Bristol or York for Physics?

I am so so torn between these universities and I keep going back and forth between the two. The course structure seems to be virtually identical, they both have tutorials and seminars and about the same amount of time in labs, although I think Bristol is more prestigious for its physics course. However, the student life at each university seems to be completely different. Bristol has more of a reputation for partying and drugs, whereas York seems to be more tame in that regard. I am very introverted but do enjoy going clubbing occasionally, so it seems York would be suitable for that, but I much prefer the campus and city of Bristol. I would choose Bristol if I wasn't so scared about making friends similar to me (not super hipster or crazy about partying all the time). They are both about the same distance from where I live so that isn't a factor. Accommodation seems decent at both of them as well. If anyone could offer some advice I would really appreciate it

I'm going into my second year of physics at York and I'm very introverted. As with almost any university you look at, there is a clubbing culture that some people choose to opt in to. I know plenty of people who don't go clubbing or partying but they enjoy going to societies - there is a ridiculous amount of socieites at York (200 ish, give or take). Everything from Japanese to Sewing to LGBT to Lego to Political ones to Astronomy to Running, baking etc etc etc. And all the sports ones ofc. They are a great place to either go on a regular basis or dip in and out of. I've never been to a club and dislike parties but there are other things you can fill your time with. You will come across people who like that sort of thing in physics, physsoc here is a bit of a drinking thing altho they do have some good public lectures - but it makes the department better I think, because there's a good mix of different personalities. The uni is a couple miles from the city centre and the campuses are very green and have lots of wildlife. Accomodation on HesEast is generally 'better' as those three colleges are newest. Accomodation on HesWest is older, especially derwent, but cheaper. HesEast is fairly quiet most the time although Langwith has Glasshouse (a bar/restaurant) and Constantine has forum (another bar type thing). Let me know if there's any more you'd like to know or ask either about the university or the course

Thank you for the reply! What would you say the people are like in physics in general? Like is there a small community feeling or is it a bigger cohort? And is it friendly?

There's roughly 150 give or take 20 or so in my year - so its a bigger cohort but not huge. Then that splits off into experimental, theoretical and astrophysics. The experimental people makes up the biggest group which is then split in two for labs. I'd say you find friends naturally, as I said above there are plenty of people who like partying, plenty of people who don't - so just from sitting in lectures you sort of get to know roughly if people are extroverted or introverted. There are some people who I wouldn't want to get to know but that's very few (You get that on any course at any university though). It is a friendly department, again, there are some staff members who are difficult to talk to but that's how they work - a very student and professor conversation rather than confiding in them about things. The vast majority of staff members are approachable especially the people in the undergraduate office, the first year professors. It's different from sixth form (At my sixth form there was about 150 people total with 8 in my year for physics) but that's something that has to be expected, universities have to be a much more well oiled machine since there are thousands of students per university along with the large amount of departments. Having said that, I took a bit of a back seat this year and just let time happen and see what came along, I didn't force friendships or going places or whatever, and by Easter I had a group of close friends and knew York city well enough to get around without a map. Sorry, going off topic :P Physics has an open door policy, so if the member of staff is in their office and they are free you can just knock on their door if you have a question about lectures or anything. You also get to know people through problem classes, sometimes you work in groups, sometimes you don't. Again, any other questions don't hesitate to ask

Thank you so much for all the information. Do you learn programming at York? If so, what language and how useful is it? I really appreciate you taking the time to answer all my questions thank you

I am so torn between these universities and I keep going back and forth between the two. The course structure seems to be virtually identical, they both have tutorials and seminars and about the same amount of time in labs, although I think Bristol is more prestigious for its physics course. However, the student life at each university seems to be completely different. Bristol has more of a reputation for partying, whereas York seems to be more tame in that regard. I am an introverted person but do enjoy going clubbing occasionally, so it seems York would be suitable for that, but I much prefer the campus and city of Bristol. I would choose Bristol if I wasn't so scared about not meeting a group of friends. They are both about the same distance from where I live so that isn't a factor. Accommodation seems decent at both of them as well. If anyone could offer some advice I would really appreciate it