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Nottingham vs Leeds

I've received offers from both these universities (AAB) to study English and French. I'm awaiting decisions from two other AAA universities at the moment (rejected from Durham, boo.) But I cannot seem to decide between these two for my AAB option... both have such pros and cons. What is your opinion?

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Which one did you like?
Reply 2
I prefer Nottingham campus definately, its gorgeous. But as a city i prefer Leeds, though i may be a tad biased there.
Have you visited both?
Both are highly reputable unis with active student unions and great nightlife. The Nottingham campus is stunning so that would be a big push factor for me cos you get the best of both worlds.
Reply 4
I haven't visited either!
Nottingham ranks better (home and abraod), has higher entry standards every year , is more targeted by UK and world employers (high fliers survey and QS rankings). It also has the nicest campus.

No comparison really.
Reply 6
Okay I've lived in both cities and have very good knowledge..I'll tell you below the pros and cons

Nottingham University Pros:
-It has alot of friendly good students.
-There is a 2:1 Ratio of women in that interests you
-Good Nightlife

Nottingham Uni Cons:
-Teachers have 100s of students and don't; get any time to help you often.
-The area is known as the 'gun capital' and students are often targeted for crime. The town centre has had one of the highest number of student attacks in the UK and even killings in certain clubs.
-Nottingham town is very expensive as is accommodation
-People do not like outsiders in Nottingham, you will be treated differently in certain areas.

Leeds University Pros:
-The Teachers care more about students and will endeavour to help you even though they have 100s of students
-Smaller class sizes
-Friendly good students
-One of the best nightlifes in the UK
-Accomodation is cheap

Cons:
Well there's none!!
Reply 7
Original post by MrRS
Okay I've lived in both cities and have very good knowledge..I'll tell you below the pros and cons

Nottingham University Pros:
-It has alot of friendly good students.
-There is a 2:1 Ratio of women in that interests you
-Good Nightlife

Nottingham Uni Cons:
-Teachers have 100s of students and don't; get any time to help you often.
-The area is known as the 'gun capital' and students are often targeted for crime. The town centre has had one of the highest number of student attacks in the UK and even killings in certain clubs.
-Nottingham town is very expensive as is accommodation
-People do not like outsiders in Nottingham, you will be treated differently in certain areas.

Leeds University Pros:
-The Teachers care more about students and will endeavour to help you even though they have 100s of students
-Smaller class sizes
-Friendly good students
-One of the best nightlifes in the UK
-Accomodation is cheap

Cons:
Well there's none!!


To the three i've highlighted:
- Leeds is by no means any safer than Nottingham. Headlingley (student area) in particular is a target for crime. Not scaremongering but any large city is dangerous in certain areas and Leeds is no exception.
- Leeds is very much the same, as are most places with a high student population. I've seen a lot of stereotypes been said of the students in Leeds and many people don't like them.
- Also, i have many friends at Leeds university and they say that they haven't found many friendly people and that it is very elitist.. though this may be due to the course they were on (law). They have more friends at Leeds Met than Leeds uni.


Basically, both are similar in regards to the city safety ect. I prefer the nightlife at Leeds because there is something for everyone and it isn't just one type of music played in every bar.
Best advice i can give is to GO VISIT both :smile:
Reply 8
you definitely need to visit them before you decide :biggrin:
Reply 9
I know both cities very well (one my home town, one practically my second home)
Both have good nightlife, the women ratio thing is a lie though, i can assure you.
Calling Nottingham the gun capital is a bit unfair, all cities have bad areas and i can tell you i've lived there and have friends that have been to Uni there and have never even seen any attacks etc, it's the St Anns/Meadows areas that are the worst and I don't think students would probably be living there, very outskirts of St Anns if anything. Nottingham town is no more expensive than Leeds in my opnion, although i can't speak for accommodation.

But mainly we don't have problems with outsiders, I've always found everyone to be very friendly and welcoming. Obviously the further north you go anyway the cheaper and friendlier people tend to be.. but don't think Notts people are unfriendly, we're not :biggrin:
How can you all justify Nottingham as not being the gun capital. Saying it's safer than Leeds is absurd. I lived in Beeston in Leeds the most 'roughest area' and never had any problems. I doubt Stanningley would.

If you compare statistics and news articles- even Nottingham Police have been highly criticised as no one has faith in them and they were reviewed. Also crime rates in Nottingham are higher than Leeds.
Therefore it's not recommandable for any students. Your far more likely to be targeted in Nottingham than Leeds.
I have lived in Nottingham my whole life and actually crime gone down considerably.
There is obviously still some, and as it is a very studenty city and students are often easy targets as they have laptops and stuff. But I would say it's the same in every city with a lot of students -like Leeds.
Tbh it's if you do stupid things like walk down alleys in St Anns on your own at night or get in with the wrong people that bad stuff is more likely to happen to you, but it's just common sense you need in every city!
Nottingham also has a great uni and great nightlife :smile:

Whatever that person said about if you're not from here you're 'not welcome' is rubbish.. I actually found that more in Leeds when i visited as they said I wasn't a northerner and didn't belong :tongue:

Oh and the 2:1 women ratio is really old and for around 2 generations ago.. so in reality there's probably twice as many old women around as men, rather than 2 girls to every boy so sorry about that!

