Nottingham vs Leeds vs York

Notts is a semi-target University for Investment Banking. It is highly prestigious in that aspect and so I wouldn't place too much emphasis on unistats/rankings.

Employment prospects are largely similar across all three and I would just decide based on which U. had the best 'feel' to you, somewhere that you would enjoy three to four years of.

May I ask why you've scrapped Bristol and Southampton...


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Sure!

Bristol was the highest I applied to at A*AA and was definitely on par with Nottingham and Leeds as a first choice. They changed me from Comp Sci to Elec Eng & Comp Sci for some unknown reason - possibly too heavily applied for? Who knows... But anyway I went to the interview and got an offer for AAA. I called up and asked if I'd be able to change back to Comp Sci if I really didn't like it and they basically said "if you get A*AA then you have a slight chance but no guarantees". I didn't wanna be stuck with stupid debt for a course I don't wanna do so I thought I may as well drop it and avoid the risk.

The course at Soton seemed really really good and the facilities seemed amazing but the city itself seemed a bit dead and not as lively as places like Bristol, Nott or Leeds. If you're going for purely academic reasons then Soton would be fine!

I see why now.
Shame for bristol, I would've firmed them otherwise.


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Yeah it's kinda frustrating but oh well. A*AA is pretty hard anyway.

May be unconventional but insure Bristol and if you get A*AA you could see if they'd take you on for CompSci


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Oooh that's actually a really good shout!
Lets say I did that and got A*AA, what would I have to do in order to cancel my firm?

Decided to scrap York so now it's between UoN and Leeds. UoN still seems like it has better teaching but Leeds seems like a nicer city...
What do you mean by semi-target?

Some (not all) investment banks love to recruit Notts students. The ones that do, give presentations, networking sessions and workshops to the students involved in the finance society.

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Hmmm that's definitely something to take into account.
Are you a student there at the moment?

I live in Leeds, so I'm a bit biased towards it (and the Comp Sci lecturer I know there seems nice), but if you prefer Nottingham I'd go for that. Leeds is maybe a bit better for computer science (which I applied for without considering Leeds as I didn't want to stay at home), but there isn't much in it. It's a shame Bristol changed your course - are you doing an odd combination of subjects or something?

No, but I have several friends there atm.

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What do they think of halls/sports/the student union as well as the course itself?
Unistats puts the teaching quality pretty low compared to other places.

Did you go to both the Leeds and Notts open days? I thought that the Leeds one made the department/course look terrible compared to Nottingham...
What would you say are the pro's and con's of Leeds?

Yeah it does suck that they did that. I'm doing Maths, Phys and Chem but did A2 Comp a year early and only got a C... Maybe that's why?

Well, one of my buds doing Econ just got elected as President of the finance soc - he's obviously enjoyed it enough to want to run it. I stayed at his halls on Saturday and by the looks of things the students there seem really welcoming, smart but also quite laid back. Halls are alright, plenty of amenities on-site for the self-catered halls (they feel a bit like their own campus) and the catered on-campus halls seem lively by the looks of my FB wall. Generally, I think the advice is to opt for catered halls as they're considered more social but you can't go wrong with either.

My Econ friend also plays a varsity sport which he enjoys. He regularly competes with other universities in the BUCS league. There are plenty of varsity and intramural teams to join.

Friends doing CS have really enjoyed the course. They say it's challenging but the seminars and tutorials also add an extra element support. It's a pretty customisable course that you can mould to your preferences in the later years (with regards to module choice).

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