Durham vs. Nottingham

Would prefer not to go to the North

Why? Are you still concerned over what an acquintance told you? He really did have quite a mistaken view of the region (some of what he said might have been true of some parts 20 years ago during the peak of industrial decline). Newcastle has regularly been voted a prime tourist destination in the country and Durham is beautiful. It's a very welcoming region. I'm not saying this because I'm biased, honest!

hahaha, I'm very impressed you remember that was me

And as to Durham, it's very prestigious and that's what solely matters to employers where I come from so it's the man attraction and it does look beautiful, but I've decided I want to be in a more vibrant city, at the center of it, for the first time in my life. I know Newcastle is only a short distance away by train, but honestly, knowing me, I will not find myself there very often, having to wait for trains etc. I'm sick of commuting to 'central areas', I want to be in those central areas. Which is why I think Nottingham is a better fit but around 4 hours away from friends and family :/ But at the same time, i also want the outdoors experience (hiking, mountain biking) that I cannot get here in the desert -.- A sense of student community would not go amiss either, as I'm not the best at socialising (from what I gather, Durham is very good for that)

And if you managed to get to the end of this post, well... respect to you And much thanks

So, LSE and Bristol are my first two choices.

Trying to decide on my third. Would prefer not to go to the North but as it is, most of the prestigious, attainable universities for my course seem to be found up there.

So Durham is more prestigious but Nottingham is also more good, my predictions exceed their requirement and the city looks so much better, albeit it's no London

Maybe Bath as my third choice? Just worried about it's high requirements and lack of international prestige when compared to somehwere like Durham.

And trust me, as an international student, it's all about international prestige.

Which course? May help a bit.

Economics

I'm a sad git I thought it was you but had to check.



If you want a larger city chose Nottingham then. Any university will have a student community in my opinion. Durham has its collegaite system and this is great if you want to take advantage of it but I feel it gets overplayed. I used to mention the benefits of the pastoral support they provide until they let me done (though I'm an exception). I don't really get involved with college stuff but haven't missed out on a sense of student community, I doubt things would have been any different at Nottingham in that sense.

Being on the East Coast mainline otf rains to and from Newcastle are regular. But it's not a trip I know any student make often (not even monthly - most go at all) so it is unlikely to be something you would do often.

Durham has an active hillwalking society, as well as a mountain biking society, and there are great places to do this (two national parks in the region, two more slightly further afield). Nottingham has a rambling and hillwalking society (and I assume it has a mountain biking one) so will still offer plenty of opportunities.

I can't really speaking on prestige at an international level. Domestically there's nothing in it. In international employer reviews I've seen Nottingham still ranks as high, or almost as high, as Durham and this is the only quantifiable evidence I can point to. You said you were from the Middle East, and Durham does have academic links with the (as I mentioned it is one of SGIA's strengths with both the Centre for Arab as well as Iranian Studies and ), Sultan bin Mohamed Al-Qasimi of Sharjah studied for his PhD here (and gave his name to SGIA's main building, and it has a reasonable intake of postgraduate students from the Arab Gulf, but this is unlikely to be noted by employers in the region.