How did you decide which Uni to attend?
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Re: How did you decide which Uni to attend?It sounds like you may be a bit overwhelmed with choosing a Uni. I know I was as well, but I decided to stay closer to home so I could keep a job and have extra income while studying. Looking back I do not know if that was the best decision.
Do you feel the adverts you have seen on this website are effective?
(Original post by txo)
I haven't chosen yet, but I'm going to close my eyes and run my finger down a list and randomly stop and then go to whichever uni I land on.
I guess most universities in England don't really "sell" themselves to you, it's actually the other way around. Students often go out there and research everything they want to know about the institutions or order prospectuses from the uni's site or go to open days. The only adverts I've seen for universities has been on this website. -
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Re: How did you decide which Uni to attend?Which of the factors you based your decision on do you consider most important? Or were they equally as important in your decision making process?
(Original post by shezshez)
Yeah Uni's are pretty poor at recruiting people here, Without the prestige of places like Oxford and Cambridge, people research themselves and find a place that just feels right for them.
I chose mine based on the facilities it had to offer, the things i'd heard from current students and the fact that it was far enough away from home that I'd have independence but close enough that if i ever wanted to come home for the weekend it wasn't going to be a nightmare. -
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Re: How did you decide which Uni to attend?Would you say location was the most important to you? What was the maximum distance you would have traveled? And how far do you commute now?
Thanks for your response!
(Original post by SpicyStrawberry)
I was never 'recruited' by a specific uni when the time came to apply, I just looked up which local universities did my course and went to open days to find out more and get a feel for the way they run things. I love the place I chose and am glad I go there! -
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Re: How did you decide which Uni to attend?Interesting. In your opinion what is the most effective method Unis are using to give you the info you needed to make a decision? the open days, HE/Career Fairs, Prospectuses, Radio ads, or FB ads. What could they have done to make your decision process easier?
(Original post by aspirinpharmacist)
Basically what the others have said. I looked up which universities did the course I wanted to do, ordered some prospectuses, went to open days. My school had a HE/careers fair every couple of years and that always had people from various uni's there, but only the Scottish universities were there so you had to do a bit more searching if you wanted to go to Wales or England or something like I did. Although now I'm hearing a few more adverts for uni's on the radio and on facebook and things. So after the open days I paced my living room a lot trying to decide which ones I liked best, and then applied to those universities. When I got an offer from UEA I dragged my family down to Norwich so I could check out the city and I made up my mind a week or so later.
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Re: How did you decide which Uni to attend?No I was joking about picking randomly. I still have a year to decide but I guess I'll make sure it's somewhere I really want to go.(Original post by myamane)
It sounds like you may be a bit overwhelmed with choosing a Uni. I know I was as well, but I decided to stay closer to home so I could keep a job and have extra income while studying. Looking back I do not know if that was the best decision.
Do you feel the adverts you have seen on this website are effective?
Yeah I think the adverts on this website are effective, I mean it is a student forum after all! -
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Re: How did you decide which Uni to attend?How do they advertise when there's clearing places to shift?
(Original post by Joinedup)
Don't complain about seeing no adverts for unis... You'll see plenty when the results are out and there's clearing places to shift
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Re: How did you decide which Uni to attend?I haven't tried that site yet. Thanks for the suggestion.
Is the complete university guide a reliable site? Who monitors the content and accuracy of information? It worrisome being so far away that the information I am getting is incorrect.
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Re: How did you decide which Uni to attend?I've just made a list of all the unis that offer my course (not many
), then ranked them according to the entrance requirements. Then crossed off those in London (i hate cities) and other places I don't like/ have things like high crime rates (more cities ). Then ordered prospectuses from the remaining few on the list, looked at the course structures and crossed off a few more, went to a couple of open days. I should have started looking earlier however, as I haven't been to all the open days I wanted to and the rest are when I'm away or after the deadline for submitting my 5 choices to UCAS So I'm going to have to randomly pick my 5th choice with only the prospectuses for a guide.
