape Design at Reaseheath College; not much of a University. But the "social experience" here is strong. I've never heard such a claim that prestigious = better social experience... This is not what -makes- a University.
That's very true. With a few exceptions, it seems to be a general rule that as you go down league tables the emphasis placed on the social experience increases. That's probably why bad universities that boast a fantastic nightlife tend to attract the idiots who only go to university to party and avoid adult responsibilities.
(edited 10 years ago)
Original post by Americanism
That's very true. With a few exceptions, it seems to be a general rule that as you go down league tables the emphasis placed on the social experience increases. That's probably why bad universities that boast a fantastic nightlife tend to attract the idiots who only go to university to party and avoid adult responsibilities.
I'm glad to be somewhere that, although being a 'bad University', is an excellent Agricultural College. As yes, I agree that the social experience increases in importance for the 'lesser' Universities. But then, -you- make the social experience, not the University.
Not really. Factors that affect it include
- size of the town it's located in. A uni doesn't support nightlife to quite the extent you might imagine, so a sizeabe population of locals is needed too. Hence, the likes of Loughborough only have on nightclub + their union. In smaller towns, the SU is far more important than it is in cities like Bristol and Manchester.
- size of the uni itself. You need a good size student population to form a good variety of societies, and there almost seems to be something of a critical mass effect. Otherwise, you can end up like Liverpool Hope (7,800 students, and only 12 sports on offer, two of which are football varieties, plus 28 societies... which isn't very many)
- size of the town it's located in. A uni doesn't support nightlife to quite the extent you might imagine, so a sizeabe population of locals is needed too. Hence, the likes of Loughborough only have on nightclub + their union. In smaller towns, the SU is far more important than it is in cities like Bristol and Manchester.
- size of the uni itself. You need a good size student population to form a good variety of societies, and there almost seems to be something of a critical mass effect. Otherwise, you can end up like Liverpool Hope (7,800 students, and only 12 sports on offer, two of which are football varieties, plus 28 societies... which isn't very many)
Original post by joe1545
Do less prestigious Universities offer less of a social experience then more prestigious unis?
So would the social atmosphere at say Loughborough or Bath be more vivid and out going then the social atmosphere at Oxford or Cambridge. Im not suggesting anything, its just will i by going to say York or Bristol be missing out on a half decent social life, partying etc then if i went to Bath or Lough. Obviously the course comes first but im not going just for the course. With me its more 60% course, 20% sport, 20% social.
So would the social atmosphere at say Loughborough or Bath be more vivid and out going then the social atmosphere at Oxford or Cambridge. Im not suggesting anything, its just will i by going to say York or Bristol be missing out on a half decent social life, partying etc then if i went to Bath or Lough. Obviously the course comes first but im not going just for the course. With me its more 60% course, 20% sport, 20% social.
The things that will affect the social life will be whether it's a campus or city. Whether its a place famous for it's social scene eg UEA and Warwick have strong SUs that often book big artists or if you're naturally on the tour circuit for artists. You'll not notice much difference between the places you've mentioned but if you went to somewhere where most people commute to uni, there will be less uni people around in the evenings and less of a vivid social scene.
A bit odd to select Loughborough and Bath as they've both got very strong reputations academically...
In most cases it's to do with being in a city. Loughborough and Bath definitely benefit from being the best sports universities, but if you've ever been to either you'd see that they're not fantastic for social experience in terms of a town. They're quite different in that the only good thing in Loughborough is the university, so the town caters to students a lot.
But yeah, pick any university in London and the social experience won't be too different. Obviously some of the best and worst universities in the country are in and around London!
In most cases it's to do with being in a city. Loughborough and Bath definitely benefit from being the best sports universities, but if you've ever been to either you'd see that they're not fantastic for social experience in terms of a town. They're quite different in that the only good thing in Loughborough is the university, so the town caters to students a lot.
But yeah, pick any university in London and the social experience won't be too different. Obviously some of the best and worst universities in the country are in and around London!
(edited 10 years ago)
Original post by joe1545
Note I did get it the wrong way round, its do less prestigious unis offer more of a social life
You should be able to go back and edit your first post & the thread title by clicking on the 'edit' button on your first post.
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