If you could pick any uni, which would it be?

The beauty of old university towns in general is a major draw, as is the collegiate system. Neither of them are to everyone's taste but for those who like them they are frequently the major motivation for applying: as a university experience these factors offer something quite different from the norm.

This they do. However, it's a good idea not to get too sheltered from the real world or allow your head to become too big when you're inside those old, prestigious buildings and being told you must be one of the brightest students in the country (or in the case of Prince Charles, that you have a powerful family).

I pretty much did what everyone on this thread seems to be doing and I picked a place with a reputation for my subject (i.e. Edin). UEA is however probably the nicest university in the country without exception. People who say they fell in love with Oxford, Cambridge, LSE etc... are generally liars who are looking to justify their application on false grounds in an attempt to downplay the fact that they are chasing the prestige that an Oxbridge degree brings. I however did love UEA and if it could have offered me a course comparable to Edinburgh's then I would have taken thier very generous offer.

US uni's look good but they so expensive! but i really wanna go birmingham and study history (fingers crossed 4 august then!)

wow thanks for letting me know i didnt really fall in love with cambridge and i was just chasing the prestige, i was totally off the mark wasnt i?! glad i came onto this forum now as i was under a huge illusion but now the fog has lifted.

anyway enough of the sarcasm, ive been to oxford, ucl, cambridge and uea...to name but a few and i can honestly say i didnt think uea was any nicer than the others. not overly horrid (except the union, a big hole in the gound basically) but not imo not the nicest ever either. me thinks someone has a chip on their shoulder.

People who say they fell in love with Oxford, Cambridge, LSE etc... are generally liars who are looking to justify their application on false grounds in an attempt to downplay the fact that they are chasing the prestige that an Oxbridge degree brings.

The only question I would ask of anyone claiming to have "fallen in love" with ANY university is....have you been to see many others? I've found that several people I know have come back (specifically from Cambridge but I'll generalise) and said that they MUST study there because it is simply wonderful etc... These are the people whose motivation I question becasue they appear to be using that as an excuse to chase the prestige of that degree!!! Surely if you are to love one thing, you must have a comparison to something else which you do not like as much. I think that all too many people fall for the idea of studying at a prestigious uni so much that they could be shown around almost anywhere and they would instantly claim it to be thier favorite place on this planet.

I must be an exception. I've fallen in love with almost all the unis I have visited (bar Nottingham)

My mate has wanted to go to Cambridge since she was like three years old. She's one of those people who's brilliant at everything, I don't think she's ever got below an A in her life. She works so hard all the time as well, I dont think she has a life outside school. She went to the Cambridge day and hated it but she's still going to apply just because it's Cambridge. She's crazy IMO.

I'm sure you'll find one that will make you forget the rest!!! Probably based on something stupid like meeting a nice looking member of the opposite sex at a vending machine and them offering to give you a tour (or was that just me )

Now that is quite scary! Nothing is the same in real life as you imagine when you are 3!

I'm sure you'll find one that will make you forget the rest!!! Probably based on something stupid like meeting a nice looking member of the opposite sex at a vending machine and them offering to give you a tour (or was that just me )

Key word in my post being "generally". Hopefully you have the mental capacity to understand something other than overt sarcasm (which BTW usually uses impact when you actually point it out in the next line) and you acknowledge that at no point in this thread did I say "all". My perspective stems not from a "chip-on-my-shoulder" but from moderating countless, mind numbing threads from prestige chasing morons performing exactly as I had described earlier. I would suggest that if you feel the necessity to somehow respond in the manner that you did, perhaps you are the one with a grudge of some description?!? Also, I think you are perhaps the only person I have ever heard describe UEA's student union as a "hole in the ground" which only serves to highlight the varying ideals that exist between different people and thus the unliklihood of soo many people "falling in love" with these prestigious institutions (coinsidence....I think not).

There are many good reasons to choose not to apply to Oxford but worries about not being in the 'real world' really aren't on the list.