The Student Room Group
Freshers Week, University of Bath
University of Bath
Bath

Bath or Bristol ?

Hi everyone !
I'm an international student who might go study in the UK next year. But, since i live abroad I have difficulties when it comes to choose between unis I've received an offer from (Bath, Britsol, Durham, Lancaster and St Andrews).
My subject is Management and both Bath and Bristol seem to be very good. Therefore if you have any experience with those universities or opinion about them, please share.
Besides, if you think another one of those which offered me a place is better, feel free to comment. Any point of view really would be very much appreciated.
Thank you in advance :smile:
Reply 1
I had the same dilemma deciding between Bristol and Bath , i chose Bath , prefer the location and the graduate prospects are better at Bath , but i would suggest if possible visiting the universities if you really cant decide. That being said when you do choose, it makes very little difference , they're both great unis !
Freshers Week, University of Bath
University of Bath
Bath
Both are great unis and highly respected, although I don't know about management in particular. It depends what you would prefer from an experience perspective. I grew up in bath and it is beautiful however bristol is bigger and offers more diverse experiences and overall more eclectic feel. Obviously bristol is still on your doorstep if you chose bath but you would spend your time predominantly in Bath. Both are great cities but very different.

i believe bath scores considerably better on student experience so that should be taken in to consideration.
Reply 3
Original post by macyscar
I had the same dilemma deciding between Bristol and Bath , i chose Bath , prefer the location and the graduate prospects are better at Bath , but i would suggest if possible visiting the universities if you really cant decide. That being said when you do choose, it makes very little difference , they're both great unis !


Thank you for your reply :smile: Can I ask what subject you're doing at Bath ?
I'd like to visit them but i think i might be a little short on time, i have to answer by May 7th… Can you tell me what you like in particular there ? How is the environment like etc.

Theres also another thing, some of my friends from England told me Bristol was often perceived as more prestigious than Bath, do you feel it's true -being familar with both of them?
(edited 9 years ago)
Reply 4
Original post by Georgie_M
Both are great unis and highly respected, although I don't know about management in particular. It depends what you would prefer from an experience perspective. I grew up in bath and it is beautiful however bristol is bigger and offers more diverse experiences and overall more eclectic feel. Obviously bristol is still on your doorstep if you chose bath but you would spend your time predominantly in Bath. Both are great cities but very different.

i believe bath scores considerably better on student experience so that should be taken in to consideration.


Thank you for taking the time to answer me! Bath seems indeed to be a beautiful city but since its smaller do you think i might have trouble finding an accommodation in my second and third years ?
Besides, do you think i would get bord of it ?
Regarding the student experience i think youre totally right and i will take it undoubtedly into consideration :smile:
(edited 9 years ago)
Reply 5
Original post by glam17
Thank you for your reply :smile: Can I ask what subject you're doing at Bath ?
I'd like to visit them but i think i might be a little short on time, i have to answer by May 7th… Can you tell me what you like in particular there ? How is the environment like etc.

Theres also another thing, some of my friends from England told me Bristol was often perceived as more prestigious than Bath, do you feel it's true -being familiar with both of them?


My pleasure :smile: and childhood , youth and education studies , and i've been to quite a lot of places in the UK and bath has the best "feel". Its difficult to describe but i see it as a nicer version of london , very pretty , everyone seems friendly , very low crime rate , quite expensive however but that does have its benefits. In terms of the campus its all modern and similar to a village with just 19-23 years olds which seems great to me !

Bristol is prestigious for certain and has a better history than bath considering its a lot older , to say one university is more prestigious than another is difficult and not something employers will consider in my opinion. Outside of Cambridge and Oxford being the most prestigious and then Kings college , imperial college , London school of economics being the next bunch of prestigious universities , its difficult to separate the next 20 or so universities of which includes Bath and Bristol.

If you are really stuck consider the differences in your courses between Bath and Bristol

Hope that helped !
I'm from Bristol but currently go to Bath Uni.

I would say there's more to do in Bristol (however that's more likely due to it being the bigger city), and it has a better night life, though if you don't drink or like clubbing then that's pretty irrelevant.
Architecture wise, Bath is prettier.
Bath is a campus uni whilst Bristol is not. Before applying, I definitely preferred the idea of a campus university so that may be another factor for you to consider.
I would say Bristol has a more global prestige over Bath, but once again that's probably due to Bath being under 50 years old whilst Bristol is over 100. However, looking at UK rankings, Bath is definitely seems to be "better".
Bath has loads of student housing as there is a pretty big student community so I don't think it would be a problem finding accommodation (there are basically whole streets which are just students) I live just outside Bath (actually between Bath and Bristol) and have to say if I have to pick a city to go into I always pick Bath. Both have lots going on (Bath has loads of festivals and random events so I don't think you're likely to get bored of it) and it's hardly far into Bristol (maybe 30 mins by bus) if you want to do something there.
Hope you have a great time where ever you go! :biggrin:

Quick Reply