What should I be researching for Uni? (2016 entry)

Hi all, I'll be starting the application process for university in September and have already started looking at uni choices and courses etc. However, I don't know what I should be looking at when making the decision of whether or not to apply to a particular uni.

Are there any current year 12 students researching this kind of thing?
Are there any other students who can tell me what they looked at when applying to unis?

Please could you detail where you are potentially looking at applying and for what course as well.

I'm considering applying to Southampton, Manchester, Bristol and Surrey for Aerospace Engineering and Physics and Astrophysics at Leeds.

Thanks in advance.

Reply 1

GABates

8

Original post by mikaela_pascal

Hi all, I'll be starting the application process for university in September and have already started looking at uni choices and courses etc. However, I don't know what I should be looking at when making the decision of whether or not to apply to a particular uni.

Are there any current year 12 students researching this kind of thing?
Are there any other students who can tell me what they looked at when applying to unis?

Please could you detail where you are potentially looking at applying and for what course as well.

I'm considering applying to Southampton, Manchester, Bristol and Surrey for Aerospace Engineering and Physics and Astrophysics at Leeds.

Thanks in advance.

Open days are the best way to get a feel for both the university and the course from a student perspective. If you want to learn more from your own home though I'd recommend looking at the breakdown for each of the courses you're thinking of studying - seeing if the modules actually match what you want to be studying for the next few years of your life. Hope this helps!

Reply 2

mikaela_pascal

OP

3

Original post by PTHumphreys

Open days are the best way to get a feel for both the university and the course from a student perspective. If you want to learn more from your own home though I'd recommend looking at the breakdown for each of the courses you're thinking of studying - seeing if the modules actually match what you want to be studying for the next few years of your life. Hope this helps!

Hi, thanks for replying. What I actually meant was how can I research living cost, etc etc.

Any advice regarding this would be great, thanks.

Reply 3

Blue101010

4

I'm a year 12 (going into year 13) student researching unis too!

What you want to be looking at depends on what's important to you.
A couple of things I'd suggest looking at are:

-The quality/prestige of the University: You can look this up on league tables and university ranking sites, they don't all say the same things but attending one that's fairly high ranked has all sorts of benefits for employment etc.

-Courses: Make sure to look up all the modules included in your course, you might like the look of the university, but if the course modules at that uni are boring then you might find it less enjoyable and possibly more difficult.

-Requirements: Make sure you meet all the requirements for your courses. For example, some courses require you to have certain GCSEs and they don't always make this too obvious so sometimes it can be easy to miss!

-Accommodation: You're going to be spending the next four years at the place, so you want to make sure it's somewhere nice! One of the best ways to check whether or not you'll like the accommodation is to attend open days.

-Location: Whereabouts do you want to go? Location can make or break a university, with some universities being in the center of city life and others being in quaint countryside villages.

Reply 4

Kevin De Bruyne

21

Original post by mikaela_pascal

Hi, thanks for replying. What I actually meant was how can I research living cost, etc etc.

Any advice regarding this would be great, thanks.

I'm not sure whether Bath is particularly more organised / more helpful than other universities, but they have a page for their university here.

Perhaps those universities have similar pages.

Reply 5

oswalds

14

I use Unistats a lot, and also Complete University Guide. Personally I like to have a table in a word document where I compare the things that matter to me. I have stuff like the entry requirements, rankings, living costs, student satisfaction, contact hours, distance and how much it will cost me to travel there by train etc.

Reply 6

mikaela_pascal

OP

3

Original post by oswalds

I use Unistats a lot, and also Complete University Guide. Personally I like to have a table in a word document where I compare the things that matter to me. I have stuff like the entry requirements, rankings, living costs, student satisfaction, contact hours, distance and how much it will cost me to travel there by train etc.

Hey! What are you researching for living cost and how are you doing this?

Reply 7

oswalds

14

If you go on Unistats and bring up the page for the course you want to do at each university, you can click on 'Cost & Accomodation' along the top and it will bring up the average price for private accomodation in the area, and then the average cost of halls, for a year. Then for the rest, like essentials and travel, I've been looking on the websites of the universities and, I've also been looking at this. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/household-bills/11033327/The-cheapest-and-most-expensive-universities-for-living-costs.html

Reply 8

mikaela_pascal

OP

3

Original post by oswalds

If you go on Unistats and bring up the page for the course you want to do at each university, you can click on 'Cost & Accomodation' along the top and it will bring up the average price for private accomodation in the area, and then the average cost of halls, for a year. Then for the rest, like essentials and travel, I've been looking on the websites of the universities and, I've also been looking at this. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/household-bills/11033327/The-cheapest-and-most-expensive-universities-for-living-costs.html

Thanks so much!

Reply 9

Helloworld_95

19

I'd say go CUG > Unistats > Try and find people on the forum for the relevant university here who are on the course, preferably a second or third year, and see what their view of the course and student life in that city is.

Reply 10

German123

21

Maybe ask on here(on the uni forums) your queries etc for the specific unis.

Original post by mikaela_pascal

Hi all, I'll be starting the application process for university in September and have already started looking at uni choices and courses etc. However, I don't know what I should be looking at when making the decision of whether or not to apply to a particular uni.

Are there any current year 12 students researching this kind of thing?
Are there any other students who can tell me what they looked at when applying to unis?

Please could you detail where you are potentially looking at applying and for what course as well.

I'm considering applying to Southampton, Manchester, Bristol and Surrey for Aerospace Engineering and Physics and Astrophysics at Leeds.

Thanks in advance.

Hi

If you've got any questions about Surrey, we'd be happy to help! I used to study at the University so can tell you about life as a student here. What in particular would you like to know?

What should I be researching for Uni? (2016 entry)

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