York or Southampton? Ahhh!!

I know, I know, these threads are not an unusual sight! But if anyone has any advice on this I would be so so grateful, I cannot tell you.

I want to study English lit, and have offers from both, AAA from York and AAB from Southampton - but I'm totally stuck on which to go for. Things I'm considering are prestige, distance (I live in Kent), cost of living, lecturers, and the type of student - though I realise the last one is pretty subjective and that you will usually find likeminded people at most unis. Also I'm interested in the nightlife from both.

Any help would be so incredibly welcome! Thank you!

Reply 1

ayesha2210

3

I live in York. It's ranked 7th on Times and Guardian which is pretty good. Its' further from Kent than Southampton is, so depends how far you're wanting to live from family. York is pretty expensive but student accomodation will be standard. You get all sorts of people in York. Very Friendly people here. Nightlife is great. Also I live in York.

Reply 2

Bagration

18

Yea, York is a lovely city. Surprising Nightlife for what it is.

Reply 3

ian_rider

8

soton sucks, go york!

Reply 4

panda-size

8

York, better reputation and better for your course.

I advice is totally unbiased because I chose soton as my insurance. (not that I applied to York) :p:

Reply 5

thisisyoursignal

OP

Thank you very very much for the replies everyone! Seems pretty unanimous so far..

The main problems with York are the distance, and also the course; it seems really quite challenging to me, presumably why it's ranked so highly for English lit. Something that does bother me about it is the compulsory language module, and assessment by verbal contribution - I am not so good at these things!

Would a degree from Soton truly be a mark down from York? It's hard to tell whether they're basically on a par or not.

Reply 6

ayesha2210

3

thisisyoursignal

It's hard to tell whether they're basically on a par or not.

http://extras.timesonline.co.uk/gug/gooduniversityguide.php?AC_sub=English&sub=12&x=7&y=15
York 6th for English, Southampton 11th

http://extras.timesonline.co.uk/stug/universityguide.php
York 8th Southampton 16th (York getting second place for Teaching Excellence, after Cambridge)

http://browse.guardian.co.uk/education?SearchBySubject=&FirstRow=26&SortOrderDirection=&SortOrderColumn=GuardianTeachingScore&Subject=English&Institution=
York 21st for English, Southampton 29th

Also I live in York! :ashy:

york blates

York and Southampton are just not on par, York has a much better reputation overall. Although Southampton is really up and coming but it is still about 5-10 places behind York.

Also York is known for its humanities courses whereas Soton is known for engineering and ocenology, so York wins hands down.

It also depend on what jobs you are thinking of doing, if you want to be a teacher then the uni doesn't really matter, but if you want to go into journalism then I think I'm right in saying the top places are quite snobby about universities.

Reply 9

thisisyoursignal

OP

thanks again for all your answers.. it's really helpful, since i'm so stuck! again still unanimous for york, and clearly the people that live there are definitely excellent!! i would agree that york is more known for humanities than soton. my english teacher did say exactly the same as you though, soton is going up - he seemed fairly neutral, though it could be an impartial teacher thing!

i am reticent to rely entirely on league tables - i know prestige is important, but as those times and guardian figures show, they're not always definitive. the two unis are high up on the times table for english, but not so much on the guardian one. though certainly york still comes out above.

the things that put me off york are the practical issues. it costs about £60 with a student railcard to travel home; also, the language module does scare me! i definitely won't have much money so shopping and things i would need to be pretty cheap.

one main thing that also draws me to soton is the music scene, however silly it sounds. i'm big on bands like we are scientists and the long blondes etc and i know they've both recently played there - whereas i can't find similar things at york. is there a particular popular scene at york? (i mean in the sense that some unis are sporty, etc).

thanks so much everyone! this is really helping.

Reply 10

thisisyoursignal

OP

also, i'm not sure on career path - which makes the decision even harder! i tried out an introduction to a journalism course, but didn't enjoy it, so i don't think it'd be that. otherwise, though, not sure!

Reply 11

panda-size

8

It sounds to me the only reason you are asking York or Soton question is because your head says York for its prestige but your heart want to go to Soton.

If the job prospect, course strucutre, the uni and the prestige still don't sway you then I think you should go where you are going to enjoy yourself.

I think you'll be very bitter if York doesn't satisfy you whereas you will embrace whatever southampton has to offer.

I'm not an English student so I don't understand the modules you'll have to do but if you feel more comfortable and confident with the Soton course and believe you can get a better degree classification at the end then Soton is the place for you.

