Philosophy - Warwick vs Durham

11

Hello! I have offers from various places to study philosophy, and my first choice was Durham until I got an offer from Warwick and now I am confused. I really like the collegiate structure at Durham, and I went to visit and it's a beautiful city and seems like the sort of place that I would love to live in. But, Warwick have recently given me a higher offer (AAB as opposed to ABB) which will mean a little more stress come exam time if I accept it, but I am led to believe its got a better philosophy department and is more academically credible. I haven't visited Warwick yet, and maybe when I do the decision will be a bit easier, but for now I need some advice. Which would YOU pick? Lovely Durham (Grey college) or Clever Warwick (in a field)? Incidentally, for philosophy, league tables (The Times and The Guardian) rate Durham as 11th and 7th and Warwick 3rd and 4th.
Lots of love
Emma
xxx

Reply 1

AveHan

covered farm wa

Hello! I have offers from various places to study philosophy, and my first choice was Durham until I got an offer from Warwick and now I am confused. I really like the collegiate structure at Durham, and I went to visit and it's a beautiful city and seems like the sort of place that I would love to live in. But, Warwick have recently given me a higher offer (AAB as opposed to ABB) which will mean a little more stress come exam time if I accept it, but I am led to believe its got a better philosophy department and is more academically credible. I haven't visited Warwick yet, and maybe when I do the decision will be a bit easier, but for now I need some advice. Which would YOU pick? Lovely Durham (Grey college) or Clever Warwick (in a field)? Incidentally, for philosophy, league tables (The Times and The Guardian) rate Durham as 11th and 7th and Warwick 3rd and 4th.
Lots of love
Emma
xxx

Hiya! Warwick is not more academically credible. Durham is an older and much more well established uni with a great reputation, and it is very, very beautiful. I really can't tell you how great it is, I love it there! Choose Durham!!!

Reply 2

cobra

14

Warwick has a more cosmopolito reputation durham seems to be a bit old and stuffy although niether are bad

Reply 3

BossLady

Warwick is definatley more academically credible and although it is a newer uni in comparison to Durham , it has a very good reputation which it has worked hard to achieve in recent times. Durham is very pretty and a lovely place to study to but it's reputation for most subjects is based on the fact that it is a very old uni rather than an academically strong uni. Don't get me wrong again the teaching very good, but nowadays it relies more on it's status as a place that was before, a good alternative for oxbridge, than it's current teaching, whereas Warwick's teaching is probably stronger and is certainly a better 'oxbridge alternative' nowadays.

Reply 4

Kirki

1

I'm in the same situation :smile:

(I haven't heard back from Warwick yet, though, so I'm choosing between Durham and York). Have a look at the courses that are offered, because in Philosophy there tend to be big differences. Is there any module in particular that you're keen to study? If you're keen specialise in one area after degree level then check what their reputation is for that. Any area you hate? I know that at Durham there's a module on History of Science or Medicine in the first year, which I'm not so keen on.

Both are good unis, so to be honest I wouldn't worry too much about the reputation. Go more on where you can see yourself for three years of your life. That's what I'm doing anyway :biggrin:

Reply 5

covered farm wagon

OP

11

i found that a lot of uni's have fairly similar philosophy courses. i mean there's the basic logic/epistemology/metaphysics etc bits, most places seem to have a locke module, and the rest of it is choices and there's loads of different bits i want to study so i'm having trouble picking between courses with that. philosophy of mathematics looks really interesting, but not a lot of places do that (nottingham does i think, so maybe that will be my insurance).

Reply 6

llama boy

7

Warwick philosophy department is supposed to be truly excellent - probably the best besides Oxford and LSE.

Dunno about Durham TBH. Assuming(!) I get offers I'll be choosing between Warwick, York and Manchester.

Reply 7

Adhsur

15

llama boy

Warwick philosophy department is supposed to be truly excellent - probably the best besides Oxford and LSE.

Dunno about Durham TBH. Assuming(!) I get offers I'll be choosing between Warwick, York and Manchester.

Yes, warwick is amazing for philosophy (very high in league tables). That said, I don't think I will accept it because I don't think the difference in quality is enough to compensate for the distance away. I'm going to York to do philosophy :smile:

Reply 8

redcat

covered farm wa

Hello! I have offers from various places to study philosophy, and my first choice was Durham until I got an offer from Warwick and now I am confused. I really like the collegiate structure at Durham, and I went to visit and it's a beautiful city and seems like the sort of place that I would love to live in. But, Warwick have recently given me a higher offer (AAB as opposed to ABB) which will mean a little more stress come exam time if I accept it, but I am led to believe its got a better philosophy department and is more academically credible. I haven't visited Warwick yet, and maybe when I do the decision will be a bit easier, but for now I need some advice. Which would YOU pick? Lovely Durham (Grey college) or Clever Warwick (in a field)? Incidentally, for philosophy, league tables (The Times and The Guardian) rate Durham as 11th and 7th and Warwick 3rd and 4th.
Lots of love
Emma
xxx

Two people I know have done philosophy at Oxbridge. They both got offers from Warwick as well but neither ever visited it, because people at their school that had looked at Warwick said it was kind of dreary and boring looking, and their philosophy teacher kept telling them that Warwick was too biased towards continental philsophy as opposed to analytic philsophy. Better go look at it and see what you think before you make a decision.

