Optometry - Aston vs Bradford

Hi everybody,
I am back from SA, :biggrin:

and still haven't heard from Cardiff and Manchester.
So at the moment I have to decide between Aston and Bradford. I am unable to go to the dept open day at Bradford, and was hoping you could give me some pointers of which Uni to go for? We'll have to move as a family and husband needs to change jobs, but both Birmingham and Bradf/Leeds have lots of opportunities in his lone of work, so its basically up to my choice - HELP!! please let me know what youthink of the 2 departments and what you would choose....? Which degree will carry most weight - Aston/Bradf? :confused:

Thanks a lot! :smile:

Reply 1

Eyeball

anybody - pleaaaazzzzz reply with your opinions of Aston/Bradford...... even if its not optometry...
cheers :smile:

Reply 2

kikila

I can only really comment on Bradford. I had a few friends that went there. Please note my friends started their courses in 1998.

My friends were very happy with the teaching and the support from the teachers throughout their courses. But they didn't they did not like Bradford as a city nor the university.

They hated the fact that Bradford was so small and there was not much to do - my friend referred to it as a dump. They spent most of their free time in Leeds. In regards to the university they felt that it was practically falling down! They felt that the university did not seem to spend enough (if any money) on refurbishing the lecture theatres and other areas of the university that needed updating. This was especially acute to them as it was at this time that tuition fees were first introduced and they were wondering where their money had gone.

I guess it depends where your priorities are. The optometry course has a very good reputation and the employment rate of the people graduating from that course is excellent.

I would suggest that you go to Bradford for a day, have a walk round the university and the city and see if you like the feel of the place. Nothing would be worse than being stuck at a university you don't like after relocating your family.

Good luck!

Reply 3

White.Shadow

I would say Aston had better facilities, although I never saw either of them. Never fancied Bradford so didn't even apply there last year, and the Aston open day clashed with my Sheffield interview. Personally, I fell in love with Cardiff, and Manchester closely behind. Unfortunately didn't get the grades for either and am now doing orthoptics. If I were in your sitution, I'd weigh up the pros and cons of both, and see which comes out on top. I think Aston would be better though.

Good luck from me also. :smile:

Reply 4

Eyeball

hi, thanks so much for your replies :smile:

Just to confuse me a bit more, I now have an interview for Cardiff for the 29th Mar, didn't know they interview some students, maybe it's because of my international background and 'mature' status LOL. Anybody else had an interview? What should I expect???? :confused:

Also, haven't heard from Manchester yet....anybpdy still waiting for Manchester?
So I'll wait until I know what these 2 unis have decided and then go to visit cities/unis. I missed the Dept open days for both Bradf and Aston while I was away in SA :frown:

best of luck to everybody!

Reply 5

winged vertigo

Hey. I recently went to Manchester University Open day and I thought that it was an absolute dump! I was really excited before about going to Manchester and Bradford university and I was finding it difficult to decide which to accept as my firm choice. LUCKILY I went to the open day for both. Bradford university was FANTASTIC, the attitude was welcoming and the facilities were brilliant. The faculty were very helpful and at present the university was undergoing significant construction and so at first glance it was a bit messy, however the construction is nearly complete, so when I go in September it will be complete. The city was actually rather nice, it wasn't too big but there were plenty of things to keep me occupied, including hundreds of societies. Manchester on the other hand was AWFUL, I wrote lots of letters, phoned the department and sent emails in an attempt to find out where exactly I had to go for my open day. I recieved my reply from them, which was slightly annoying. Upon arrival I was shocked. Manchester was such a tip in my opinion, the University boasts great history , so I imagined that it would be like a bigger version of York, however this was far from the truth. I ended up just walking around the university, looking at different aspects. The university seems fine and of good quality, however the city put me right off and as a whole, it was far from impressive. The combined efforts of Bradford was far superior than that of Manchester, in my opinion. I have had alot of people who went to Manchester say what a dump it was and also those who visited open days, say how different (in a negative sense) it is in comparison to how it sells itself in the prospectus. When I went for work experience, with my local Optician, she told me that she went to Manchester, and that if it wasn't for the course being good (as good as that of most other decent optometry departments) she would have left, as she hated Manchester. I hope this sheds some light on your choice, as I before was finding it difficult to decide where to go to, but after my episode at Manchester, I know for certain that Bradford is my First choice, Manchester is my second, as I wasn't really impressed by my other offers.

Reply 6

Eyeball

hi, winged vertigo, thanks so much for your reply. Are you also from SA :biggrin:

? We are permanent in UK now, but are still SA citizens (dual). I think if nothing comes from Cardiff, I will go for Bradford....so all fingers crossed. :rolleyes:

Frances

Reply 7

winged vertigo

hey Frances777, yeah im from SA!!! :biggrin:

We are permanent residence aswell, I was born and raised in Pinetown, near Durban. Where are you from? Anyway, it would be cool if you went to Bradford, we could start a SA society :wink:

! Anyway, Im glad I was of some help, good luck with your offers.

Reply 8

Eyeball

yipeeee, another offer this morning, :biggrin:

cant believe it, Manchester - Unconditional! My eyes popped out. :eek:

Now Im more confused - where to go???? Also have the Cardiff interview in a week... and unconditional offers for Aston and Bradford.
Where are you and evrybody else going for Optom? have you decided yet?
anyway, chat later, need to check stuff about Manchester.

Reply 9

Imagination

If you are choosing between Aston and Bradford I would personally go for Aston mainly because it has an excellent reputation to sciency subjects so that is always a plus. Aston is also in birmingham so you will be in a nice city and Aston is just on the outskirts of the city center so you could go shopping whenever you like! Birmingham is very easy to get to and the second biggest city in britain. I'm not too sure about Bradford but my brothers friend went there and enjoyed the experience too, so it just depends on what you like! :biggrin:

Manchester is meant to be really good too. The campus is in the city itself which would be nice but I have heard the accomadation isn't as nice as other universities.

Good luck for your Cardiff interview!