Birmingham or Newcastle for Law?

The idea that a university is more prestigious because you had to sit the LNAT is fallacious, in my view. I think Birmingham do it because they know it connotes prestige, so piggyback on the prestige of other universities. They take in below-average LNAT scores, so they do not really have a reason to have people sit them.

In my opinion, I prefer Newcastle's standing and I think it is slightly better than Birmingham. With regard to the buildings and teaching quality, I cannot speak.

Personally I would go with Birmingham as they are a very established university with good academic staff and many opportunities for you to speak to law firms who visit and hold open days. The holdsworth club (law society) is top notch and is well worth joining because of the opportunities they provide. I also think whilst the city might not be as nightlife centric as Newcastle, it has a decent nightlife and you can go to broad street and other places. In my opinion Newcastle is so far removed from the rest of the country it will be harder to visit family and just generally be A pain when needing to travel to the midlands/south of the country. Whilst it isn't a main reason to disregard Newcastle, I think the logistics side of things in addition to birmighams superior academic reputation warrants it as a first choice, especially if you felt at home their!

Ps I may have some bias in my judgement due to firming Birmingham for law for 2015 entry! Good luck in deciding and I'm sure you will be successful and happy wherever you end up

This was helpful, thank you - might see you in September!

No problem yeah, if you decide to firm let us know haha! I firmed Birmingham with Sheffield as my insurance

I shall do, it seems like I will be and I'm from Sheffield if you have any questions?

Nice one how did you find the applicant visit day? I will ask you if I need any more help, thanks thing is I really have my heart set in Birmingham, I loved the campus and the law school seems really good and well connected. Really want to start already

It was great, thanks! Yeah, I'm happy to answer questions about nightlife etc! And me too, I feel the exact same way. Where are you living - have you applied to halls yet?

On a scale of 1-10 how would you rate the nightlife lol? I have applied to the vale, Shackleton to be precise? hbu? (If you have)

Well I've never had a night out elsewhere unfortunately, so this won't be a valid score but I'd say 8/10 loads of great bars and a good number of nightclubs all in the city center, decent prices too, great atmosphere - there's definitely something to suit everyone! And nice, I haven't applied yet but I'm going self-catered, shared bathrooms I think!

Thanks for the info it's quite helpful! I've never been out elsewhere either apart from where I live but I would probably rate it about a 6/10 as it is a small town with about 3 nightclubs but the amount of pubs is good lol.

I also applied for I think it was Victoria halls as one of my choices I don't mind sharing a bathroom or living there whatsoever but I quite liked the look of the vale and heard it's quite sociable so that would be my ideal choice. It's so expensive at Birmingham though!

Ah no problem - if you want to know more about general life here just ask and Sheffield definitely has more clubs than that so it'll be a whole new experience (as will Birmingham!)

Sounds great and I agree with the expense issue! I was comparing it to Newcastle and I was fairly shocked, but it doesn't seem to be putting me off

Yeah that's what I'm looking forward to about uni (in addition to the course, of course!) which is experiencing a whole new lifestyle and getting out of my comfort zone really! And same because I know I will enjoy the 3 years there, the railway station is pretty awesome on campus too lol

I couldn't agree more! Can just get a railcard and be home in 2 hours straight from campus and vice versa - it's brilliant! I love the nightclub on campus too, I think it's great!

I'm thinking of Maple Bank for accommodation - simple and cheap because my debts will be big enough already, haha!

That's spot on really! I mean it's so central and well connected to the rest of the country and only about 30 minutes from home. Is that the one thy transforms from like a pub/restaurant thing into the club? That's pretty cool haha, and yeah maple bank was my third choice I think, I would also be happy there

I would pick Birmingham over Newcastle if I were you, although I might be slightly biassed too because chances are I'm going to firm Birmingham for Law.