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Bristol or Sheffield?

I was just wondering if any of you guys could help me with this decision. I've got offers from both to study law but I can only pick one as the offers are basically the same.

Currently I really like the look of the course at Bristol but I like Sheffield more as a place I think. Any advice would be great.

Thanks.

Reply 1

Scipio

13

In terms of job prospects and rep, Bristol for certain.

Reply 2

brabzzz

14

Bristol, without a doubt. It p1sses all over Sheffield (with the possible exception of cost of living). Especially for something as highly competitive and 'rep' influenced as Law, stay down south. ;-)

Reply 3

Clarence

14

I'd go for Bristol mate!

Reply 4

Student2000

Go with Bristol- it is easily the better of the two.

Reply 5

Guitarmarama

1

I think Bristol is more recognised for law, but I know many people studying law at sheffield and they are having an amazing time. I don't see how someone can say that you'll have a better time at one uni than the other because hardly anyone experiences two unis in their undergrad years. However I can say that Sheffield is an amazing place to live and the uni is excellent.

Reply 6

brabzzz

14

Whilst that is true, and anyone would be hard pushed (and silly) to really really argue one is better than the other -as a place to live- (especially as they won't have lived at both during their first degree), Bristol IS a (much?) better Uni. Unless there is a massive, overwhelming and unsurmountable reason not to, that seems like the logical choice.

Reply 7

Fergatron

OP

Well thanks for your advice but I guess i agree with Guitararama in that its hard to compare both based on experiance. I know theyre both great universities with apprraently an almost equal reputation, so I don't think it'd be crazy to go with Sheffield. Anyway thanks again.

Reply 8

c0co

12

Go for Sheffield if you like it better, it sounds like it's where you want to be! Both are good unis.

Reply 9

pol_student

8

Sheffield is a great uni and a great place to live. As these are both good unis, go with whichever place you think you are going to like more.

Reply 10

swallows

7

I'm not entirely convinced by the people who say Bristol 'p*sses all over Sheffield.' Sheffield Uni has a great reputation in its own right, and I believe was the Sunday Times' uni of the year a couple of years back. It has some of the highest qualified entrants of any uni and always appears very highly on lists of the world's top unis (possibly even higher than Bristol), and also figures very highly on lists of universities that employers target. I know several people who go to both unis and I get the impression that the ones at Sheffield are having a better time (possibly something to do with the social make-up of the students but I don't want to generalise). As a place I prefer Sheffield, which is apparently Britain's safest and greenest city (as well as being one of the largest), and I certainly enjoyed it when I visited. I highly doubt that employers would consider one to be all that much better than the other in terms of overall rep (Bristol obviously has a good rep, but it seems to rely rather heavily on its percevied reputation than its actual quality - it just seems to be a little on the way out in a similar way to Durham if you know what I mean). Therefore - I would pick Sheffield every time, mainly because it doesn't seem to be as up its own a*se as Brizzle and quietly gets on with being a good uni.

Reply 11

Profesh

20

Put simply; Bristol is per se better than Sheffield for Law.

Reply 12

Apricot Fairy

16

Fergatron

Well thanks for your advice but I guess i agree with Guitararama in that its hard to compare both based on experiance. I know theyre both great universities with apprraently an almost equal reputation, so I don't think it'd be crazy to go with Sheffield. Anyway thanks again.

Sheffield is a great uni, but I don't think it's fair to say they have an equal reputation, especially for law, where Bristol is particularly highly regarded.

To be perfectly honest, I disagree with the people who say you should choose the uni you like best. You can't really make an accurate judgement on a place based on one or two visits. Unless there's a really massive lifestyle difference, for example, choosing between UCL and St Andrew's, I don't think it really matters. Bristol and Sheffield are similar in terms of size, and you'd have a great time at either. So personally, I'd go with the reputation.

Reply 13

brabzzz

14

swallows

Bristol obviously has a good rep, but it seems to rely rather heavily on its percevied reputation than its actual quality.

Yes and no.

'No' in the sense that Bristol does have a good reputation, and quality - fulltstop. Apps to places is second only to the LSE I believe, and that's as good a measure of reputation as anything.

'Yes' in the sense that perceived reputation is as (or more than) important as actual reputation. That's even more apparent at Undergrad level (which, whilst 'up there' on the academic scale is actually something 25m* people a year achieve and is therefore nothing special). Unless you're hell bent on academia (and in that case the fact that somewhere like SOAS has an excellent course in urdu outweighs the fact nobody has heard of the place), you're better off somewhere that has a good perceived reputation than somewhere that 'quietly' (=less rep?) goes about being a good uni, imho. From an employment point of view certainly,

* : made that number up.

In all fairness, i don't think where you go has any impact on anything, unless you have a handful of careers in mind. I'd have thought law was one of those where it might matter though (I'm no Lawyer, so i don't really know).

People saying people have a better time at X than Y uni for reasons Z is a load of crap too. My limited sample of 6 indicates 6 of my mates had a medicore-to-totally-crap time at Warwick. Would you therefore not go to Warwick based on that? My biased sample of 'my experieces and those i know' at Bristol suggests it's the best place on Earth....and is about as useful. Maybe the recently dumped, failing, 1st year with the flu who didn't get into halls would disagree? etc etc you get the idea. Look beyond first, second and third impressions/visits. Look beyonf people saying 'this place is ace/crap'. That pretty much leaves 'reputation' as the only criteria. Choosing to ignore that is as rational as it is irrational. I picked Bris over York, UCL and Durham based on a 'feeling i'd like the place'. That would seem like a perfectly good reason to pick Sheffield too.

f*** me what a long post.

Reply 14

chemtrails

Best thing about Bristol? The road out of it.

Choose Sheffield. Great atmosphere, nightlife and character and you aren't down south... which is, obviously, always a good thing.

Reply 15

Fergatron

OP

Wow this getting even more confusing :smile:

I guess I'm worried that I'd only go with sheffield because it's closer or reminds me more of where I used to live. However, i don't want to go for Bristol just because it's got a slightly better rep. I was wondering if anyone knew what the courses are like at Bristol and what the tutorials and lectures are like in size? The lectures at sheffield are about 250+ people and the tutorials are at least 19, which tbh kinda put me off.

Reply 16

Amnesia

2

Pick Bristol. It quite simply has a better reputation, better employment prospects and is probably a nicer city as well. I can't believe the original poster is finding the decision this difficult!

Reply 17

kalen

8

Just to add my 2 cents in the rep debate, I think Bristol has got more than just a "slightly better rep" and it's really difficult to judge a place as the one you think you'll like better based on an open day... therefore, the logical factor to base a choice on is reputation. I'd go for Bristol.

Reply 18

showdown_counts

1

Hear it from me...I chose Bristol as Firm and Sheffield as Insurance. Bristol is a damn good uni...but Sheffield isnt also a bad uni. Both uni has good job prospectus and both have good reputation (although Bristol has a excellent reputation and a tad better than Sheffield). So if u go with Bristol....good for u, but if u choose sheffield, u wont be the loser either. :smile:

Reply 19

evilheat

1

Would it really make such a huge difference in terms of prestige? They're both Red Brick, and neither of them are "Magic Circle". I have no idea, I think someone who has actually graduated with a Law degree should answer this one. Employers don't care what people on TSR percieve as being more prestigious, so you need information from someone with good insight into what employers (Law firms in particular I guess) think of these two universities. For what it's worth, my mate is doing law at Sheffield and enjoying it.

Bristol or Sheffield?

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