Reply 12

s0phia16

i see your predicament, thisisyoursignal and i see how you see mine!
it's head vs. heart, isn't it?!
what is it that southampton has that these universities higher in the league table & renowned for english literature (e.g. york in your case & exeter in mine) don't seem to have?! i just...feel comfortable with so'ton!
sorry, i don't have very good advice...just thought i'd share my view too - we're sort of in the same position!
what worries me is the fact that exeter (or york in your case) is perhaps more renowned for english literature...its traditional suit is in the arts, whereas southampton seems to be a somewhat science-focused university...do you think this would affect job prospects? is it better to go to an "artsy" university or go somewhere with a fairly good international/national reputation overall?
decisions, decisions, decisions...
X

Reply 13

tigrrmilk

11

you sound like you want to go for southampton. the difference in 'prestige' isn't that much, and if you prefer soton then don't try and convince yourself otherwise - go for the one that you feel will be best for you.

Reply 14

ayesha2210

3

oohoo southampton devotees are out. That's all good but I don't live in Southampton.

Reply 15

mdhey89

ian_rider

soton sucks, go york!

What would an AS! student know about Southampton University?

Reply 16

mdhey89

s0phia16

i see your predicament, thisisyoursignal and i see how you see mine!
it's head vs. heart, isn't it?!
what is it that southampton has that these universities higher in the league table & renowned for english literature (e.g. york in your case & exeter in mine) don't seem to have?! i just...feel comfortable with so'ton!
sorry, i don't have very good advice...just thought i'd share my view too - we're sort of in the same position!
what worries me is the fact that exeter (or york in your case) is perhaps more renowned for english literature...its traditional suit is in the arts, whereas southampton seems to be a somewhat science-focused university...do you think this would affect job prospects? is it better to go to an "artsy" university or go somewhere with a fairly good international/national reputation overall?
decisions, decisions, decisions...
X

Just a quick fact, Exeter is not higher in the league table than Southampton. The Times (the most reputable league table) put us as 14th.

Reply 17

Fuzzy_Hamster

Also in the Times Southampton is above York ^.^. (note only by 2) Another point if we want to be snobby York is not a member of Russel Group but Southampton is. ^.^ Shall we all drink some tea on the lawn? *chuckles to one self*

Anyway Southampton pritty cheap for the South UK and not to far from Kent. You can get the good old South west train into London or use National Express (where you have to sit about for an hour in London userly.) Proberly take the morning or an afternoon to get here or there.

Reply 18

thisisyoursignal

OP

s0phia16

i see your predicament, thisisyoursignal and i see how you see mine!
it's head vs. heart, isn't it?!
what is it that southampton has that these universities higher in the league table & renowned for english literature (e.g. york in your case & exeter in mine) don't seem to have?! i just...feel comfortable with so'ton!
sorry, i don't have very good advice...just thought i'd share my view too - we're sort of in the same position!
what worries me is the fact that exeter (or york in your case) is perhaps more renowned for english literature...its traditional suit is in the arts, whereas southampton seems to be a somewhat science-focused university...do you think this would affect job prospects? is it better to go to an "artsy" university or go somewhere with a fairly good international/national reputation overall?
decisions, decisions, decisions...
X

the sciencey rep worries me too! it does seem to have prestige, but i worry it's in the wrong area, even though the english department is good. my english teacher did say its overall rep was going up, but i know he's diplomatic, so it's difficult to say whether he stills thinks it'd be a good place to go!

the thing that i like about southampton is the good pastoral care. maybe that's why we feel so drawn to it! and the lecturers i saw seemed friendly, approachable, and not hung up on prestige, even recommending royal holloway to someone who was interested in children's lit. i thought that was good, as it means they're not just obsessed with southampton being the only logical choice.

whereas when i went to york, they actually said to us 'i want you all to know you must be really really good as you got an offer!' (not word for word naturally, but the general gist). but i know that's not every lecturer there! it's difficult basing opinions for 3 years of study on one day!

soton does have a nice feel. but that's not to say york doesn't, and i'm assuming exeter too! do you feel any closer to a decision at the moment?

you are right fuzzy_hamster, soton wins practicality hands down. good music scene as well as accessibility to london, and if you fancy somewhere a bit more traditional, winch isnt far away.

oh man. it's practicality vs. prestige really. i really appreciate everyone's input here - in a total pickle!!

Reply 19

The Boosh

17

mdhey89

Just a quick fact, Exeter is not higher in the league table than Southampton. The Times (the most reputable league table) put us as 14th.

the telegraph puts southampton at 20 and exeter at 17 (this was the table that was supposed to be in the times last time round but for whatever reason the company that created the tables for the times stopped working for them suddenly)

the times this time around put southampton at 14, exeter at 17

the independent puts southampton at 20 and exeter at 19 (again, this was made by the same people that used to make the table for the times, before they ditched them)

the guardian puts southampton at 26 and exeter at 15

to be fair, southampton and exeter float about each year in similar places to each other (i.e. between 15-25), and both the current and original creators of the table for the times confirms this.

York or Southampton? Ahhh!!

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