All in all I haven't lived in Leeds so cant say anything about it but Nottingham is a great city to be a student in.
Nottingham is a **** hole. It's full of BNP.Racists, chavs and its one of the top 10 worst places to live in the UK- FACT. Yeah the crime rate may have fallen but the city is still terrible just like it's highly crucified public force which has made headlines. And lol saying any student city will get attacked because they have laptops is a joke. Not all crimes are student related. Are you sure you aren't a unversity rep for Nottingham loool because you seem out to defend them with your life. I have also lived in Nottingham & leeds!

Original post by MrRS
Nottingham is a **** hole. It's full of BNP.Racists, chavs and its one of the top 10 worst places to live in the UK- FACT. Yeah the crime rate may have fallen but the city is still terrible just like it's highly crucified public force which has made headlines. And lol saying any student city will get attacked because they have laptops is a joke. Not all crimes are student related. Are you sure you aren't a unversity rep for Nottingham loool because you seem out to defend them with your life. I have also lived in Nottingham & leeds!


And your evidence for any of this stuff is? Nobody I know is a racist BNP supporter..
I'm not denying that it has it's bad parts but so does every city! I'm sure Leeds has some pretty nasty bits.
No I didn't say all crimes were student related but this thread is about being a student in a city so yeah it is true that students are often targeted for crime because they are more likely to have things like laptops/ipods etc on them.
and finally no I'm not a Nottingham university rep, I go to college actually.
I'm just someone who quite likes my city and was just expressing some of its good points!
You did exactly the same thing in the thread earlier.
Reply 14
Original post by darrochian
I've received offers from both these universities (AAB) to study English and French. I'm awaiting decisions from two other AAA universities at the moment (rejected from Durham, boo.) But I cannot seem to decide between these two for my AAB option... both have such pros and cons. What is your opinion?



First of all OP, congratulations on gaining offers from Nottingham and Leeds. Both are very respectable, highly regarded, solid Russell Group universities with good repuatations.

As others have said on this thread, you need to visit both universities in order to decide where you'd like to spend three years of your life studying and socialising.
(edited 13 years ago)
Reply 15
Original post by kbountra
Both are highly reputable unis with active student unions and great nightlife.



Very true. Not sure which one I'd pick if I were the OP becuase they are both fantastic unis.
Original post by Sophie K
Very true. Not sure which one I'd pick if I were the OP becuase they are both fantastic unis.


Yeah I'm actually having uni selection trouble atm.....it's Nottingham vs Warwick vs Sheffield and potentially :adore: vs Bristol. Love them all.
Reply 17
Original post by MrRS
Nottingham is a **** hole. It's full of BNP.Racists, chavs and its one of the top 10 worst places to live in the UK- FACT. Yeah the crime rate may have fallen but the city is still terrible just like it's highly crucified public force which has made headlines. And lol saying any student city will get attacked because they have laptops is a joke. Not all crimes are student related. Are you sure you aren't a unversity rep for Nottingham loool because you seem out to defend them with your life. I have also lived in Nottingham & leeds!



Woah, calm down. We're just merely trying to point out that there's good points and bad points about both cities. I really don't think the supposed "safety" issue in Nottingham is big enough to cause someone not to go to Uni there. It was in the top ten worst places to live in the UK about 5 years ago, notably the St Anns and Meadows areas we've already referenced. Equally, the Rushcliffe borough, about 10 minutes out of Nottingham city and home to a fair amount of students was on the top 10 places to live. It's not full of racists or BNP supporters, and I'd say there's no more chavs than there are in Leeds. In Nottingham I'd probably say there's a larger proportion of "alternative" types, in honesty.
Leeds, i agree, is a lovely city, although it has plenty of bad areas too: Chapeltown, Harehills, Gipton, Seacroft, Armley etc.. all big cities are the same. I can honestly say I've lived in Nottingham for 18 years and never been troubled by any form of crime (touch wood). And without being rude, the BNP have more seats in the Yorkshire and Humber region than they do in Nottinghamshire.. although to use this to generalise an entire city of people to be racist is silly.
Nottingham has the nickname 'Shottingham' for a reason...
Come off your dickhead horse love. Chapeltown is full of pussys. My little 10 year old brother goes down there. West Yorkshire isn't rough at all in any areas. It's just full of junkies and crackheads. But thats about it. Nottingham is 100x times worst. Crime rates and statistics further prove this. Just because you want to increase tourism to Leeds and your area dont start preaching your bull**** on here. We are here to give student fair points.And I wouldnt apply for Nottingham your guaranteed to get shot or robbed at least once in the city

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