I wouldn't take those subject league tables in the Times Good Uni Guide too seriously, they're based totally on a) QAA reports, which look at all kinds of stuff that's possibly not relevant to your decision (read the actual QAA philosophy department reports to see what I mean: http://www.qaa.ac.uk/revreps/subj_reports.asp?subjID=5 ---- and b) grades of people admitted - that's relevant to an extent as you'd probably like to be with cleverer people, but it's not as if the people at Durham will be idiots.

As for the quality of the faculty in the departments, both scored exactly the same (5B) in the most recent government Research Assessment Exercise - see http://www.hero.ac.uk/rae/rae_dynamic.cfm?myURL=http://195.194.167.103/Results/byuoa/uoa62.htm

Reply 9

hildabeast

7

AveHan

Hiya! Warwick is not more academically credible. Durham is an older and much more well established uni with a great reputation, and it is very, very beautiful. I really can't tell you how great it is, I love it there! Choose Durham!!!

I definitely wouldn't say that Durham is better established for philosophy than Warwick :confused:

Definitely go for Warwick, I'd say. After Oxbridge and KCL its philosophy department has the best reputation.

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Reply 10

OldBailey

You're right - Durham is beautiful, and, if I've been informed correctly, Warwick falls off the other end of the scale! One of the advantages of Durham is that you live in a cathedral city (some of the sunsets have to be seen to be believed), but have Newcastle (which in my humble opinion is better than Coventry) only 15/20 mins away by train for serious nightlife/ shopping etc.

You say you also like the collegiate structure - this will give you a lot more out of uni than others (apart obviously from Oxbridge). There's a strong sense of belonging which you don't get in most other unis, and this encourages a lot of students at Durham to get involved in the JCRs/ sports teams etc. And even if you don't, you still get to reap all the benefits - not only are there Uni-wide events, but your own college ones.

I don't honestly know much about the Philosophy dept. here at Durham as opposed to at Warwick but of the guys I know doing Philosophy (prob. about 7 or 8) they all love it. If you do a straight Philosophy degree you can do two other modules in another dept. I think and if you want to do Pre-Socratic Philosophy or Aristotle and Plato in depth, there are a few courses in the Classics dept. that I'm doing and the lecturer is absolutely amazing (sorry for that digression, but I'm realyl enjoying my course!). I do know that the DUNELM part of your degree will look good on your CV when applying for jobs.

Essentially you've got to ask if you'd like to study at a university where you don't feel inspired and that you don't find attractive but will get what you think is a better degree, or study at Durham which is one of the most beautiful cities in England, will inspire you and make you happy, and give you a degree that might not be so 'academically credible' but you'll have had fun studying for.

Reply 11

Perdurabo

1

OldBailey

You're right - Durham is beautiful, and, if I've been informed correctly, Warwick falls off the other end of the scale! One of the advantages of Durham is that you live in a cathedral city (some of the sunsets have to be seen to be believed), but have Newcastle (which in my humble opinion is better than Coventry) only 15/20 mins away by train for serious nightlife/ shopping etc.

You say you also like the collegiate structure - this will give you a lot more out of uni than others (apart obviously from Oxbridge). There's a strong sense of belonging which you don't get in most other unis, and this encourages a lot of students at Durham to get involved in the JCRs/ sports teams etc. And even if you don't, you still get to reap all the benefits - not only are there Uni-wide events, but your own college ones.

I don't honestly know much about the Philosophy dept. here at Durham as opposed to at Warwick but of the guys I know doing Philosophy (prob. about 7 or 8) they all love it. If you do a straight Philosophy degree you can do two other modules in another dept. I think and if you want to do Pre-Socratic Philosophy or Aristotle and Plato in depth, there are a few courses in the Classics dept. that I'm doing and the lecturer is absolutely amazing (sorry for that digression, but I'm realyl enjoying my course!). I do know that the DUNELM part of your degree will look good on your CV when applying for jobs.

Essentially you've got to ask if you'd like to study at a university where you don't feel inspired and that you don't find attractive but will get what you think is a better degree, or study at Durham which is one of the most beautiful cities in England, will inspire you and make you happy, and give you a degree that might not be so 'academically credible' but you'll have had fun studying for.

i too am in the same position of deciding between warick and durham only i have bristol to think about too!

Excuse my ignorance but what is the 'DUNELM' part of the course? If i choose to do psychology in those two units, would it be credited by the BPS, allowing me to one day become a psychologist if i want?

Reply 12

OldBailey

Perdurabo

Excuse my ignorance but what is the 'DUNELM' part of the course?

