Nottingham or Sussex?????

Hi everyone,
I'm having trouble deciding on universities. I have offers from both Nottingham (to study Politics with American Studies) and Sussex (to study International Relations), both offers were AAB, but Sussex just changed my offer to unconditional if I firm it. I was planning on putting Nottingham as my first choice and Sussex and my second. However, now I think it would be a mistake to risk my unconditional offer.
In terms of preference, I prefer Nottingham. I like that it's further from home (I live in London) and that it is more prestigious and traditional. I don't really like the 'bohemian' aspect of Sussex and it's lack of funding. I would feel like I would be getting more value for my money by going to Nottingham. I also know that Nottingham is very good at getting students jobs when they leave uni. However, I much prefer the city of Brighton to Nottingham.

Basically I really want to go to Nottingham but I am worried I won't meet my AAB offer and will kick myself for not taking my unconditional offer form Sussex...PLEASE HELP, thanks :smile:

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Reply 1

jelly1000

Original post by mlabstudent

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If you prefer the university go for Nottingham, but make sure you prefer it because of the course as much as its ranking because at the end of the day you won't be happy if you don't like the course. If you don't meet the offer and Nottingham don't accept you then you can always take a gap year, retake and reapply. It's what I did and I don't regret it one bit.

Reply 2

3458349058349053

Original post by mlabstudent

Basically I really want to go to Nottingham but I am worried I won't meet my AAB offer and will kick myself for not taking my unconditional offer form Sussex...PLEASE HELP, thanks :smile:

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In this wonderful era of 9k fees there is a possibility of them letting you in even if you slightly miss your offer. I'm sure I can recall it happening to a couple of people on TSR. Obviously listening to me comes with the risk of missing your offer and them rejecting you and you ending up nowhere. :biggrin:

I agree with the other poster that if you are unhappy with your offers then gap year + reapplying is another option. Say you drop to ABB you could still get into somewhere respectable with that. Do you have any other offers at present?

I started at Nottingham aged 20 and got far more out of it being slightly older and not that person who was confused as to why their laundry comes out of the machine wet. Genuine anecdote - I kid you not. :smile:

Original post by mlabstudent

I also know that Nottingham is very good at getting students jobs when they leave uni.

Without putting too fine a point on it not in my experience. The links with employers amount to a civil service talk and a talk from Yougov. The latter, when I mentioned my degree to the head of recruitment said rather curtly: "So what? I get hundreds of applicants with firsts. I get hundreds of applicants with Masters and PhDs". In my view careers stuff is the one weakness of the department.

Reply 3

mlabstudent

Original post by 3458349058349053

thanks for replying guys :smile:

I know I could take a gap year, however I am one of the oldest in my year and don't really want to be over a year older than everyone that applied. Basically I don't really want to take a gap year so will try and avoid it.

Thanks for your advice on Nottingham, could you possibly tell me more about your experience, for example the sort of people that were there, how nice the town was and just the general feel of the university?? thanks so much :smile:

Reply 4

3458349058349053

Original post by mlabstudent

thanks for replying guys :smile:

I said in another post with 200 societies, 70 sports clubs, great nightlife, all the events JCRs and Karni put on in halls etc you would struggle to have a poor social life. I was a bit worried when I started as to whether I would make decent friends but within a couple of weeks I’d made good friends on the course.

Although they are basically marketing events I’d book an open day as you do get a good feel from them. I liked the way that it was a campus university but with all the amenities of the city close by. It seemed to offer the best of both worlds.

In retrospect I think Nottingham strikes a good balance between academics and fun. It had a traditional feel but people still ‘Baywatch’ in Ocean of a Friday night. It is an academic university but not a hot house like say Oxbridge. In that sense I think it offers a much more rounded experience than many Russell Group unis.