Stay or go? What would you do?

You are in an almost identical situation to me, but I have already emailed Warwick and Bristol and they told me they don't accept 2nd year transfers (despite me having AAAB at A level!) - although it may vary from course to course, I suppose - good luck though and go for it!

Thanks!!! It was Philosophy and I'm currently at Sussex which I thought I'd love as Brighton is such a cool place, but everyone at uni seems to be on a totally different wavelength to me. I like to go out and drink, but that's all most people seem to do here! I just feel like I don't fit in.
I am in the process of deciding who else to approach, but Warwick was my number one choice and as both they and Bristol said no, I'm feeling a little despondent about emailing other 'top' unis.

Sounds like you have good reasons to transfer but do beware because no how good the uni there will be people who do loads of work and people who do nothing. So maybe check your not just jumping out of the frying pan into the fire

Does the workload vary massively between unis, does anyone know? Between a good-ish and an very good/excellent uni?

Yup, same uni, same situation - this is EXACTLY how I feel. Like I'm just not in the right place, and that is all they seem to do. (As I said in my first post!) Yeah, I feel like everyone else is on a totally different wavelength as well. I know a couple of other people who feel the same, I guess we all just expected more. Brighton is amazing, one of the main reasons I chose Sussex too. I'll miss that if I go. Though it turns out fantastic location does not necessarily make for a fantastic university experience.

I think you should keep on trying - at least email some other unis you're interested in and see what they say, there's no harm in trying. Or maybe phone, you get a quicker response that way. Some said to me that whether they accept transfers depends not just on your grades but also on whether the course content of the first year matches their first year course content enough for you to be able to progress to the 2nd year of their degree course, maybe that's partly why they said no? But yeah if I were you, don't get disheartened yet. Make a list of a few others you'd like to go to and give them a ring, can't hurt to try. With your grades I would have thought you'd get into one of the top ones quite easily.

Sussex is my dream uni Is it really that bad?
Off topic, you're doing a year abroad, are you doing american studies by any chance?

From people I've spoken to work load is similar in all places. May be worth seeing if you can contact anyone doing your course at a different uni- friends of friends etc and seeing what they think. Then you may also be able to find out about the work ethic.

I know a couple of people who have transferred, both had offers from two universities one to restart year one and one to transfer to year 2. In both cases the "better" university, more prestigious higher up league tables or whatever, offered place but restarting and other uni offered transfer to year 2. Both went into the second year, one loves it the other one wasn't terribly keen but finished the degree and now has a good job, £75k per annum so doing OK. I guess you have to take a chance, nothing is certain. They were/are happy they moved as both hated their original university, didn't really make friends and found it a disappointing experience.

If you get an offer why not ask students at that uni what they can tell you? You would probably get some good advice on studentroom for the universities you have mentioned. Good luck.

Thanks everyone for their advice so far! Keep it coming, if anyone else has anything to add. Will rep for the best advice but I think I can only do one a day.

Has anyone had any experience of transferring into 2nd year and having to make new friends?

Also, is it true that it's a lot harder to get good grades at a better university? Maybe I'm worrying for no reason!

Thanks for the advice Always good to hear anyone else's experiences. I guess my only worry is the fact that I don't HATE the uni I'm at, there are good things about it, I'm just quite disappointed with it and with various aspects, and it's not really at all what I imagined it would be like. It's just whether or not they're strong enough reasons/big enough disappointments to take the risk of transferring.