What is Birmingham like for student life?

I live too far away to visit very often, only been there twice and hardly saw much of the city itself. What is the city like? My sister says that its a horrible place to live from what she has heard but I thought it had improved in the last couple of years.

Reply 1

corax

Birmingham is by no means a horrible city to live in. The University itself and most of the accommodation is situated in one of the most affluent areas (Edgbaston) which is really nice. In terms of student life, it has a lot to offer like most cities as you can imagine. The University isn't situated far from the city centre (10 minutes by train, a bit longer by bus) so it's easy to pop into.

As with any city there will be rough parts but thankfully the University isn't in one of them.

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University of Birmingham

Birmingham

Reply 2

lightbulbflash

I have just graduated there and can say that I loved the city so much. The student area is a short train journey away from the centre and it has a FAB community there. There are so many societies to join, nights out every night and lots of places to eat and drink. It also has a lot of nice places to explore like Lickey Hills.

Reply 3

somemightsay888

As soon as you step a single foot outside the city center the visual degradation is alarming. It's like going from New York to Baghdad. For student life it's OK, it's not amazing but there are some good places to go as long as you remain in the center. I hate the place and can't wait to get away next year, but people have different opinions, some love it.

Reply 4

corax

Original post by somemightsay888

Edgbaston is hardly Baghdad

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Reply 5

username1114381

Well it may not be the prettiest place in the whole wide world but it's easily one of the coolest UK cities to study in, and you'd have to be a bit of a dweeb to be turned off by the 'visual degradation' of it. Other than that it's a prestigious uni and in a fun place, so it's win-win really.

Reply 6

zzldn

Original post by somemightsay888

I don't know how you can compare Edgbaston to Baghdad? The campus at UOB is probably one of the nicest campuses out of the midland unis, other than Notts. Selly Oak (the place you'll most likely live in your second/third year) can look and seem slightly rough.. But by no means is it Baghdad loool.

The city itself is lively and very modern, bullring/broad street .. plenty of shops along with plenty of nightclubs/bars.

Reply 7

3kicksatthedoor

Ignore the Baghdad comment. As with all cities, there are some poorer/rougher areas but you've no need to go anywhere near the crap parts.

The Vale or Pritchatts Park or the modern privately owned student accomodation are all in nice areas. Edgbaston (where the uni is) and Harborne are 2 of the most affluent areas of the city and the campus is lovely - check out the unis Instagram account.

You'll most likely live in Selly Oak after first year. It is adjacent to the south gate of campus so really quick and easy to walk to. Perhaps the stacks of takeaways degrade the image of Bristol Road a little, but Selly Oak is okay. It has 2 Tescos, 2 Sainsbury's, Aldi, a retail park etc and its own railway station which connects Uni (if you cba to walk) and the city centre. Frequency is 6 trains per hour from Selly Oak and 8 trains per hour from Uni to/from New Street which is less than 10 mins away. You could walk it straight along Bristol Road if you really wanted or little over a 5 min drive outside of peak hours.

There's plenty to do in and around Birmingham whether it be nightlife, shopping, sport etc - everybody I know loves it.

Reply 8

Numan786

Original post by somemightsay888

That is true for places like small heath, Aston, Bordsley green, Alum rock etc but then there are some good places like Solihull, Selly Oak, Edgbaston, Sutton etc

Original post by corax