Transfer: Brighton, Essex or Huddersfield?

I'm a second year at the University of Aberdeen, currently on my year abroad in Switzerland. I come from York and being here (Switzerland) has made me realise that when I get back to the UK, I either want to be close to home or far away in somewhere a bit more exciting than the 'deen. I will miss my friends etc, but it's recently hit me that it's not that great a uni and it's not a huge loss if I do move (in the way that it would arguably be a larger loss to move from say, UCL to Aberdeen...)

Before I start, I study linguistics.

I'm waiting for York to get back to me on UCAS and QMUL have requested more info on my modules which is promising, but I need some help with other options. Here are my reasons for these three choices:

Brighton
Far from home, but a lot more going on than in Aberdeen. Close to London. Being somewhere with such a thriving music scene would be great for me as that's something I really miss up in Aberdeen (I did music tech at A level and would love to get back into it). The modules look really interesting and the campus looks great too.

Huddersfield
Close to home. I went to an open day with my brother (he is looking into doing music) and ended up having a chat with the linguistics staff at their stand and they were SO NICE. Been emailing them since chatting about it all. Would be able to go home in 45 minutes rather than 7 hours.

Essex
Possibly more prestigious. Campus looks quite nice and course looks good (not as interesting as the others though). That's about it really.

Does anyone have an opinion on these unis? Or any suggestions of other linguistics/english language courses I should look at? Thanks

to be honest with you I am not sure Essex or brighton will be that much easier for you. travel if going by train it will be into kings cross then across London by underground then train out. if you want to get nearer home then Huddersfield would be easier but Aberdeen as a uni is more prestigious and on a par with Essex. you need to give this a great deal of though before deciding on a course of action

Thanks for replying

If you mean easier in terms of physically getting home then I'm aware of that, but it still takes a lot less time than the train from Aberdeen to York. It's direct but takes hours and hours.

If you mean emotionally easier, I don't find it unbearable to be away from my family or anything, as I say I'm currently in Switzerland and having the time of my life. It would be good to be a bit closer to SOMETHING though - sick of spending 2.5 hours on the train to get to Edinburgh or 3 to get to Glasgow. Last year I'd go to Manchester once a month to visit friends and sometimes a single journey would take 10 hours...

I have just checked national rail enquiries and the time York to Aberdeen is 5 and 1/2 hours brighton 4 hours so there isn't a great deal of difference. also eastern airways and flybe fly leeds/Bradford to Aberdeen in 1.5 hours. I know one of the brighton unis is miles out of brighton but I don't know which. I don't know which Essex campus you will be attending but Chelmsford is one of the deadest cities I haver ever been. I haven't been to Aberdeen. if you are looking for more life then either go to London or another big city like Newcastle Nottingham Manchester leeds or Birmingham. You need to give this further consideration and come to your decision

I have just checked national rail enquiries and the time York to Aberdeen is 5 and 1/2 hours brighton 4 hours so there isn't a great deal of difference. also eastern airways and flybe fly leeds/Bradford to Aberdeen in 1.5 hours. I know one of the brighton unis is miles out of brighton but I don't know which. I don't know which Essex campus you will be attending but Chelmsford is one of the deadest cities I haver ever been. I haven't been to Aberdeen. if you are looking for more life then either go to London or another big city like Newcastle Nottingham Manchester leeds or Birmingham. You need to give this further consideration and come to your decision

I can't help but feel as though I'd be happier four hours from home but closer to friends in London etc than miles away from everything except Aberdeen. I know the flights exist but they're normally so expensive that I only actually know one guy who flies from Aberdeen and even he only does it at Christmas and summer. I would be on the Colchester campus.

Nottingham don't do linguistics, I don't like Newcastle as a city or a uni (went to the open day when I was originally applying) and highly doubt Manchester would do a transfer as their English department is so oversubscribed in the first place.

I've actually been giving it consideration since halfway through my first year, which is a year ago now. I appreciate your opinion on the places but it's unfair to tell me I haven't given it consideration when the 5 unis mentioned on this post are the 5 I am most interested in after weighing up all my options, I was just asking for people's opinions on them


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Thanks for replying

If you mean easier in terms of physically getting home then I'm aware of that, but it still takes a lot less time than the train from Aberdeen to York. It's direct but takes hours and hours.

If you mean emotionally easier, I don't find it unbearable to be away from my family or anything, as I say I'm currently in Switzerland and having the time of my life. It would be good to be a bit closer to SOMETHING though - sick of spending 2.5 hours on the train to get to Edinburgh or 3 to get to Glasgow. Last year I'd go to Manchester once a month to visit friends and sometimes a single journey would take 10 hours...

University of Huddersfield seems like the best option. Its also probably the best out of the 3.

I think the problem is you need to be clear what is it that makes you unhappy at Aberdeen. is it because you feel isolated so far from home. is it you don't like the city because of the lack of life. is it you want to be closer to your friends. the answer will help you decide. if it is because of distance you need unis closer than Brighton and Essex. if it is lack of life then you need big city unis like Westminster Nottingham Trent and UWE. if it is to be nearer to your friends in Manchester look into Huddersfield or maybe Bangor or London then the likes of QMUL Westminster or perhaps Reading. this is what I meant by you haven't thought this through as there is no logical pattern to the unis you have chosen and you could end up no better in your new uni than Aberdeen

I suspect that you will have little to no choice about where to go. Transferring is not easy, and I doubt that many of the universities you are thinking about will have spaces available. You will have to match their entry requirements, the courses need to have compatible modules and also there needs to be a space available in the second year of the course. Be prepared for disappointment.

As an Aberdeen resident in my last year of secondary school - I agree with everything here. It gets boring very quickly.

That's why I'm heading down to Nottingham Uni- it's closer to London and has a lot of stuff going on.

Can't advise you on the university choices - good luck!

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Thanks for the heads up! I'm a second year and have a few friends who transferred from Aberdeen in first year so I have a rough idea of where is more likely etc (Aberdeen doesn't seem to be popular with the English with regards to sticking around!) A disappointing exception was my rejection from Leeds, I wasn't compatible whereas my friend who studies Geography was and actually cut a year off her studies by going from Aberdeen's first year into second year at Leeds. I'm really happy for her!

I contacted all of the universities I mentioned in this thread, and about 15 more, before asking on here to make sure I wasn't asking for no reason. I applied to Leeds, QMUL and York through UCAS before the deadline and QMUL have asked for my transcripts which shows that they at least have space. York are yet to get back to me but haven't rejected me yet so not giving up hope! The good thing about Swiss education is that you take LOADS of modules - I'm currently in 11 classes - which means it's less likely that I'll have missed something that they did in their first year. That's the advantage of transferring back into second year, when really I would be going into third year at Aberdeen.

Thanks for explaining what you meant. I see where you're coming from now!

The problem with linguistics is that not too many unis do it, in comparison to other subjects. That results in the choices of where you can go being fairly narrow and so that's why there doesn't seem to be a pattern in my choices.

Thanks for your suggestions, I've actually been looking into Nottingham Trent but have never been to Nottingham and am currently in Switzerland so it's a bit logistically difficult to go and have a look around.