Choosing what university I'll insure for biological sciences

exeter

What sorts of things should I consider?

I have considered the rankings, professional graduate statistics and intersts.

Liverpool - Unconditional; 45% of employment professional or managerial employment; CUG rank 34th; Guardian rank 40th; 6 Nobel Laureates; Flexibile course as I've chosen the broader biological sciences; Close to Manchester where I have some links; Russel Group

Surrey - AAB (A to get in Chemistry); 85% of graduates in professional or managerial employment; CUG rank 14th; Guardian rank 7th; Has regular amateur piano recitals; Close to London and fam/friends

Exeter - BBB (B to get in Chemistry); 52% of graduates in professional or managerial employment (but a lot are doing study+work so it makes sense that they'd have part-time non professional jobs); CUG rank 9th; Guardian rank 3rd; Has a piano society; 0 Nobel Laureates; Remote; Russel Group

They all have similar rates of unemployment.

I do like them on paper but I've only visited Liverpool which I quite enjoyed. I will visit the other two. I think this will form a large basis of my decision. Is there anything else I should take into account or is it from here just going to be a feelings-based decision?

All good and very different universities!

Well I would maybe think about location in the country as well. Liverpool and Exeter are not exactly close together.

Think about how much you might want to return home, and cost and duration of those trips.

If that's not a thing then think about the types of cities. Exeter is quite small and also really nice. A beautiful city centre cathedral and just an all round good city with great sport facilities.

Liverpool is a lot bigger obviously and will have a better night life and will be more 'busy'.

Surrey is v close to London so ideal distance away but I'm not really sure what it would be like to go to university there. I've heard living is expensive as well but that would probably be negated by travel costs etc. If you live in London.

It sounds like you are able to get into all three comfortably grades wise. What about course content/course flexibility? Natural sciences courses can vary quite a lot in terms of the types of options you can take. So have a look into that and think about what suits your interests more. (Look at it right up to your final year). If you haven't already done it that is.

Reputation wise Exeter is probably best, but at the end of the day gut feeling is pretty important. I'd suggest visiting all three and deciding which place feels 'right', after all this is 3 years of your life

Thanks for your detailed resposne EN. You're always on TSR aha.

I live independently and don't have a family home so I'm not truely tied to any one area. It's why my choices are all over the place.

Exeter and Liverpool are both fairly flexible. YOu choose your modules to an extent. Doesn't seem to be the case for Surrey as it's a specific biomed degree. I didn't mention but the Surrey and Liverpool programmes are 4 year with the former having a year in industry and the latter a masters year. They're accredited.

I have lived in Manchester for 5 years and I've also lived in London. I've friends and connections in both places . I was previously sold on Liverpool because they allowed you to do dual honours but they've recently decided to stop from 2017 which is when I start.


I agree to an extent but I've lived in over 7 areas and I grew to like all of them after awhile. I can generally find a thing to like about anywhere.

No worries. It sounds like Liverpool might be the best shot.

Having an unconditional insurance is a dream and will enable you to go all out for Cambridge knowing that you have a good back up and won't be filled with any thoughts like 'what if I miss Cambridge and X and everything's screwed' if you get me?
Good links in the North and London (Exeter is a bit isolated and rubbishy transport links to anywhere other than London/Bristol and even they're not great)
Relatively cheap living costs
Flexible course which is important in Natsci
Opportunity to do the 4 year accreditation Masters thing. MSc may be better in career prospects than BSc and getting a masters within the undergraduate student loan system is attractive. If you do a Bsc elsewhere and want an msc you would have to pay ridic and no loans.

It's Surrey I'm sold on atm . I grew up in Croydon which was formerly part of Surrey I believe, it's close to London and has the year in industry. Liverpool is the one with the masters year. As I said, I'll have to visit the others.
I should clarify, they aren't natsci. Liverpool is biological sciences, Surrey is biomedical science and Exeter is biochemistry.

The problem is that I don't want to make a decision based on my feelings; however the data available to me isn't conclusive. Which is why I made this thread -- to see whether there was anything I hadn't thought about. I want to make an informed decision.

Exeter does seem awfully remote .

Yeah moving to Surrey won't exactly be a life disrupter. I saw a thread on here which was a Surrey student basically saying don't go to Surrey and listed why.

It's only one person's experience anyway but if I can find it I will link it to you for sure.

Year in industry is a good opportunity. It depends what type of career you want after ? Scientific or managerial type thing? I'd say it's between Surrey and Liverpool right now.

Also have you read my blog. Feelings ARE actually a good indicator and going with your instinct is good in my experience. I would say that and the course content are the most important. Forget about league tables and RG status. You will do better if you're happier and be more driven- that will make you more employable than the fact Liverpool is in the arbitrary RG.

It's Surrey I'm sold on atm . I grew up in Croydon which was formerly part of Surrey I believe. It's close to London and has the year in industry. Liverpool is the one with the masters year. As I said, I'll have to visit the others.
I should clarify, they aren't natsci. Liverpool is biological sciences, Surrey is biomedical science and Exeter is biochemistry.

The problem is that I don't want to make a decision based on my feelings; however the data available to me isn't conclusive. Which is why I made this thread -- to see whether there was anything I hadn't thought about. I want to make an informed decision.

Exeter does seem awfully remote .

Perhaps if I spent a few months living in each place then I'd get some idea of my preference but I will likely enjoy each open day I attend. I've never disliked a university after an open day. I've attended a few: Imperial, UCL, Nottingham, Cambridge, Liverpool and Oxford.

I am quite adaptable so would be fine anywhere. I would even consider studying abroad were I not concerned about language/money problems.

I don't just mean feelings about the location. I mean your gut instinct about where you think you will be happier and which course is best suited to your needs.

GEM might be on dodgy territory in 4 years time with recent medical schools pulling out of the programme eg Bristol. Also considering Tory austerity cuts the extra funding you can get for GEM could even be cut and it could turn out to be very expensive. (£60,000 at least).

I wouldn't make a decision on your undergrad based on gem. All of those courses will give you a good chance of getting into gem when you're applying so long as the biological sciences includes a solid amount of chemistry for some of the more science-ey universities. Doing as well as you can in your undergrad is probably more of a differential-Eg barts rejected all 2.1 students this year (basically) even someone with a 2.1 from Cambridge and 805 ukcat or something ridiculous. Giving yourself the opportunity to do the best you can and enjoy your subject will be more important for your career than the name of a university. (Oxbridge potentially an exception that rule).

Are you no longer a nymph?

Fair enough. I will see what funding is like when I apply (if I do). My undergrad decision isn't based on GEM. I just mentioned it because you asked about my employment aims.

Ah yes, guess more chemistry is better . So your belief is that it matters not where you go too much.

Through this discussion, it has occurred to me that one thing I've forgotten to find out is contact time and how teaching is delivered. The sites aren't that helpful so I'll chat to current students.

Contact time and delivery method- c'est important! good to see the discussion has made you think of these things.

This is the thread I found about Surrey. It's the second comment I'm talking about but it seems now some other people have weighed in with some counter arguments- might be worth taking a look:

http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?p=62306389