Birmingham, Exeter, Loughborough, or Sheffield?

I've received unconditional offers (already have my A-Levels) from all of the above uni's, but am very unsure of which one to pick. I've applied to study International Relations/Politics.

I know someone at Uni of Birmingham studying IR who I visit regularly, and have visited Loughborough on an open day. Birmingham uni itself seems really sociable, and the city vibe is tempting, but from what I've heard about the course I'm not 100% sure it's for me (lots of seminars, group stuff e.t.c.) Loughborough had a really nice vibe to it, but I'm a little worried the town is kind of boring, plus it's not as internationally renowned as Birmingham.

I'm not sure I'll be able to visit Sheffield, though I do hope to visit Exeter. As such I've not formed any personal opinions on those two! As such, I'm turning the TSR for help

If you go to one of these uni's, I'd love to hear your experience, particularly if you're studying (or have studied) Politics/International Relations. My primary focus is job prospects, so which of these uni's is the best for that (particularly internationally)? What are the student unions like? The city/town? The social life?

I'd really appreciate some advice with this. Thank you!

Ultimately, it's down to which course suits you the most.
My friend studies IR/Politics at Sheffield and I know he enjoys it, there are also plenty of student societies. Examine closely what units you will be covering at each university and decide for yourself which course seems the most interesting. I've only visited Sheffield Uni on their open day so I can't speak for the other ones but Sheffield struck me as one of the more interesting destinations for Uni out of the ones I visited. In the end I stuck with SOAS anyway as the course there suited what I wanted to study.

Thanks for the advice!

I'm going to have a real in-depth look into the course, modules e.t.c. and hope that helps me. I don't know why I'm struggling so much to decide. I'm gutted I couldn't visit Sheffield; I was meant to go today, but something came up.

What would you suggest in regards to accommodation, by the way? I'm actually at Uni Nottingham now (not really happy here, so my plan is to start over at one of these uni's if things continue), and am in self-catered accommodation. I find it pretty unsociable though, and haven't really made any friends. I'm not sure if it's simply the halls I live in, or the fact it's self-catered. It's tempting me to pick catered if I end up at one of these ui's next year, but I don't really like the idea of not being able to cook for myself! Are you living catered or self-catered in SOAS?

Have you thought of picking a day you want to go Sheffield then emailing the university and department to see if someone would be available to show you around. Most unis will be happy to do this and Nottingham to Sheffield is not that far.

Yeah, I have considered doing something like that, it's probably a wise idea. They have general non-departmental open days, and sort of just turning up and having a wander around is possible, so I could do one of those.

I have friends at both and the social life at each is apparently very good (especially Birmingham). Birmingham has a slightly better reputation, but then Loughborough is excellent for employment and I think you can do a year abroad or a year in industry if you please. I'm looking at transferring to Birmingham/Loughborough (Politics/Philosophy at Birmingham and Politics at Loughborough)- I was wondering who told you there were lots of group activities at Birmingham? As that's a bit of a put off for me. Loughborough seem to be very vague with their politics modules on their website too (especially third year modules).

Yeah, Birmingham's a massive city so there's definitely heaps to do there. It's my boyfriend who's studying IR and he has 6 seminars a week that entail debating, discussions e.t.c. He's also done a few group presentations. I realise that with social science courses, there will be group stuff, discussion e.t.c. but I just generally work better alone. All of his coursework essays are individual though.

You said you're transferring, right? Where are you studying now, out of interest?

I think you're right regarding that being the case for all social sciences courses, but 6 seminars a week seems a lot for social sciences. I get the impression that Loughborough is fairly similar in that regard although I have nothing to quantify it; perhaps it's the same for all politics courses. I work better alone too ( which is why I asked).

I'm at Royal Holloway at the minute. It's alright- I haven't particularly fitted in and I don't really like the course. It's also frustrating because no one's heard of the place. Like you, I kind of want to go to the best-reputation university I can. Are you a transfer student too- as you've already done a-levels?

