Don't want the typical prestigious universities

I'm so sick of hearing Oxbridge and UoL that even with the right grades I don't want to study there. Not only that but the London is ridiculously expensive and Oxbridge's combined short terms and high workload make it seem impossible to to do play a University level sport and have a social life.

I'm wondering where to apply for mechanical engineering. I want a University experience that isn't just about academia. Where can I look?
The league tables seem to point to places like Southampton, Sheffield and Loughborough. Are they good cities to live in?

I'm so sick of hearing Oxbridge and UoL that even with the right grades I don't want to study there. Not only that but the London is ridiculously expensive and Oxbridge's combined short terms and high workload make it seem impossible to to do play a University level sport and have a social life.

I'm wondering where to apply for mechanical engineering. I want a University experience that isn't just about academia. Where can I look?
The league tables seem to point to places like Southampton, Sheffield and Loughborough. Are they good cities to live in?

If thou actually did some deep research that doing sport and having a social life is possible with TIME MANAGEMENT. A treat that probably all uni students need regardless of the ranking. Do a little bit more research before completely rolling them off

Newcastle?

The league tables seem to point to places like Southampton, Sheffield and Loughborough. Are they good cities to live in?

While I don't do Mechanical Engineering, I do go to Uni of Sheffield, and I can honestly say it's a brilliant uni. While the city's nowhere near as big as London or Manchester say, it's definitely got a lot going on, as well as a good reputation. It's got very high levels of student satisfaction and from what I've heard from my own experience and that of my friends, I can definitely say lecturers are very good and willing to help. It's also a very cheap city comparatively.

If you have any more questions about Sheffield, let me know

You may want to check out Warwick. Its a great university and Coventry is a nice place too. You can look into Durham as well and see if you like.

Not like Edinburgh, Bath and Cardiff are.

Loughborough
Bath
Durham

?

I applied to Bristol, Bath, Southampton, Leeds and Newcastle
I only wanted to go to Leeds or Bristol though!
This is for mechanical engineering btw
I went to Loughborough and was really impressed, obviously its super sporty, very similar to Bath actually. Loughborough is not a great place for social life unless you go into the neighbouring cities and Bath is amazing to look at but I wouldn't want to spend four years there either.
Southampton, I didn't even go to see...
I went with Bristol and Leeds because they are biggish cities with good music scenes and obviously Bristol is the best place to be for a mechanical engineering student due to the concentration of companies operating in the South West.



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Why do people keep saying Durham? Isn't it extremely isolated?

Loughborough gave me the same impression, actually. Being from the south, I have no idea what Leeds is like. Is it good?

Hmmmm... But it's very sports oriented.

Cardiff is a good shout. I actually live there so it's a great city, good uni, mecheng is good

Warwick and Durham are campus based right? They sound like they're in the middle of nowhere tbh. I think a city is probably more what I'm looking for but will go travel to each during the summer and see. Thanks

I am but a UoL peasant, but I have high recommendations for Exeter, Bristol and Sheffield - I have visited them all, as well as having friends at those universities who are having fantastic times. They all looked brilliant too (dare I say it, better looking than the university I attend).

Durham is not a self contained campus but is in the middle of what's nominally a city but is more like a market town.

'Warwick' is an exercise in clever branding. It is essentially the University of Coventry and stands in relation to that city as does the York to York or Bath to Bath (i.e. a greenfields site on the outskirts of the city).

I agree, I think the London universities are a poor choice for STEM unless you want to be a banker. STEM people in industry don't seem to care about Oxbridge either, some even seeing it as a mild negative.

Loughborough, Southampton, etc. are all perfectly good and more liveable.

why do you say that? I just want to try and make what at the moment is just conjecture a bit more concrete

Why do people keep saying Durham? Isn't it extremely isolated?

Loughborough gave me the same impression, actually. Being from the south, I have no idea what Leeds is like. Is it good?

Assuming you want a job in engineering or in academia, university brand name doesn't seem to count for much. Engineering firms care about internships and on the job performance (go somewhere with a good sandwich year scheme basically) while academia just cares about grades and research experience.

So why would you pay London property prices, when you're getting little or nothing relevant to your career for your money?

Not necessarily the case if you want to work in financial services, journalism, or politics.