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Leeds, Manchester or Kingston?

Hi everyone,

So, I just got a conditional offer for Criminology and Criminal Justice by Leeds, Criminology by University of Manchester and Criminology with international relations Kingston. And now I have the problem to decide where I want to go :frown:

My pro's and con's are:

Leeds or Manchester

- Leeds offer is AAABBB (really hard to get for me :frown: !! )

- Man offer ABBBC (that should be fine)

Which university is better? in a lot of rankings Man is better than Leeds, but why are the requirement for Leeds so much higher then? Which city would be cheaper? I am an European Student, so living in UK will be very expensive for me!!

Kingston University London

- I really love the course outline and the combination!! But the university is not as high in the world ranking as Leeds and Manchester.. Would the ranking play an important role for later on, when I want to get a job? Or should I go for Kingston if I really like the programm?

--- Derby will be my backup by the way.

thanks for the help!! :smile:

Scroll to see replies

listen, if you can get into leeds do so. make it a priority. manchester is also a top 30 uni and the grades seem achievable, consider that also a strong possibility. these two uni's are in the north of england, and therefore are considerably cheaper then kingston which is in london.

most suitable option or you would be manchester, the social life there is amazing. although i myself am going to leeds. best o luck deciding
Reply 2
In response to the post above, Kingston isn't too expensive as it's on the outskirts of Central London (about 20mins on train). Certainly not as expensive as London itself.

I went to the Kingston open day, but wasn't particularly keen on the Kingston area, I mean it was nice, it just didn't seem to have much going on.

If Leeds or Manchester is possible then they'd probably be my choices, studying in the City would be much more fun :biggrin:
Reply 3
Original post by Julimond
Hi everyone,

So, I just got a conditional offer for Criminology and Criminal Justice by Leeds, Criminology by University of Manchester and Criminology with international relations Kingston. And now I have the problem to decide where I want to go :frown:

My pro's and con's are:

Leeds or Manchester

- Leeds offer is AAABBB (really hard to get for me :frown: !! )

- Man offer ABBBC (that should be fine)

Which university is better? in a lot of rankings Man is better than Leeds, but why are the requirement for Leeds so much higher then? Which city would be cheaper? I am an European Student, so living in UK will be very expensive for me!!

Kingston University London

- I really love the course outline and the combination!! But the university is not as high in the world ranking as Leeds and Manchester.. Would the ranking play an important role for later on, when I want to get a job? Or should I go for Kingston if I really like the programm?

--- Derby will be my backup by the way.

thanks for the help!! :smile:


Tbh Leeds & Manchester are around the same standard really. If you think the Manchester offer is more achievable and you'd be happy to go there then make it your firm and make Kingston your insurance.
Reply 4
Original post by Julimond
Which university is better? in a lot of rankings Man is better than Leeds, but why are the requirement for Leeds so much higher then? Which city would be cheaper? I am an European Student, so living in UK will be very expensive for me!!


In international rankings Manchester is often higher than Leeds. In domestic rankings it's Leeds which is higher than Manchester. This comes down to the different criteria used in them. Manchester does particularly well in research and academic peer reviews, meaning it does well in international rankings where a considerable emphasis is placed on this, but not so well in the domestic rankings as they have relatively poor student satisfaction rates.

Typical offers aren't based on league table positions. They're based on popularity (a popular course/university can ask for higher grades - simple supply and demand). A popular department (one with higher typical offers) is not always a better department, however.

But in this case Leeds is certainly the strongest department from a criminology perspective so it's not surpising that it does have the highest offer.

What's the Kingston offer?

Original post by air-ninety-one
listen, if you can get into leeds do so. make it a priority. manchester is also a top 30 uni and the grades seem achievable, consider that also a strong possibility. these two uni's are in the north of england, and therefore are considerably cheaper then kingston which is in london.


It is true that, generally speaking, the north has a lower cost of living I do feel that this gets overplayed at times. There are exceptions. Newcastle, often seen as a cheap place to live, actually has amongst the highest private/student market rents in the country.

Manchester and Leeds are possibly cheaper to live in but Kingston, not being in central London, isn't extortionate.
Reply 5
Original post by air-ninety-one
listen, if you can get into leeds do so. make it a priority. manchester is also a top 30 uni and the grades seem achievable, consider that also a strong possibility. these two uni's are in the north of england, and therefore are considerably cheaper then kingston which is in london.

most suitable option or you would be manchester, the social life there is amazing. although i myself am going to leeds. best o luck deciding


Thank you very much! :smile:) What are you going to study in Leeds?
Reply 6
Original post by Cll_ws
In response to the post above, Kingston isn't too expensive as it's on the outskirts of Central London (about 20mins on train). Certainly not as expensive as London itself.

I went to the Kingston open day, but wasn't particularly keen on the Kingston area, I mean it was nice, it just didn't seem to have much going on.

If Leeds or Manchester is possible then they'd probably be my choices, studying in the City would be much more fun :biggrin:


hey :smile: Thanks for the reply :smile: that is cool! What did you think about Kingston as University itself? Where and what are you going to study?
Reply 7
Original post by jelly1000
Tbh Leeds & Manchester are around the same standard really. If you think the Manchester offer is more achievable and you'd be happy to go there then make it your firm and make Kingston your insurance.


Manchester is surely more achievable - considering that English is not my native language and that I am therefore making my Leaving Cert in a foreign language makes it pretty hard for me to get 3 A's.
thanks for the help :smile:
Original post by Julimond
Thank you very much! :smile:) What are you going to study in Leeds?


physics :smile: where are you deciding to go then?
Reply 9
Original post by River85
In international rankings Manchester is often higher than Leeds. In domestic rankings it's Leeds which is higher than Manchester. This comes down to the different criteria used in them. Manchester does particularly well in research and academic peer reviews, meaning it does well in international rankings where a considerable emphasis is placed on this, but not so well in the domestic rankings as they have relatively poor student satisfaction rates.