I know, right? That's what's putting me off for Birmingham. It's annoying uni's don't give more information on this kind of stuff (how many seminars, individual-group work ratio e.t.c.). At the moment, I'm probably leaning towards Exeter out of my 4 options.

Ah cool, Royal Holloway was one of my options last year actually. Yeah, I'm at Uni of Nottingham atm studying Management. It's not really my forte, and I've not exactly having a blast with the social life (aka, I don't have one ) so I'm considering starting again at a new uni.

Exeter's a lovely place, I visited last year the only thing that really put me off was that it seemed quite upper-class/conservative/posh... I don't know, I think it's radically different to somewhere like Birmingham, but either way it's a great university.

I'm pretty much in the same boat as you in terms of social life. It's good your starting afresh though (i'm living at home next year so i'm taking the easy route out). Anyway, best of luck with your decision and I hope it works well for you next year

I've received unconditional offers (already have my A-Levels) from all of the above uni's, but am very unsure of which one to pick. I've applied to study International Relations/Politics.

I know someone at Uni of Birmingham studying IR who I visit regularly, and have visited Loughborough on an open day. Birmingham uni itself seems really sociable, and the city vibe is tempting, but from what I've heard about the course I'm not 100% sure it's for me (lots of seminars, group stuff e.t.c.) Loughborough had a really nice vibe to it, but I'm a little worried the town is kind of boring, plus it's not as internationally renowned as Birmingham.

I'm not sure I'll be able to visit Sheffield, though I do hope to visit Exeter. As such I've not formed any personal opinions on those two! As such, I'm turning the TSR for help

If you go to one of these uni's, I'd love to hear your experience, particularly if you're studying (or have studied) Politics/International Relations. My primary focus is job prospects, so which of these uni's is the best for that (particularly internationally)? What are the student unions like? The city/town? The social life?

I'd really appreciate some advice with this. Thank you!

I didn't go to any of the uni's you've mentioned but I did do IR. I can tell you now as a job seeker that when it comes to securing employment post uni, what you have to offer matters more- work experience, soft skills, good CV & cover letter/answers to applications, being able to pass the psychometric/competency tests, as you mention abroad, second language if you want to work for the EU or UN, a postgraduate degree for the UN. For the Civil Service for example, where you went to university is not considered one bit. So choose the uni you feel you'd be happiest at- considering course content, location, facilities e.c.t

You've chosen quite different unis in many regards- Birmingham being a campus uni near a large city, Loughborough a campus uni near a small town, Sheffield a city based uni in a medium city, Exeter near a small city. So consider what kind of environment you want.

Regarding socialness, I think each university has a hall or set of halls which have a reputation for being more sociable. Self catered doesn't necessarily = anti social though. I know a few people who went to Nottingham and stayed in halls and they had a blast of a time with their hall mates, but they were in the catered halls on the main campus (the one that isn't Jubilee). When I was applying to university I discovered that at Birmingham, its the halls on the Vale that had the reputation for being more sociable, didn't seem to matter whether it was catered or self catered. So its worth asking on here if any current students can tell you which are the most sociable halls before you apply.

Choose Birmingham,

Exeter and Birmingham have the strongest reputation out of those four closely followed by Sheffield. I found that I preferred Birmingham to Exeter and Sheffield ( I didn't look at loughborough).

I didn't think the Exeter campus was nice as Birmingham, the Birmingham campus I fell in love with! I loved its beautiful old redbrick buildings, location in the leafy suburbs, modern glass library and own train station on campus... Exeter felt a bit more tired to me but thats just my personal opinion. I also prefered Birmingham as a city, it has a lot more going on being the Uk's second biggest city. Another thing that pulled me towards Birmingham is it has the best graduate employment in the UK so best job prospects after your degree.

But ultimately you've got to choose which ever uni course suits you best