Advice on university choice: Manchester, Nottingham or Royal Holloway

Hi,

I am struggling to choose one university between Manchester, Nottingham and Royal Holloway for English.

I have researched the universities, looked at the courses and I like the sound of all of them. They are all asking for AAB. I am slighty concerned about Royal Holloway as it is not in/near a big city, but then I have heard lots of negatives points about Nottingham and Manchester in terms of safety.

The things that are the most important to me are:
- a wide choice of modules within the degree
- good student union/good places to go out
- good drama and dance societies
- safe university environment

If anyone has any experience of studying at these universities and could offer any helpful advice, or just further information about the universities, then I would be very grateful. Rep will of course be given.

Thank you :smile:

Reply 1

Pheebs1201

2

Original post by Acromida

Hi,

I am struggling to choose one university between Manchester, Nottingham and Royal Holloway for English.

I have researched the universities, looked at the courses and I like the sound of all of them. They are all asking for AAB. I am slighty concerned about Royal Holloway as it is not in/near a big city, but then I have heard lots of negatives points about Nottingham and Manchester in terms of safety.

The things that are the most important to me are:
- a wide choice of modules within the degree
- good student union/good places to go out
- good drama and dance societies
- safe university environment

If anyone has any experience of studying at these universities and could offer any helpful advice, or just further information about the universities, then I would be very grateful. Rep will of course be given.

Thank you :smile:

Royal Holloway sounds like it would suit you. It definitely has a nice safe feel, and Ive heard that it really isnt that bad in terms of night/social life.

If drama is your thing, then definitely choose it as they have really good drama facilities and a good department.

When I looked at it for Psychology the modules were extremely varied, not sure what your subject choice is, but Im sure it'll be the same.

Hope I helped :smile:

x

Reply 2

Superstar6318

15

When I went through my stint of wanting to do English I would say in terms of everything:

Nottingham - the most varied course, has drama, creative writing and you get to choose modules. Problem is I've heard Nottingham is hard to get into.Great drama societies. Crime.
Manchester - amazing nightlife there, very very good course. Some places have crime, others aren't as bad.
Royal Holloway - Beautiful Uni. The place itself is in the middle of nowhere(Egham)-theres nothing there and the few pubs/clubs there are expensive. There is only one bus that runs at a particular time to take you to London and back to RHUL. Safe place. Good drama societies etc.

I take it you're applying this year- hurry you only have a month left! Good luck :smile:

Reply 3

Wedgely

But, but... Nottingham is so pretty :smile:

, but then again, i'm biased. What are your other choices? Are you concerned about distance from your home? I only ask because all of your choices seem to be quite a distance from eachother.

Reply 4

Acromida

OP

8

Original post by Wedgely

But, but... Nottingham is so pretty :smile:

, but then again, i'm biased. What are your other choices? Are you concerned about distance from your home? I only ask because all of your choices seem to be quite a distance from eachother.

They are Durham, UCL, Bristol and KCL. Well, I live in the Midlands, so although they seem quite far away from each other, they are all reasonably close. Notts is about an hour away, Royal Holloway about 1h30mins and Manchester about two hours.

I was wanting one university closer to home actually, for health reasons, and that's definitely a plus for Nottingham...but then I guess Royal Holloway isn't too much further away.

This is such a difficult decision! Thank you for the reply :smile:

Reply 5

Acromida

OP

8

Original post by Pheebs1201

Royal Holloway sounds like it would suit you. It definitely has a nice safe feel, and Ive heard that it really isnt that bad in terms of night/social life.

If drama is your thing, then definitely choose it as they have really good drama facilities and a good department.

When I looked at it for Psychology the modules were extremely varied, not sure what your subject choice is, but Im sure it'll be the same.

Hope I helped :smile:

x

Thank you for the reply! :smile:

The night/social life was a big concern as everyone keeps saying that it doesn't have any etc and that Egham is boring...so I'm glad you've heard it really isn't that bad!
That's good to know about the drama facilities too.

The only other thing with Royal Holloway is deciding between the English (Q300) course or the English with Creative Writing. But that's another choice altogether! :smile:

Reply 6

Acromida

OP

8

Original post by Superstar6318

When I went through my stint of wanting to do English I would say in terms of everything:

Nottingham - the most varied course, has drama, creative writing and you get to choose modules. Problem is I've heard Nottingham is hard to get into.Great drama societies. Crime.
Manchester - amazing nightlife there, very very good course. Some places have crime, others aren't as bad.
Royal Holloway - Beautiful Uni. The place itself is in the middle of nowhere(Egham)-theres nothing there and the few pubs/clubs there are expensive. There is only one bus that runs at a particular time to take you to London and back to RHUL. Safe place. Good drama societies etc.

