Sussex or Keele University?

The north? Horrible, Sussex all day long.

Hi! I have put Keele as my firm choice as I was given an unconditional offer for physio. I visited on the open day & the day of the interview and it was by far my favourite out of all the unis I've been to. Everyone was so friendly and everything is on campus meaning it's so convenient. I don't like big city unis so if you don't either Keele is perfect! You feel extremely safe and it's such a beautiful place to wander round. I hope this helps you make a decision x

Hello all .

I am having a ridiculously hard time deciding between Keele or Sussex as my firm choice. I know at the end of the day it will have to be my decision, but i just wanted a little bit of info about Keele in particular as i have been to Sussex (and i loved it btw), but i haven't been to Keele as it is so far away (but from what i have seen online it looks beautiful too). I really don't care about league tables, i am not really that career oriented and reputation doesn't matter to me in the slightest. I just want the raw info. Which one in general has the nicer vibe?, which one has nicer people?, which one is more creative?, which one is less pretentious?.

In particular i wanted to know what the surrounding area was like at Keele because i've heard it is really boring, but honestly i don't really mind that too much, as long as there's something to do. Also, i would also love to know what the vibe is like there, is there a friendly vibe or not?. I have never been that far North before and so i don't want to make a huge mistake and have to move (i live pretty far South). Anything at all about Keele would be greatly appreciated, and if there's anything about Keele that you think is better than Sussex then please let me know. If it helps i am not really fond of big cities they give me a lot of anxiety, and also i plan on moving to Greater Manchester afterwards so i do realise that Keele is significantly closer to Manchester than Sussex is (Brighton is far too expensive). Oh and i also want to study Film Studies so whichever one is better in that regard would be great information to have too. (Personally, i love the Keele course a lot more than the Sussex one, the modules are far better but i don't mind them too much)

Anything at all would be great.
Thanks

Hi Izzy, I'm a third year student at Keele. I wouldn't necessarily say Keele is boring, yes it is in a rural location but there are often social events happening on campus (for example music nights at the SU) and there are many clubs and societies to join. Keele is also close to Newcastle under Lyme and Stoke on Trent where you can go shopping, or to the cinema, restaurants etc. I personally like the rural location of Keele, I find the woodlands and lakes appealing and going for walks around them is lovely on a nice day. Another nice thing about Keele is that everything you need is on campus, it has shops, a bank, post office, pharmacy and doctor's surgery, so you don't even need to leave the campus if you don't want to.

I think Keele has a good vibe, maybe because it's a campus university rather than one spread out across a city which would be less close-knit?

I also believe that one of the most important factors when choosing a university is the course content; if you enjoy the course then I think other aspects like location can be overlooked somewhat.

I'm afraid I don't know anything about Sussex so I can't compare the two, but I'm happy to try and answer any questions about Keele