How do yr 12 choose a university? Help!

Howdy fellow TSRians. I have to create a presentation for a job interviewing talking about how year 12s choose a course and a university. It would be sooo helpful if you could tell me how you chose yours.

In particular, what factors influenced your decision? How much of it was about your interests in terms of the subject, the decision about whether to go to university far away and live in halls or close by home, the considerations of whether the university would fit in with your personality and so on?

Reply 1

midgemeister7

Original post by SignFromDog

Picked ones that were high up the league tables for my course and I liked the feel of when I visited

Reply 2

LaughingKitsune

Ignore the above troll.

Universities have a lot of open days, but I assume everyone starts researching online, either through UCAS or the universities they know about. Then there's also open days and conventions (I went to a university convention at a university, where I ended up picking up a load of prospectuses). Also look at the NSS survey results, especially employability and reviews of the course.

I weighed up the universities online (based on the ones that impressed me during the convention and other further research), looked at courses that I was focusing on, and saw which ones were the best for me in terms of content. Then it came to the universities themselves - which ones had the best student life, how far away they were, etc.

I ended up choosing five different universities, two of which were fairly local, another that I could get to by train, then one in London and one further afield. I ended up with two interviews and a portfolio assignment. Got a straight conditional offer from the fourth uni and withdrew my application for the London uni (I was unable to make the interview due to the time and lack of money/transport.

Reply 3

Tazza'sNightmare

Original post by LaughingKitsune

Lol u probs applied for media studies or something U mad?

Reply 4

SignFromDog

Original post by LaughingKitsune

Thanks for your very substantive answer :smile:

Much appreciated.

I wanted to zoom in on one particular aspect; did considerations of "Does this university fit my personality / how I picture myself in three years time"? go through your head? In essence, what I mean is a kind of question of fitting the brand to the person, did you consider things like "Wil there be people like me there? Will I have fun?" and so on?

Finally, just on the issue of subject choice, was it a subject you were interested in for a long time? And how open were you to picking another subject if the university met the other requirements?

Reply 5

Viva Emptiness

I chose a random selection of universities that did my course from **** to excellent and then accepted the first offer that came through.

Though that's probably an atypical approach...

Reply 6

LaughingKitsune

Original post by SignFromDog

Thanks for your very substantive answer :smile:

Yeah, all of those questions I thought about, even just a little bit. There were people like me in the university, and I did have fun to some extent.

I will reply to another poster here by saying yes, I did choose a Media-based subject. Thinking about it, I didn't think of where I'd be in three years after graduation until I was actually on the course, and I didn't appreciate the outcome. I was very much interested in the subject for a long time, but I think I chose the wrong subject. My boyfriend went to the same university on a different course, but even he was let down by the standards of the university.

I think in the end, I was more impressed with the city than the university itself. If I could do it over again, I would have gone as far as redoing my GCSEs (got average grades) and A-Levels (same there), picked different subjects and gone to a better university.

I love the Business course I'm on now (it's at a F.E./H.E. facility) but I wish I had researched more instead of picked a university because it was 'the right thing to do'. I know Business is a vague subject, but it opens more doors than Media will.

Reply 7

SignFromDog

Original post by Viva Emptiness

I chose a random selection of universities that did my course from **** to excellent and then accepted the first offer that came through.

Though that's probably an atypical approach...

Out of interest, was there any consideration of how the "brand" fitted your personality and aspirations? Did you think about things like "Will there be people like me there? Will I have fun?" and so on?

What influence did location have?

Reply 8

Viva Emptiness

Original post by SignFromDog

I only visited two of my selections, Warwick and Leicester. I decided I liked Leicester better because of it's location and campus and is ultimately where I ended up going.