The Student Room Group

What are your reasons for going to university outside London.

Hey everyone, I am in my final year and still in preparation of applying to university.
I would to go to university of in a different city in England but my family are totally against this.
My reasons are:
1) I will not be travelling 2 hours everyday just to go to university.
2) I will be saving money on transport and food.
3) Is it extremely competitive to get into a university in London especially in you're doing a healthcare course.
4) There will be less house chores to do if I move away so I will have more time to study.

These are what I came up with but I would love to hear your reasons.

Please help.
Independence, you'll learn how to take care of yourself and not 100% depend on your parents. Which is an important skill in life. It's going to happen one day, if you can learn it earlier, all the better tbh.
I don't have a valid/logical reason, I just need a new scenery and I want the experience of living somewhere else for a while.
Im an international independent student. I applied for London, but prefer to go outside due to living costs:smile:
Reply 3
I don't live in London currently but I feel it is a lot more expensive to live especially for rent if you wanted to move out. I would like to move out of my family house for more independence and a different lifestyle living in a shared flat
My family wanted me to get this 'university life'.
Reply 5
London is so much more expensive to live in.

I'd assume you'd be commuting to uni if you went to one in London, but I personally feel that living on campus in halls for first year then getting a house with friends for second and third year is part of the whole experience.

I have friends that commute to the same university that I go to, and they even feel they've missed out on the whole experience as they haven't been able to go out as getting home would be an issue, and they haven't been able to do extra stuff like being a course rep, or joining a sports team as the timings of training would be awkward in relation to lectures and when they'd go home. And not that friends are the most important thing at uni, but they had a harder time making friends as I did as they simply weren't around as much as me. I made friends with the people I was in a building with, plus their friends as well because we all hung out together.

Not living at home was definitely a strange thing to be thrown into, but I am so much happier than if I were to live at home and commute.
I think London is an amazing city. But as I'm an international student, I will need to take out private loans to afford uni. If I were to spend three years in London, I would need a ton more money than I would elsewhere. If I ever live in London, I want a good job and the ability to live in a nice area.
Reply 7
To have a fresh start mainly. But to gain independence by living away from parents.
Anyway, my parents want to leave home to gain experience of having to deal with budgeting and managing stuff like rent, food etc.

The universities outside of London are really good for the course I want to do (Nursing) so that's the main reason basically :smile:
Mainly to gain independence from my parents and learning to look after myself, and learning how to fit doing everyday tasks like cooking meals, food shopping and doing laundry into a busy schedule, and although it was all a bit daunting at first, I like being independent and I know I could easily live on my own now. That and because the university I wanted to go to was too far away for me to live at home.

I'm not a Londoner (almost the opposite, I'm from Yorkshire :tongue:) but I didn't really consider any of the London unis purely because of how expensive living in London is. Also at many universities, you can find somewhere to live very close to your uni if you live out, but I've heard it's a struggle to do that in London and most people face quite a long commute on public transport. Yeah you get more money from Student Finance, but I don't think it's enough to cover the disparity in living costs between London and other places.
Reply 9
Original post by moment of truth
My family wanted me to get this 'university life'.


I wish my family was like yours. How's the whole experience by the way??
Reply 10
Original post by Youni-chan
Independence, you'll learn how to take care of yourself and not 100% depend on your parents. Which is an important skill in life. It's going to happen one day, if you can learn it earlier, all the better tbh.
I don't have a valid/logical reason, I just need a new scenery and I want the experience of living somewhere else for a while.


I totally agree with you. Thanks for sharing.
Reply 11
Original post by borysek01
Im an international independent student. I applied for London, but prefer to go outside due to living costs:smile:


You should go; you'd be better off that way.
Original post by Angel May
I wish my family was like yours. How's the whole experience by the way??


I don't really like it personally, but everyone is different :smile:
I live in London, it really isn't that much more expensive considering you'll get a high maintenance loan/grant.
If staying in London means you have to live at home though, there's no way I would do it :tongue: that's pretty much like being at school. If you're already living in London, I don't think the experience will be as exciting as it will for everyone else.
You don't have to use all your choices on London uni's so you shouldn't worry too much about competition especially if you're meeting the entry requirements.
Good luck choosing!
Reply 14
Original post by arson_fire
Living up north would be good practice in case you ever go to work in a developing country.

Seriously,

1) Broaden your horizons.
2) It`s far cheaper.

What about somewhere like Bath or Nottingham? Good unis, but still only a short train journey home.



Yeah I'm applying to Nottingham. Bath doesn't offer my chosen course.
the north of England is not like a developing country!!! Have you ever even left London?!!!
I'm not from London originally, but I avoided it the grounds that
A) it's really expensive - I could get an education that was as good / better elsewhere, without the expense
B) I'd visited for a few days about a year earlier, and rapidly came to the conclusion that London was far too big anyway (the irony being that 5 years on I'm moving there anyway, but that's by the by!)

I left home because I wanted the experience of living away from home and having independent, I could get a better education by moving away (didn't have the grades for the local Russell Group uni, so would have ended up at an ex-poly - by moving away I was able to get into Russell Group unis) and the course I chose had really interesting modules.

I wouldn't change my decision for the world.

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Original post by Angel May
Hey everyone, I am in my final year and still in preparation of applying to university.
I would to go to university of in a different city in England but my family are totally against this.
My reasons are:
1) I will not be travelling 2 hours everyday just to go to university.
2) I will be saving money on transport and food.
3) Is it extremely competitive to get into a university in London especially in you're doing a healthcare course.
4) There will be less house chores to do if I move away so I will have more time to study.

These are what I came up with but I would love to hear your reasons.

Please help.




London, Ah, A place where my student maintenance for the Autumn semester is used up on a cup of coffee and a bagel.

Also, got to love that awful, thick air rotting your lungs away.

Plus, a despicable hive of politicians. No thanks.

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