How is hull uni really like?!!

Like all Universities, it is what you make of it. It depends what you are after, and what you are prepared to do to get it. The one thing that Hull does, is it allows you to be what you want to be. It is very accepting of all kinds of people and all kinds of tastes in both work and social life. I recommend you come and take a look and see for yourself.

Hi, I have got both offers from Hull and De Montfort.

I am tempted to go to Hull as it seems like the better university, however I am so used to city life, and moving out to Hull is very far away from where I live compared to De Montfort. Another point is that if I go to De Montfort I would be close enough to do my current job part time while at uni. But if I go to Hull I would have to start all over again, and Im scared I wont find a part time job as Hull seems like a smaller city/town.

I'm just worried that Hull, despite having a nice campus, is more isolating and lonely than De Montfort, which is a more city based uni?

Hull is a city, so I don't see what your first problem is.

The part-time job thing is a fair point. I'm at Hull currently but there aren't really that may jobs going for students. I guess it depends - do you need the money, or do you just want some extra cash?

Why would Hull be more isolating than De Montfort?

I went to open days at Hull and De Montfort, and I much preferred Hull. Have you been to any open days yet?

Damn ,

I need a way to save money when I go to uni because I have debts that I am paying off with installments (around £700 which I can pay off now, but I wouldn't be able to afford my rent, but I might be able to when I go to uni). On the other hand, people say rents in Hull are quite cheap? By the way what do you do if you don't find a part time job in terms of improving your cv and that (apart from volunteering)

Hull seems a lot nicer, and it has that classic university feel to it, and from what I've seen it's more reputable than De Montfort (don't know if that matters)
But I really don't know if it's worth it.

How did you find your time at Hull?
Was it worth it compared to your other uni choices?
Is finding a part time job really that hard in Hull, is there any agency work?
Is the university like 90% white people, no offense I'm just worried about feeling awkward not fitting in if I spend 5 years there ?

note: I can't go to any open days as my clearing offer deadlines are before the open day dates. All I can do is visit leicester and look around the uni and the city, it's too late/expensive for Hull as I have to work the day after.

What is the rent like in Hull? Affordable? Reasonable?

Yep, halls are more expensive but still quite cheap. This next year I'm paying £77.50/week all bills included.

That's brilliant is it not? Most people on here are talking about having to pay 90+ to live in their uni halls so to me, yours sounds like a dream!

What about the student life, is it good? Do people get along well, or do you just stick with people who do the same course as you?

What about the actual people who live in Hull in general? I've heard that Hullensians aren't exactly friendly people but I guess that is entirely subjective.

Rents in Hull are definitely cheap. Have you looked at any accommodation yet online yet? That should give you an idea of the money involved.

Hull is more reputable than De Montfort, but that doesn't necessarily mean anything - it depends what you want to do after you graduate, what course you're taking etc.

Well, I guess it's either find a part time job or find some voluntary work, I don't think there's any middle ground really.

I've really enjoyed my first year at Hull, and it was definitely the right choice.

I'm not sure about percentage of white people lol, unistats might include that figure?




Yep, halls are more expensive but still quite cheap. This next year I'm paying £77.50/week all bills included.

Sorry for not being clearer - that's the cost of my house this year; my halls last year were £120/week (though that was because I had an ensuite, there are cheaper halls available).

There were about 21 people in my halls; got along with pretty much everyone, though obviously gravitated towards some people more than others. The house I'm in this year is with 6 blockmates from last year.

Hmm, there are some sketchy areas of Hull, but it's the same with any city I guess. :P

We do have the option to live outside halls in 1st year right? Or would you not recommend it because we need to socialize with others on campus blah blah..?

Have you joined any societies? And is joining even worth it?

I'm so undecided I don't even know why I'm worrying when I'm not going this year haha

I will be doing mechanical engineering with foundation year at both unis.
Both courses are accredited, both offer sandwich years.
I have looked at some student reviews and both have their negatives and positives, but I am worried by a couple of really bad reviews I have seen of De Montfort, mostly complaints about lecturers basically not caring about teaching or the students

That's why I equated reputation with higher quality if I would choose Hull over De Montfort?

I looked at some private accommodation yesterday, the rents were cheap, but was not impressed because some of the bills were shared and the accommodation looked really ancient inside (well same as where I live really, gotta love those greedy landlords)

I've seen rents from about £55-90 as my cheap options. Leicester seems slightly more expensive though and I have not looked into it much yet, I thought I had to worry about accommodation after I accept an offer, but it's best to check now. As long as I can have around £1200 spare after rent each year I should be fine to be honest. I already have about £700 savings which I can pay off the debts with, but I'm not doing that now as it's mostly going into rent.

If you were in my position though, would you still move miles away for Hull and risk it if you could go to a uni that's more closer to your family and your job?

You're paying about £77 pw for halls?

I do not know about mechanical engineering and I do not know enough about De Montfort. What I do know though is that Hull gained its university status and royal charter in 1954 making it a young civic university where as De Monfort is an ex polytechnic gaining its university status in 1992 with the Further and Higher Education Act in 1992.

Generally, speaking even though 23 years have passed since polytechnics were upgraded to universities it will always be the case that a good proportion of people will look down on degrees that were awarded by ex-polytechnics. They are seen as less rigorous and especially in science subjects as less mathematical.

This is something to consider when you are choosing between De Monfort and Hull. It might be the case that in some league tables De Monfort is placed higher than Hull, which is arguably one of the weakest overall pre-1992 universities. No matter how far up the ex-poly is ranked it will always have the ex-poly label. I know that this may sound unfair but it is the truth according to my experience.