Typical offers aren't based on league table positions. They're based on popularity (a popular course/university can ask for higher grades - simple supply and demand). A popular department (one with higher typical offers) is not always a better department, however.

But in this case Leeds is certainly the strongest department from a criminology perspective so it's not surpising that it does have the highest offer.

What's the Kingston offer?


It is true that, generally speaking, the north has a lower cost of living I do feel that this gets overplayed at times. There are exceptions. Newcastle, often seen as a cheap place to live, actually has amongst the highest private/student market rents in the country.

Manchester and Leeds are possibly cheaper to live in but Kingston, not being in central London, isn't extortionate.


Thanks for the explanation! Hmm.. poor student satisfaction does not sound very thrilling to me :/

Kingston offer is ABBB - the A and B is not specified, the Uni of Manchester specifies it as A1 (Irish Leaving Cert) and 3 B1's.

I guess the UK is in general terms very expensive. But I guess I ll be fine if I get a little part time job. Hopefully..

What do you study?
Reply 10
Original post by air-ninety-one
physics :smile: where are you deciding to go then?


Wow! I was always really bad in physics back home, so I am glad that I don't have to do it here - it is cool to choose the subjects you want to do, and not having to do all subjects back home.

I am pretty sure that I am going for Manchester, but I am flying to Manchester in February to visit the university so I will also go to Leeds to visit the university there. to see which one I better like. I guess it is always a hard decision, untill you had your first lectures and you really know how it is like - because on the websides and the open days the all promise you heaven on earth and all this bla bla bla :smile:
Reply 11
Original post by Julimond
hey :smile: Thanks for the reply :smile: that is cool! What did you think about Kingston as University itself? Where and what are you going to study?


The Uni itself was alright yeah.
Although it seemed more like a very large college.
It's certainly not a bad University, it's just not as old as the other 2, therefore not as highly ranked.

I'm looking at studying Graphic Design, I haven't sent my UCAS off yet, i'm close though.
Reply 12
Original post by Cll_ws
The Uni itself was alright yeah.
Although it seemed more like a very large college.
It's certainly not a bad University, it's just not as old as the other 2, therefore not as highly ranked.

I'm looking at studying Graphic Design, I haven't sent my UCAS off yet, i'm close though.


Wow, Graphic Design is really cool! I thought about doing something like art or photography, but I enjoy it more as a passion than as a job. And with Criminology I can help people afterwards..

Where will you be applying to?
I go to Uni in Manchester, and I come from Richmond which is right next to Kingston.

My advice would be, don't go to Kingston if you have the opportunity to go to Manchester (or Leeds). It's just not that nice a town, and at night it actually gets really dodgy. Manchester is, like, 100 times more awesome than Kingston.
Manchester!!!!!
Reply 15
Original post by Julimond
Wow, Graphic Design is really cool! I thought about doing something like art or photography, but I enjoy it more as a passion than as a job. And with Criminology I can help people afterwards..

Where will you be applying to?



ha, yeah I know what you mean.
I'm applying to,
Nottingham Trent
UWE Bristol
Leeds Met
Cardiff
Manchester Met

I wouldn't concentrate to much on league tables, they don't give you any idea of how good a University is at a certain subject.
As you can see none of the universities i'm applying to are that highly ranked, but for my subject, Graphic Design, some of the them are some of the best in the country.
For example, Nottingham Trent is considered one of the best universities for Art & Design courses in the UK.
None of the highest ranked ones even do Graphic Design courses, so obviously they aren't the best for me.

I know Kingston is also one of the best, which is why I checked it out.

So if you find a way of finding out, you should find a way to see how good the University is considered to be for the subject you want to do :smile:
Reply 16
Original post by Cll_ws
ha, yeah I know what you mean.
I'm applying to,
Nottingham Trent
UWE Bristol
Leeds Met
Cardiff
Manchester Met

I wouldn't concentrate to much on league tables, they don't give you any idea of how good a University is at a certain subject.
As you can see none of the universities i'm applying to are that highly ranked, but for my subject, Graphic Design, some of the them are some of the best in the country.
For example, Nottingham Trent is considered one of the best universities for Art & Design courses in the UK.
None of the highest ranked ones even do Graphic Design courses, so obviously they aren't the best for me.

I know Kingston is also one of the best, which is why I checked it out.

So if you find a way of finding out, you should find a way to see how good the University is considered to be for the subject you want to do :smile:


yeah, it is pretty hard to find Graphic Design courses I guess. It is kind of the same with Criminology. England is pretty much one of the only options I had, because Italy (my home country) Germany (german is with Italian my native language) don't offer Criminology courses at all. Ireland, where I live at the moment (due to an exchange year) don't offer it either, only Criminal Justice. My french isn't good enough and my spanish isn't too. So i didn't have many options- and UK is kind a expensive. but i'll find a way :smile:

Well, the net says that Leeds would be better for social sciences courses, so I guess from that perspective it would be Leeds (also seen that the university is more popular than the University of Manchester).. Maybe I put Leeds as my first choice and Manchester as back up. I am quiet confident that I'll get the grades for Manchester, so even if I don't get the grades for Leeds I still go to a pretty good University.
Original post by Julimond
Hi everyone,

So, I just got a conditional offer for Criminology....


Manchester because we'll be Criminology buddies :biggrin:
Reply 18
Original post by ellakrystina
Manchester because we'll be Criminology buddies :biggrin:


Hehe :biggrin: :P
Reply 19
manchester:smile:

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