I take it you're applying this year- hurry you only have a month left! Good luck :smile:

Thanks for the reply :smile:

Yes, I am applying this year :smile:

Sending my form off tomorrow! I really, really like the sound of the course at Nottingham, but I am slightly worried that because I've never been to the city/uni, I'd be taking a big risk.
Manchester seems nice, but it seems like it might be too large (apparently it has nearly 40,000 students)
I loved Royal Holloway on the open day, everyone seemed so friendly and willing to help :smile:

But I am worried about it not being in/next to a city.

Thank you again :smile:

Reply 7

yahyahyahs

16

Original post by Acromida

Thanks for the reply :smile:

Yes, I am applying this year :smile:

Sending my form off tomorrow! I really, really like the sound of the course at Nottingham, but I am slightly worried that because I've never been to the city/uni, I'd be taking a big risk.
Manchester seems nice, but it seems like it might be too large (apparently it has nearly 40,000 students)
I loved Royal Holloway on the open day, everyone seemed so friendly and willing to help :smile:

But I am worried about it not being in/next to a city.

Thank you again :smile:

Nottingham is fine, I went shopping there the other week and I'm still alive. I was worried about the city's rep, but I asked some current students and they said as long as you don't go out looking for trouble and in big groups, and stay out of Lenton, I think it was, then you should be okay. I take it that you will spend most of your time on campus and city centre.

Reply 8

Acromida

OP

8

Original post by yahyahyahs

Nottingham is fine, I went shopping there the other week and I'm still alive. I was worried about the city's rep, but I asked some current students and they said as long as you don't go out looking for trouble and in big groups, and stay out of Lenton, I think it was, then you should be okay. I take it that you will spend most of your time on campus and city centre.

Yes, I guess I would be mainly on campus and around the city centre.
Thank you for your reassurance, I think everyone is exaggerating slightly when it comes to the amount of crime etc.

Reply 9

Pheebs1201

2

Original post by Acromida

Thank you for the reply! :smile:

The night/social life was a big concern as everyone keeps saying that it doesn't have any etc and that Egham is boring...so I'm glad you've heard it really isn't that bad!
That's good to know about the drama facilities too.

The only other thing with Royal Holloway is deciding between the English (Q300) course or the English with Creative Writing. But that's another choice altogether! :smile:

I was going to apply and the current students I spoke to said it really wasn't bad at all. Personally if I was applying for English I'd want to do creative writing too but that's personal preference! :tongue:

Reply 10

yahyahyahs

16

Original post by Acromida

Yes, I guess I would be mainly on campus and around the city centre.
Thank you for your reassurance, I think everyone is exaggerating slightly when it comes to the amount of crime etc.

Well they are probably spewing off what they see in the media. I mean London had the suicide bomb attacks, but people are still using the Tube. I live in a dodgier place than Notts and I'm fine.

Reply 11

Wanischa

16

Make your own little pro and con list for all those uni :tongue:

Personally, Nottingham has triple the pros (maybe more) than Royal Holloway.
Didn't make one for Manchester though because last year they offered me too high.

Anyway, in term of the whole drama thing, I think Nottingham is actually rather good, considering it has theatre and that :tongue:

(Apparently has good arty stuff too which was a plus for me).

According to this university guide I was reading Royal Holloway was average in term of their societies/student unions and nightlife.

Nottingham and Manchester obviously going to have better nightlife than Egham.

Nottingham is a campus university so you will be in a safe university bubble.

But I'm so biased...you can't really listen to anything I say XD

Reply 12

Superstar6318

15

Original post by Acromida

Thanks for the reply :smile:

Yes, I am applying this year :smile:

Sending my form off tomorrow! I really, really like the sound of the course at Nottingham, but I am slightly worried that because I've never been to the city/uni, I'd be taking a big risk.
Manchester seems nice, but it seems like it might be too large (apparently it has nearly 40,000 students)
I loved Royal Holloway on the open day, everyone seemed so friendly and willing to help :smile:

But I am worried about it not being in/next to a city.

Thank you again :smile:

Nottingham (Trent) and Manchester are just 2 of my five choices....for me I'd choose Nottingham (as a place) over Manchester. I have heard that Nottingham as a place isn't so fancy, but the lack of this is made up by the student feel apparently.

I've heard from people at Royal Holloway that they've loved it there but yes the nighlife is an issue - but "its what you make it to be" according to a lot of people.

English is such a diverse subject, it may be good to choose where based on the course content,(I'm doing Primary Education, it's the same course content everywhere so I chose based on other factors) It's all up to you how you choose though! Good luck!

Advice on university choice: Manchester, Nottingham or Royal Holloway

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