Finally, even today 23 years since the ex polys became universities if you did a simple ranking of research fund per student received you will see that the difference between ex polys and univerisities are still there. Even traditional universities which are usually low ranked in League Tables such as Salford and Hull rank higher on this basis than all ex polys

This was exactly what Iwas worried about, Hull seems so much more high quality and is actually a proper traditional university. So the teaching should be top notch. One thing that stood out to me though was that when I compared the engineering pictures between Hull and De Montfort, all engineering students at Hull wore safety goggles and overalls, while at DMU, people wore casual clothes and hardly any goggles at all?

I have some good news though, I am eligible for the maintenance grant, so I will receive about £7400 for uni this year, and at the same time my employment agency told me that I could get shifts (zero hours completely flexible) if I go to De Montfort and I won't have to take the train to Birmingham! .

So really the choice now is;
1:
*Go to De Montfort work in my current job and gain experience. in a very flexible job
*Try De Montfort for a year and see if it is worth staying at, if not then transfer to Hull next year after my foundation year. I have already emailed and asked about this, and they would consider it, but it would depend on if I would be suitable for it.
*Risk going to an ex-poly for my personal convenience of having my job and have the stigma work against me in the long run?
*Suffer from poor teaching if the university doesn't take itself seriously, I mean some of the reviews were shockingly bad but were for different courses? (I can give you a link if you want to)

2:
*Go to Hull, because it looks so nice and seems much more high quality and is a proper university
*Go to a completely different environment than I'm used to, Leicester will be similar to Birmingham, while Hull will be more like Liverpool. I might regret moving there, it's a big risk
*I will have to leave my job and go to Hull, I don't know if I will find a new job, but from what I've seen there aren't that many and I don't think they will be as flexible as my zero hours job


It seems I'm more geared towards going to DMU now because of this, but I got a feeling off loss because Hull seems so wonderful and the reputation is better.

One question I have though is how much it really is true that there is stigma towards ex-polys? I have only witnessed it once, but most people say that it doesn't matter, especially for engineering where all that matters is accreditation?

I mean from what I have seen there was an engineer who studied at De Montfort and now works at Rolls Royce (he did a masters though), but I don't know how this translates to the wider amount of students to be honest?

It is difficult for me to answer this since I did not study engineering (I studied economics and statistics). I initially went to an ex-poly and after one year I understood that I was wasting my time. I had to re-sit some exams and then I was accepted in a prestigious old university. This I believe made a massive difference for my future career.

So based on this I would say forget De Monfort and go to Hull which is a traditional university (albeit one of the lower ranked traditional universities). I strongly do believe that 23 years after ex-polys gained university status the bias still exist and employers will generally shun ex-poly degrees. But it might be the case specifically for engineering which is a hard science subject that the difference is indeed smaller.

But I am sure without knowing much about engineering that if you compare the De Monfort course with the Hull engineering course, the first will be weaker in mathematics and programming (such as C++ or Java), which are skills vital to engineers. Even if both courses are accredited this is something that your employer will know.

Now as for the case with the engineer that studied at De Monfort as you correctly pointed out he had a Masters and is only one data point. A valid statistic would be the percentage of people that work in Rolls Royce that have studied in an ex-poly and a traditional university and their average salary. That would be an interesting statistic.

This was exactly what Iwas worried about, Hull seems so much more high quality and is actually a proper traditional university. So the teaching should be top notch. One thing that stood out to me though was that when I compared the engineering pictures between Hull and De Montfort, all engineering students at Hull wore safety goggles and overalls, while at DMU, people wore casual clothes and hardly any goggles at all?

I have some good news though, I am eligible for the maintenance grant, so I will receive about £7400 for uni this year, and at the same time my employment agency told me that I could get shifts (zero hours completely flexible) if I go to De Montfort and I won't have to take the train to Birmingham! .

So really the choice now is;
1:
*Go to De Montfort work in my current job and gain experience. in a very flexible job
*Try De Montfort for a year and see if it is worth staying at, if not then transfer to Hull next year after my foundation year. I have already emailed and asked about this, and they would consider it, but it would depend on if I would be suitable for it.
*Risk going to an ex-poly for my personal convenience of having my job and have the stigma work against me in the long run?
*Suffer from poor teaching if the university doesn't take itself seriously, I mean some of the reviews were shockingly bad but were for different courses? (I can give you a link if you want to)

2:
*Go to Hull, because it looks so nice and seems much more high quality and is a proper university
*Go to a completely different environment than I'm used to, Leicester will be similar to Birmingham, while Hull will be more like Liverpool. I might regret moving there, it's a big risk
*I will have to leave my job and go to Hull, I don't know if I will find a new job, but from what I've seen there aren't that many and I don't think they will be as flexible as my zero hours job


It seems I'm more geared towards going to DMU now because of this, but I got a feeling off loss because Hull seems so wonderful and the reputation is better.

One question I have though is how much it really is true that there is stigma towards ex-polys? I have only witnessed it once, but most people say that it doesn't matter, especially for engineering where all that matters is accreditation?

I mean from what I have seen there was an engineer who studied at De Montfort and now works at Rolls Royce (he did a masters though), but I don't know how this translates to the wider amount of students to be honest?

I know of a person who attended an ex-poly (Northumbria) and is successfully working as an engineer within a reputable company. He also mentioned that many of his cohort went on to work within the engineering industry after graduation (many had jobs lined up well before), so I doubt the stigma of an ex-poly has much bearing on employment these days.

You mention accreditation but how important is it really? As far as I know, being accredited simply means you fulfil all of the academic requirements for becoming a chartered engineer. Without accreditation doesn't mean you can never become chartered or gain employment, but there would be additional steps (for chartership). Some companies stipulate that you must be willing to work towards chartered but generally I don't think that they would discriminate.