The Student Room Group

Should I transfer to another Uni

Im currently a first year Law student at the University of Reading. Dont get me wrong I can see quite a lot of the positive aspects of being a student here. This university has a pretty decent reputation for Law and offers a lot of opportunities (which i haven't really made use of) but my home city is Manchester and its abput 3 hours and a half away on train. I'm honestly pretty badly homesick and I feel that has been made worse with the fact that im in private accomadation. Basically i have gotten an offer to study 2nd year law after this year at the University of Keele which is about an hour away from manchester and costs 40 quid less for a return train ticket . Considering how important reputation is for law I was wondering if it would be worth it for me to transfer into a lower ranked University just to be able to visit home on the weekends and save a lot of money.
Reply 1
I’m not an expert but as long as the degree is the same I don’t see why it would matter too much. Just make sure the course appeals to you. It may help your studying to be closer to home just make sure you really research the course to make sure that’s definitely what you want to do so you don’t regret swapping
Reply 2
Original post by Jennab24
I’m not an expert but as long as the degree is the same I don’t see why it would matter too much. Just make sure the course appeals to you. It may help your studying to be closer to home just make sure you really research the course to make sure that’s definitely what you want to do so you don’t regret swapping


Yeah im not too sure myself but i think reputation matters a lot when it comes to Law. The course itself looks pretty decent. Thanks for the advice though!
Original post by Absmumbles
Im currently a first year Law student at the University of Reading. Dont get me wrong I can see quite a lot of the positive aspects of being a student here. This university has a pretty decent reputation for Law and offers a lot of opportunities (which i haven't really made use of) but my home city is Manchester and its abput 3 hours and a half away on train. I'm honestly pretty badly homesick and I feel that has been made worse with the fact that im in private accomadation. Basically i have gotten an offer to study 2nd year law after this year at the University of Keele which is about an hour away from manchester and costs 40 quid less for a return train ticket . Considering how important reputation is for law I was wondering if it would be worth it for me to transfer into a lower ranked University just to be able to visit home on the weekends and save a lot of money.


I understand that homesickness can be crippling, but is there no way you feel you could stick at it a bit longer? Any societies you could join to meet some people that could make you feel more part of the Uni? If not, it's cliché but if you're not happy and think you'd be better off at Keele I think you should go. Well-being is more important than prestige.
Can’t you go to the university of Manchester ? Or mmu / Salford ?
Original post by Absmumbles
Im currently a first year Law student at the University of Reading. Dont get me wrong I can see quite a lot of the positive aspects of being a student here. This university has a pretty decent reputation for Law and offers a lot of opportunities (which i haven't really made use of) but my home city is Manchester and its abput 3 hours and a half away on train. I'm honestly pretty badly homesick and I feel that has been made worse with the fact that im in private accomadation. Basically i have gotten an offer to study 2nd year law after this year at the University of Keele which is about an hour away from manchester and costs 40 quid less for a return train ticket . Considering how important reputation is for law I was wondering if it would be worth it for me to transfer into a lower ranked University just to be able to visit home on the weekends and save a lot of money.


The difference in reputation is almost non-existant, I don't think employers would even realise.

Go where you'll be happiest what will put employers off is what classification you get.
Reply 6
Original post by Supernova36
Can’t you go to the university of Manchester ? Or mmu / Salford ?


Honestly the way I got into reading was pretty flukey and going to mmu/salford would make me feel like I've basically wasted the entire year only to come back to somewhere I could have been from the very beginning. It would make me feel like I went through this experience for nothing . As for Manchester they wouldn't accept me cos their law school is ridiculously prestige lol
Reply 7
Original post by _Charlotte15
I understand that homesickness can be crippling, but is there no way you feel you could stick at it a bit longer? Any societies you could join to meet some people that could make you feel more part of the Uni? If not, it's cliché but if you're not happy and think you'd be better off at Keele I think you should go. Well-being is more important than prestige.


Thanks! I've tried a couple of societies but i think what makes it hard for me to fully immerse myself into this Uni is the fact that i still have very close ties to my friends in Manchester. Also I'm not sure if this is Law students in general but i find my fellow classmates in reading to not be my sort of 'crowd'. I'll try putting myself out there some more and see how i feel at the end of the year.
Original post by Absmumbles
Honestly the way I got into reading was pretty flukey and going to mmu/salford would make me feel like I've basically wasted the entire year only to come back to somewhere I could have been from the very beginning. It would make me feel like I went through this experience for nothing . As for Manchester they wouldn't accept me cos their law school is ridiculously prestige lol


What are your grades like? They might accept you; you don't know if you don't apply.

Reading and Keele, not really a difference in terms of rep for law.
Reply 9
Original post by Anagogic
The difference in reputation is almost non-existant, I don't think employers would even realise.

Go where you'll be happiest what will put employers off is what classification you get.


This puts me at ease tbh i probably would do better at keele.
Original post by Absmumbles
This puts me at ease tbh i probably would do better at keele.


It's a no brainer then :biggrin:

I'd check the course content as well as this is equally important, I couldn't see it differing that much though.

https://www.keele.ac.uk/ugcourses/law/
Original post by Absmumbles
Honestly the way I got into reading was pretty flukey and going to mmu/salford would make me feel like I've basically wasted the entire year only to come back to somewhere I could have been from the very beginning. It would make me feel like I went through this experience for nothing . As for Manchester they wouldn't accept me cos their law school is ridiculously prestige lol


It won’t be for nothing, you will have your first year grades and experience ! I do my masters at the law school at the university of Manchester and lots of students have come from many many different universities with their undergrads (including keele), it’s prestigious but don’t rule yourself out!
That being said , keele and reading have similar good reputations so it’ll just be like a side step in terms of that , but if you’ll be happier there it’ll be a huge leap in the right direction because that’s the most important thing AND you’ll probably get a better grade if you’re happy doing it !

Good luck xox

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