Lancaster university Or university of Leicester

4

Hey, I am an international student!!
Confused between two universities 1)Lancaster university - MSc data science Oct 22 intake 2) University of Leicester - MSc advanced computer science with industry Jan 23 intake.
I want to know about unis, social life, and placement options (most important). Can someone tell pros and cons of unis that can help me choose between them?

Reply 1

normaw

Volunteer Section Leader, Clearing and Applications Advisor

19

@Ghostlady is the best person to advise you on this.

Reply 2

Lancaster Student Ambassador

Official Rep

18

Original post by ssc427

Hey, I am an international student!!
Confused between two universities 1)Lancaster university - MSc data science Oct 22 intake 2) University of Leicester - MSc advanced computer science with industry Jan 23 intake.
I want to know about unis, social life, and placement options (most important). Can someone tell pros and cons of unis that can help me choose between them?

Hi there!

I'm just about to graduate from Lancaster and so can give you a little overview of life at Lancaster. I've found that one of the things that makes Lancaster so nice is the campus: it's lovely and green and everyone lives there in first year so it's really easy to meet up with your friends and there's 150+ societies to join so there's always something to do. The city of Lancaster has a quite dense student population so there's always loads of events going on. The city's not big but in some ways, that's a pro because everyone lives within 15 minutes walking distance. There's a huge park called Williamson Park that hosts the festival Highest Point once a year, several theatres and loads of restaurants and cafes meaning plenty of student jobs, both on and off campus.
The train station is right in the centre of town and it's 1hr to Manchester, 1h30 to Liverpool, 2h to Edinburgh and 2h30ish to London depending on which train you get. The Lake District is also really close which is really lovely to go to for the weekend or a day out.  
The university itself has a collegiate system (as a Masters student you would be in Grad College), which is really great for student support and the Student's Union runs loads of different events every year from Freshers Week, to Roses (sports competition against York uni), Bonfire Night, the student nightclub and so much more.  

The University has also been consistently in the top 15 in the UK for a number of years, so it has a good reputation and there's a really great careers service which has really strong links with loads of employers which creates good opportunities for graduates and also people who haven't graduated and are looking for internships or placements, like you are.

In terms of placements, as it's in a masters, it would probably depend on the modules you do and your department and the careers service would give you plenty of support in terms of helping you put together your CV, applications and even preparing you for interviews. You'll find some more general information on this webpage and for more specific info for the MSc I would email the department at [email protected]

I hope that was helpful!

-Daisy (student ambassador) :smile:

Reply 3

Ghostlady

21

Original post by ssc427

Hey, I am an international student!!
Confused between two universities 1)Lancaster university - MSc data science Oct 22 intake 2) University of Leicester - MSc advanced computer science with industry Jan 23 intake.
I want to know about unis, social life, and placement options (most important). Can someone tell pros and cons of unis that can help me choose between them?

Original post by normaw

@Ghostlady is the best person to advise you on this.

thanks NormaW :smile:

Eldest studies at Lancaster, however I jave been to both unis on open day (physics)
Leicester does not have much 'green space' but has a bit of a park on the north end of campus. Lancaster, take your pick. There is a woodland walk which goes all the way around, the canal path, Lake carter and williamson park.
Leicesters accommodation is split between on campus like opal courts, or oadby student villiage which is around 15 mins on the bus to campus.
Ok you have to catch a bus every day to lectures if you stay at Oadby, but in Lancaster come year 2, if your living in the city you are catching a bus to uni anyway. Lancasters year one accommodation is on campus, and you do have the option of staying on there, which is nice. Lancasters city is smaller than leicester, but smaller cities usually have smaller crime rates. Lancaster still has all you need though. Leicester is bigger city, and its got good transport links if you want to go to London. lancasters still goes to London, takes about 3 and a half hours as its more up north, but is close to Manchester via train, and you can go to Edinburgh directly too.
Not sure on placements, but daughter on her second internship and she is a second year. First year was voluntary for a couple of weeks, but did help her get this paid one for this year. Leicester certainly has a city vibe and its very multicultural as well. Lancaster has lots of international students. Lancaster bonus you can get a train from campus to Morecambe seafront if you want a change of scenery.

The is a you tube called watchdevante . he went to lancaster about 5 years ago as an international student on placement for a term, and he vlogged like every day. you would have to go through his channel history but Day 1, the Departure is the name of the first one and just watch them from there.

If you are into clubbing then leicester might be better as lancaster had a couple, but Lancaster is big on the bar scene and has lots.
You can definitely tell thats Lancaster and leicester are a Campus v City uni, so its really down to your preference.

this is my blog here with photos of my daughters process/open days which has both lancaster and leicester
https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=6562744

Reply 4

turbobaithead

10

Lancaster

Reply 5

spooky_midget

11

Original post by ssc427

Hey, I am an international student!!
Confused between two universities 1)Lancaster university - MSc data science Oct 22 intake 2) University of Leicester - MSc advanced computer science with industry Jan 23 intake.
I want to know about unis, social life, and placement options (most important). Can someone tell pros and cons of unis that can help me choose between them?

i don't know much about lancaster but i am at leicester doing CS. overall, i think it's pretty good! i will say that there are definitely better unis for CS but it's still a great degree at a very reputable uni. the school of informatics oversees the CS-related degrees, it's an alright department but we have had some lecturers leave to go to better unis. some lecturers are great, some not so much - pretty typical. good range of course content and modules imo.

i think a degree in CS with a year's worth of industrial experience would do far more for you than a degree in data science, but i also don't know much about data science so take this with a grain of salt.
if you have any questions regarding literally anything about CS at leicester or just leicester itself, let me know!

Lancaster university Or university of Leicester

Quick Reply

Related discussions

Articles for you