Manchester or Newcastle uni for Modern languages?

When you’re considering top unis like these, you don’t need to get *overly* hung up on league tables and rankings imo. Both are superb for languages.

I think it’s more important to think about which course you prefer! You want to be interested in the modules, to make the hard work that little bit less taxing.

Also, any blending learning approaches may be a thing of the past when it comes to Sep 2022. (Touch wood..) So I probably wouldn’t put too much weight on that?

As for liking/disliking the cities, it’s a tough one. It depends on how strongly you dislike Manchester, or if it’s a question of finding the parts of it that you do really like. I feel you though - I’m going to Newcastle Uni this year and I feel more inspired by that city than by Manchester.

Best of luck

Hi, I'm applying for French and Chinese due to start in September 2022 and have narrowed down a shortlist of 5 unis. I can't decide whether to put Manchester or Newcastle as my first choice...

Manchester is higher on the league tables, has better links abroad, is a bigger city and language specialised. Also the modules look really interesting (e.g. I'd love to study Classical Chinese.)

However I don't like the city itself and the blended learning approach they're implementing.

Newcastle has pretty decent modules but they're mostly politics/history focused rather than being language and culture focused like Manchester which I'm not interested in. I really like the city and the atmosphere, my friend is going there, also pretty good links abroad. However, it's quite a bit lower on the league tables.

The entry requirements are the same.

I was set on Newcastle at the start but I'm not so sure any more...please help

Hello @yutaiscuter!

I completely agree with @biofrance in that you should make your first choice based on what modules you're interested in. I'd also recommend talking to current students or staff members via the Unibuddy platform, as it can help you understand more about the course and the modules offered. Here's a link to Newcastle's Unibuddy page: https://www.ncl.ac.uk/study/contact/unibuddy/

Hope this helps!
Nikhita