The Student Room Group

Help with choosing 5 Universities?

Hello,

I am a Canadian student finishing up my application to Senior Status (2 year) LLB programs for 2017.

The info I am currently using to decide on choices is limited to "Top Universities" rankings and some info I've seen around the web. Some personal experiences and insight would really help me during this time of confusion.

Right now I have University of Birmingham, University of Leeds, University of Kent, University of Southampton, and University of Exeter as my 5 choices (with University of York on the radar). Since I will be returning to practice law in Canada, the factors of a school that are most important to me are location (the city the school is located in), cost of living, quality of teaching, school spirit/campus atmosphere, and avoiding applying to schools that are generally looked down on as overwhelmingly inferior to the other options, etc.

*A little side bonus would be applying to schools with great cheerleading teams, as I was a University cheerleader here in Canada.*

Any and all opinions and guidance would be very helpful. I hope to finish my application and sort the top 5 choices once and for all by Friday.

Thank you!
Original post by cdav213
Hello,

I am a Canadian student finishing up my application to Senior Status (2 year) LLB programs for 2017.

The info I am currently using to decide on choices is limited to "Top Universities" rankings and some info I've seen around the web. Some personal experiences and insight would really help me during this time of confusion.

Right now I have University of Birmingham, University of Leeds, University of Kent, University of Southampton, and University of Exeter as my 5 choices (with University of York on the radar). Since I will be returning to practice law in Canada, the factors of a school that are most important to me are location (the city the school is located in), cost of living, quality of teaching, school spirit/campus atmosphere, and avoiding applying to schools that are generally looked down on as overwhelmingly inferior to the other options, etc.

*A little side bonus would be applying to schools with great cheerleading teams, as I was a University cheerleader here in Canada.*

Any and all opinions and guidance would be very helpful. I hope to finish my application and sort the top 5 choices once and for all by Friday.

Thank you!


Hi there,

Based on your choices, they all seem to be pretty good unis. I was in your predicament before, so I understand the uncertainty with regards to your choices.

The general rule is that the further north you go, the cheaper the cost of living would be. This would mean Leeds and York would cost less than the other unis. However, it would be further away from London and hence would be more difficult to get to (it is still possible to get there from Manchester, but this would require more travelling on your part).

If you are looking at reputation, then I'd probably stick with Birmingham, Leeds, and Exeter. The other unis you've mentioned are good, but I wouldn't put them at the same tier. As for the style of teaching, I believe York uses problem-based learning (as well as Exeter), which is different from the traditional style of teaching.

From what I know, Birmingham and Southampton offer Canadian law modules, which would be somewhat of a head start for you. If you want a uni with more Canadian students, you might want to gear towards Kent, which has a Canadian Law Society. Southampton also has one, which might work to your advantage for future networking opportunities.

All the schools you applied to are fairly good and wouldn't necessarily be "inferior", as the NCA don't really factor in the uni you went to.

Best of luck with everything!
I'd consider Leicester too. I know they have a lot of Canadian students.
Reply 3
Thank you for the information! At this point I am mostly concerned with details on the cities that the schools belong to. Insight such as safety, things to do, student atmosphere, etc.
Original post by cdav213
Thank you for the information! At this point I am mostly concerned with details on the cities that the schools belong to. Insight such as safety, things to do, student atmosphere, etc.


It'll be difficult to measure safety. Note that Leeds and Birmingham are really big cities, while Exeter and Canterbury are small cities/towns, so you are measuring a great spectrum of cities throughout the UK. Generally UK towns are pretty safe, so you shouldn't worry about that. Cities would obviously be a bit more dangerous, but that is attributed more to various pockets of areas which are more prone to crime.

I can't tell you about the student atmosphere or things to do, but other people might be able to help you with that. I know that many unis offer a club fayre, so you would be able to find something that you are interested in, whether it's sports or photography!

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