Kingston university or Kent university?

Hey everyone, I really hope I get an answer for this thread I’m starting …

I have got an unconditional offer from Kingston and Kent University for Film Studies and Drama and Theatre Studies. Naturally, Kent University, being the better university, offers a much better course, better facilites, better reputation, higher ranking, beautiful campus and all that. However, I am an EU student and I don’t qualify for any maintenance loans to help with my living costs, so I need to take on a part-time job to help me with paying for my accommodation rent, food, books, travel expenses and all that. On the other hand, everyone is saying that it is extremely hard to find a job if I go to Kent University because Canterbury has very limited parttime job opportunities, whereas I won’t know which job to choose from if I go to Kingston because of all the jobs available.

Now I am fully aware that Kent is a great university and I should be happy to be accepted there and the course seriously looks great! Not that the course at Kingston doesn’t look good either, but I also know that, apparenlty, according to ALL the reviews I’ve seen, Kingston University is “s**t, only for dumb people, very college-like, not a proper university”. But I am travelling all the way from Cyprus to study in England and I’m going to be paying a great deal of money and I need it to be worth it. Is Kent really a dull place to live in? Will I be able to find a parttime job? Will I have to travel a lot on foot across campus from my job and to my classes? Apart from being at a good university and having an excellent course, I also need to enjoy myself being an international student living alone. Kingston is only 25 minutes away from central London; it’s located in a vibrant city, it has countless job opportunities, it has the “budget en-suite” accommodation option which is reeaallly small (I know) but it’s cheap and it has its own toilet, wash basin and shower for only 96 pounds a week, compared to all other prices in London. Canterbury is an hour and a half from London, so I'll be going there once every two months, if I have time! If I hadn’t read what people said about Kingston University, I would definitely be going there because it suits what I want. Yet, would I be stupid not to accept a place at Kent University and choose Kingston instead? Will I regret making that choice if I did? I mean, in the end, a degree is a degree, right? Especially for the kind of course I'm doing ... Will the reputation of Kingston university affect that?

Please, for those students already attending those universites and possibly the same course, could you advise me on what I’m supposed to do?

Tbh, if you know you prefer the course etc at Kent, I'd go there. I can't say much about Kingston obviously, and this post isn't meant to discourage you from going there if you want to, just to offer a perspective from someone who actually goes to Kent

Canterbury gets a bad reputation for nightlife, and to be fair it's not the best place if you do want to go to wild parties constantly, but it's not actually terrible either. There are plenty of pubs and the bars on campus are quite good, cheap drinks etc. There are a few clubs here as well, yeah they're not the best but they're entertaining enough for the occasional night out. If you did want to go out clubbing every week though, there's probably not enough variety to keep it interesting unless you are quite a boring person who likes everything to always be the same.

It does take a bit of effort to get a job but it definitely isn't impossible if you're persistent and confident - I have only ever had one job 3 years ago so my CV was crap, and yet I got a job this year, so yeah.

Drama at Kent is pretty good, the drama society is nice and there's always lots to get involved in. The range of societies is also really good here.

Kent uni also has a 'cheap option' as far as accommodation - Parkwood houses, I forget how much they work out to a week but they are really not expensive, and also not hideously bad. It's a bit hit and miss what sort of house/room you'll get but some of them are really quite nice - not en-suite though.

After first year, although on the whole Canterbury is expensive, if you're really really pressed for money it is possible to find pretty cheap housing, especially if you try to get it sorted early - I know people who pay roughly £300 a month for their houses. It's the exception rather than the rule - most are more like £350+ - but still, it's possible

It's really quite a personal thing though. Honestly, although I think as a studenty place Canterbury isn't bad, it's not my favourite city really. Most people I talk to don't agree and seem to love it; oddly it's mostly my friends from other countries who share my view.

Thank you so much for you helpful post!

You see, I'm not the kind of person that will go to ANY club at all ... I'm actually quite boring ... I'll be spending most of my time in the library studying and reading books, and if I wasn't forced to work, I wouldn't. But the thing is, I want to feel like I did come to England, you know? At Kent, I'll be trapped in a small village with no gigantic malls, cinemas and I won't be able to go to London that often either ...
I'm so sorry for complaining and making this harder. Thanks for the advice all the same.

I'll just firm Kent without thinking and see how things unfold ...