Okay, so I have to start applying to University pretty much at the start of the next academic year and I was just wondering... how on earth do I choose which one's I'd like to go to???? Nearly every university I've looked at so far offers the course I want, accepts the grades are get, are all going to cost around the same amount. Any ideas on how I can narrow my list down? Any suggestions will be much appreciated, lol, thanks.
You may like to study somewhere that has nice architecture, picturesque, etc. so you may favour places like Durham or Cambridge,
You may want to go to the place that is one of the best for your course. (also read up on the course contents and see if there are any modules that particularly interest you)
You may want to rule out geographically, for being too near/too far from home.
Other things like sports facilities and societies you may be interested in could influence you.
The best thing to do would be to go to a few open days and take the opportunity to ask any questions and perhaps wander around the town/city and see if you can picture yourself spending 3 years there.
Are you eligible for bursaries and if so, which university offers the best bursary?
As little_green has said, you should go on open days and get a feel for the place, as well as checking which universities are the best for your course.
Have you looked at the module breakdowns for each course you've looked at so far, so that you know exactly what the course contains in each uni? They can differ hugely and it's always best to know in advance how much choice you get in picking your options, whether you can study units in other subjects and whether you can study abroad via ERASMUS (if the last two suggestions interest you, that is!).
That's what I looked at when trying to narrow down my options
Student support is also another thing to consider (and something often overlooked). What is the drop out rate of the university? Do they have a good disability service? This may not be applicable to you know but it's worth keeping in the back of your mind. You don't know what may be around the corner or you could have a medical condition or learning difficulty that is currently undiagnosed. By going to a university with good student support and a top rated disability service can make quite a difference.
I, of course, hope you do stay 100% fit and healthy (if you are at the moment )
Also, do you like the idea of a collegiate university such as Oxford, Cambridge or Durham. One where you are a member of college that has its own community and student support network to it?
1. Choose your course
2. Go through ucas and cross out the ones you really dont like for any reasons eg. not a nice place or whatever
3. Go through the ones left and see what points they want
That should slim the list down abit, then you have to read prospectus's and visit them.
Hmm...I think choosing 5 universities might be easier for me if I knew for sure what course I want to do....
When are they changing it to four choices. It was actually six in my day, then reduced to five and is soon to be reduced to four (which isn't enough in my opinion).
Having said that, even though I was able to apply for six, I did only apply to four. That's only because I knew I wanted to go to Durham
I think you should always chose a university based on two criteria: location and degree subject. I think both are equally important as you dont want to be studying your perfect degree course in a place that you dont want to be in; conversely you dont want to study something you dont want to be studying in your perfect location. If you have the grades, I would really consider Oxford. The Oxford experience is something that you will not find elsewhere (apart from maybe Cambridge ). Any questions about Oxford, fire them my way. Hope this helps
my cousin had the same problem, in the end she decided on her unis by writing each uni on a piece of paper in a grid, with headings of everything she wanted to know and do and put the info in.
like you might put in the cost, grades and all the stuff like that, then you might want to know what sports facilities they have, then oppotunities e.g if it is a language course, is their an oppotunity for work experience/study abroad?, then maybe other facilities e.g if it is a science course, do they have a state-of-the-art lab, or a basic lab? and the how much it'd cost to rent after her first year, what were the facilities outside of the campus and on, and how close everything was to each other e.g. would she need to take a bus to uni everyday or could she walk it? how long would it take her to get from the bank to the supermarket. how close the uni was from home, and how much it'd cost to go home on a weekend.
you might realise from this that there are some unis that you don't fancy that much afterall.
Whilst academic issues are really important, another key factor to me is that you are going to live there for at least three years - and that means that you need to feel comfortable there. What do you want out of the place you're going to live in for all that time. Key consideration.
I had a similar problem. But as soon as I visited one of the many options I knew exactly what I wanted. (Annoyingly it meant that I only liked one enough to actually go, so I have not insurance - but what the heck) When a lot of your options seem very similar on paper you really need to get a feel for the environment. Open days are pure aceness. In my case it was like buying a house - I'd decided whether I liked the place within 7 minutes and nothing could change my mind. All in all, you've got to be sure; you're commiting yourself to somewhere for years. Good Luck!
I do not know enough about Cambridge to make a completely unbiased judgement! I would say that Oxford has more to offer as a place in terms of things to do and see. It also has more students (with the inclusion of Brookes and lots of foreign language students) which leads to a broader and interesting nightlife. It also has the Union, which despite its irritating internal politics, offers something very unique to Oxford in its amazing public speakers (I have seen David Cameron, Jimmy Wales - founder of Wikipedia, and Yaron Brook in the past two weeks!. I have heard that Cambridge is prettier (but given that Oxford is stunningly beautiful) this is only a marginal advantage
I went on the UCAS website, and got the big list of universities. I crossed off any that didn't have a good reputation or were colleges. Then I crossed off anything that wasn't in the top 40. I also went through the league tables for the departments that I was interested in. Then I crossed off anything that was more than about 3 or 4 hours away from home. Then I started to consider the actual universities themselves - what there was to do, what societies there were, etc.
Everyone does it differently. A good starting point is looking at which universities offer courses for your predicted grades. There are tonnes of universities, you've just got to find ways to narrow down that list. Once you've done that, you can start visiting them to see which one you'd actually like to do your degree in. Everyone wants something different from their uni, so we can't really tell you how to go about choosing one.
I went on the UCAS website, and got the big list of universities. I crossed off any that didn't have a good reputation or were colleges. Then I crossed off anything that wasn't in the top 40. I also went through the league tables for the departments that I was interested in. Then I crossed off anything that was more than about 3 or 4 hours away from home. Then I started to consider the actual universities themselves - what there was to do, what societies there were, etc.
Not everything is down to reputation. Almost all universities have a good reputation for some courses. They all have their strengths and weakness'
Do you mean general reputation?
What do you mean by colleges? Colleges of higher education such as the Royal Agricultural College or Royal College of Music or colleges of further or higher education?
What do you mean by "top 40"? Top 40 for your course or top 40 generally? If top 40 generally then that isn't a great way to go about it, as there can be a few that aren't in the top 40 nationally but still for are for your course. Plus there are still some good universities outside the top 40 you know, they aren't all crap.
I may be at one of the allegeldly "elite" universities but if I found a university outside the top 40 that offered the right course for me I would't disregard it simply because it wasn't a top ranking university.
I'm not saying that a university's reputation is the be all and end all of everything. That was just the starting point of things. Call me snobby, but I wanted to be at a university that was considered good, not just for my course, but across the board. Why go to a uni that has a lower ranking when you can get into one with a better one?
That was important to me, but it may not be for everyone. At the end of the day, you have to choose between a lot of different places, so you need to use anything that you can to distinguish them.
push's http://www.push.co.uk/pushguide/ai_course.aspx uni chooser tool is great for narrowing down your list - just decide what's important to you and what isn't and it'll rank unis that do your course based on your priorities
A place for general questions and discussions about university.
Useful Resources:
Choosing A University
). Any questions about Oxford, fire them my way. Hope this helps