I'm selecting a few universities at my predicted grades, and two at just below and a lot below my predicted grades so if everything goes wrong and I fail I could still get in somewhere
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Re: How did you decide which Uni to attend?Is that the Brian Heaps one? I used that to research grades + an idea of rankings. Personally I think it's better to look at the university's websites and prospectuses/ ring them up if you have any questions relating to the course or accommodation or anything(Original post by myamane)
I haven't tried that site yet. Thanks for the suggestion. Is the complete university guide a reliable site? Who monitors the content and accuracy of information? It worrisome being so far away that the information I am getting is incorrect.
Be wary when looking at any kind of league table - they rank universities on all kinds of things, so look at the individual scores of the things you think are most important such as student satisfaction or graduate employment. And look at the league tables for your particular subject/ subject area - one university may be brilliant for sciences but not for languages or something. -
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Re: How did you decide which Uni to attend?Awesome. I appreciate it.
(I'm googling Brian Heaps right now, not sure what or who that is
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(Original post by dragonkeeper999)
Is that the Brian Heaps one? I used that to research grades + an idea of rankings. Personally I think it's better to look at the university's websites and prospectuses/ ring them up if you have any questions relating to the course or accommodation or anything
Be wary when looking at any kind of league table - they rank universities on all kinds of things, so look at the individual scores of the things you think are most important such as student satisfaction or graduate employment. And look at the league tables for your particular subject/ subject area - one university may be brilliant for sciences but not for languages or something. -
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Re: How did you decide which Uni to attend?hi, we have a very centralised admission system really, all the examination companies publish A level results on the same day and there's a rush of people who've done worse than predicted trying to get a place somewhere... Basically there's a large number of people all having to make a decision at exactly the same time. The unis book tv advertising slots in advance to encourage people to pick their course... They also step up web advertising and radio in this period.(Original post by myamane)
How do they advertise when there's clearing places to shift?
There's a unistats website which has the government statistics on uni courses as well. -
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Re: How did you decide which Uni to attend?How many years in advance would you say most students start researching different Unis to attend?
(Original post by txo)
No I was joking about picking randomly. I still have a year to decide but I guess I'll make sure it's somewhere I really want to go.
Yeah I think the adverts on this website are effective, I mean it is a student forum after all! -
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Re: How did you decide which Uni to attend?Wow, that's a lot of pressure for students there. Thanks for explaining.
(Original post by Joinedup)
hi, we have a very centralised admission system really, all the examination companies publish A level results on the same day and there's a rush of people who've done worse than predicted trying to get a place somewhere... Basically there's a large number of people all having to make a decision at exactly the same time. The unis book tv advertising slots in advance to encourage people to pick their course... They also step up web advertising and radio in this period.
There's a unistats website which has the government statistics on uni courses as well. -
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Re: How did you decide which Uni to attend?The thing with facebook ads is that lots of people ignore it because they think they're "worse" uni's, and that they're advertising because they need to justify themselves. But I'd say the prospectuses gave me an idea of which uni's I wanted to visit, and then the open days helped me choose which one I wanted to go to.(Original post by myamane)
Interesting. In your opinion what is the most effective method Unis are using to give you the info you needed to make a decision? the open days, HE/Career Fairs, Prospectuses, Radio ads, or FB ads. What could they have done to make your decision process easier? -
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Re: How did you decide which Uni to attend?Location wasn't the most important factor for me, but I knew right from the start that I didn't want to be very close to home. I'm not sure what the maximum distance I would have travelled would have been, I looked more at the ease of trains between home and the uni. I looked at and liked York a lot (over 200 miles away from home), although I'm now travel 135 miles between home and uni. It's far enough away from home, but it's close enough when I want to go home for the weekend or when my parents to come up (well, they complain about the distance for a day, but still).(Original post by myamane)
Would you say location was the most important to you? What was the maximum distance you would have traveled? And how far do you commute now? -
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Re: How did you decide which Uni to attend?Location was important to me because I wanted to stay at home, I applied to universities in Manchester and Sheffield as they are within commutable distance from my house (I'd say 1-1.5 hours each way was fine). I currently commute just over 20 miles which takes about an hour from leaving my front door to getting into class so it's really not that bad(Original post by myamane)
Would you say location was the most important to you? What was the maximum distance you would have traveled? And how far do you commute now?
Thanks for your response!
), then ranked them according to the entrance requirements. Then crossed off those in London (i hate cities) and other places I don't like/ have things like high crime rates (more cities 
)