'Dunelm' is a kinda suffix added to your degree title on graduation, that becomes an intrinsic part of the title, if that makes sense.

Perdurabo

If i choose to do psychology in those two units, would it be credited by the BPS, allowing me to one day become a psychologist if i want?

Not really sure at all, chap. I think there are certain modules you have to do if you want them credited - i.e. you can't choose random psych modules and have them endorsed if you haven't done the pre-requisites... I think that's how my friend explained it to me, but you'd be a lot better off asking someone at Durham/ Warwick who's in the know.

Reply 13

Perdurabo

1

great. thanks for your help.

Reply 14

covered farm wagon

OP

11

I am sort of leaning towards Durham today, although yesterday it was Warwick. Thanks for all your advice - I'm trying to be level headed about it and am going to visit Warwick and everything. Because I got pooled at Cambridge the implication is that I was a good enough applicant to study there, which makes me feel that I should strive for the next 'best' option (Warwick, I suppose), but I really liked Durham. Lots. Is it bad that the DUNELM part swayed my view so much? I like having funny letters after my degree title. Plus it's just such a nice city. I would like to live there. Plus it's a Cathedral City, like the cheese. Then again, campus unis might be fun too... even if they are in a field.
I'm going to research this more. Just to complicate the issue, I really like the look of the Nottingham modules (imagination especially, and philosophy of mathematics because not many places do that). Perhaps as my insurance if I pick Durham.
Lots of love
Emma
xxx

Reply 15

redcat

covered farm wa

I am sort of leaning towards Durham today, although yesterday it was Warwick. Thanks for all your advice - I'm trying to be level headed about it and am going to visit Warwick and everything. Because I got pooled at Cambridge the implication is that I was a good enough applicant to study there, which makes me feel that I should strive for the next 'best' option (Warwick, I suppose), but I really liked Durham. Lots. Is it bad that the DUNELM part swayed my view so much? I like having funny letters after my degree title. Plus it's just such a nice city. I would like to live there. Plus it's a Cathedral City, like the cheese. Then again, campus unis might be fun too... even if they are in a field.
I'm going to research this more. Just to complicate the issue, I really like the look of the Nottingham modules (imagination especially, and philosophy of mathematics because not many places do that). Perhaps as my insurance if I pick Durham.
Lots of love
Emma
xxx

I think you should go to Durham, with Notts as insurance. Not to be too crude, but people have described Warwick to me as 'a dump.' I'm sure that's not fair, but ... nobody describes Durham as a dump. It's not as if when you look for a job, people are going to go 'Durham, oh what a crappy university, now if only she had gone to Warwick we'd take her seriously.' Everybody respects Durham, regardless of where it may fall in newspaper league tables. The BigChoice.com graduate careers website lists Durham, Notts and Warwick all as among unis most popular with employers. I'm not saying this about Durham because I have any bias to Durham, in fact they rejected a member of my family that applied a few years ago :rolleyes:

But from stuff you've said, it sounds like your the kind of person who would enjoy that type of atmosphere more than you'd enjoy Warwick. I've read quite a few moans by Warwick students, but people all seem to love being at Durham and Notts.

Reply 16

TheSquirrel

I'm probably in the lucky position of having been to both Warwick and Durham!

I didn't do philosophy so can't comment on the department (although from what people have said it is a well run and rigorous course), but I have to stand up for my former uni and say that it is /not/ a dump!

Warwick is a campus uni full of (generally) nice, modern accommodation, impressive buildings, lots of greenery and quite a few strange sculptures. Durham is an ancient city full of history, tradition and some beautiful architecture.

To be fair Durham's Newcastle is a nicer city than Warwick's Cov but don't forget that there's also Leamington Spa (where a lot of Warwick students live in their 2nd and 3rd years), Straford-upon-Avon for history and Brum for shopping/nightlife.

They're completely different types of uni and I've appreciated seeing both. It just depends on what's more your cup of tea!

Reply 17

lilsunflower

7

I've got to choose between Warwick, Durham and Notts for Law! I kinda dismissed Leeds and Manchester already.... and Warwick doesn't really appeal to me.

These past few weeks, I've been very pro-Durham and I'm quite convinced that is where I want to be.

Good Luck in making your choice :smile:

Reply 18

haardti

Too late, but anyway:

The Durham philosophy degree has a rather huge amount of philosophy of medicine/science (they are only electives, but if you think it through, you end up taking several of them in any case), so it depends on whether you're into that.

Reply 19

tim1243uk

Durham would be my choice, when i went Warwick just didnt feel right for me, so its between Leeds and Durham for me. Dont choose unis on the basis of reputation unless you really have to, they're both top unis and if you think you'll be happier at the other go for it. Warwick, no doubt, is the "better" uni overall, ive no idea subject-wise.

Dont let the collegiate structure effect your choice too much however, to an large extent they're just glorified halls of residence (although they wont admit it!), the whole intercollege rivalry gets on my nerves and i dont even study there (yet...maybe)!

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