The Student Room Group

Which universities are best for physiotherapy

I am interested in studying physio and have done some research and i know which unis are rated top in the charts but i am curious as to what current students think. I am interested in applying to birmingham, nottingham, southampton, and then maybe cardiff or liverpool or chichester or plymouth or oxford brookes. Just wanted to know from current students or applicants why they chose to go to any of these unis and what they are like and also the facilities/course/city/campus etc as i really like the look of birmingham course and that it is 4 years but i also come from a small town so not sure if will suit me big city
I believe most accredited courses are run in line with NHS requirements and include placements within the NHS, as such I don’t think the university is a hugely important factor with regards to jobs after graduating.
(edited 1 year ago)
Reply 2
This is a useful guide re: student views:
www.theuniguide.co.uk

Hope it helps…
My daughter applied to UWE UEA Nottingham Suffolk and Worcester
She has 4 offers Nottingham turned her down on her personal statement not grades (not sure why when the rest were impressed she even had work experience in hospital)anyway she really likes UWE as all the health professionals are in one campus living and studying most of the modules are the same in all uni it how they teach block learning or all together and if placement start in y1 or 2
I think you have to get feel for the uni,how far accommodation is from your study and train station as you will be travelling to placement catered is not much good as you won’t be there if on 1st year placement these are all thing we looked at hope it’s helpful
Ps Nottingham self catering accommodation was 20 min away from where you study that’s a long walk when raining and late
Good luck

Original post by Milliewest2
I am interested in studying physio and have done some research and i know which unis are rated top in the charts but i am curious as to what current students think. I am interested in applying to birmingham, nottingham, southampton, and then maybe cardiff or liverpool or chichester or plymouth or oxford brookes. Just wanted to know from current students or applicants why they chose to go to any of these unis and what they are like and also the facilities/course/city/campus etc as i really like the look of birmingham course and that it is 4 years but i also come from a small town so not sure if will suit me big city
Original post by Mumof student
My daughter applied to UWE UEA Nottingham Suffolk and Worcester
She has 4 offers Nottingham turned her down on her personal statement not grades (not sure why when the rest were impressed she even had work experience in hospital)anyway she really likes UWE as all the health professionals are in one campus living and studying most of the modules are the same in all uni it how they teach block learning or all together and if placement start in y1 or 2
I think you have to get feel for the uni,how far accommodation is from your study and train station as you will be travelling to placement catered is not much good as you won’t be there if on 1st year placement these are all thing we looked at hope it’s helpful
Ps Nottingham self catering accommodation was 20 min away from where you study that’s a long walk when raining and late
Good luck

Hi @Mumof student :h:

Congratulations to your daughter on all of her offers - that is amazing! Just wanted to pop by and say if your daughter or yourself have any questions about UEA or being a student in Norwich then do feel free to let me know! Hope she has a wonderful time wherever she ends up studying.

Danielle :smile:
Film and Television Studies
Original post by Milliewest2
I am interested in studying physio and have done some research and i know which unis are rated top in the charts but i am curious as to what current students think. I am interested in applying to birmingham, nottingham, southampton, and then maybe cardiff or liverpool or chichester or plymouth or oxford brookes. Just wanted to know from current students or applicants why they chose to go to any of these unis and what they are like and also the facilities/course/city/campus etc as i really like the look of birmingham course and that it is 4 years but i also come from a small town so not sure if will suit me big city

Hey, Physiotherapy applicant here with my offers for September 2023. My firm is Southampton and my insurance is UWE. I definitely recommend both of these however I chose Southampton over UWE as it was the uni that made me fall in love with the course, it has higher grade requirements (mine being ABB + A in my EPQ or AAB) compared to UWE at 128 UCAS points.
Physiotherapy as a whole is very competitive with soton being one of the most competitive physio courses as it has less than 40 students per cohort. This is another reason I chose it over UWE, I have people I know in UWE that love it but due to the larger cohort sizes they have difficulty placing students and some have to do research placements. Whereas the small cohort of soton means you’re going to get clinical placements and it was really appealing to me as well as getting over 1200 hours of placement.
Both soton and uwe gave very similar feelings in the terms of interviews, both were looking more at you as a person and they give interview invites based on personal statement as long as you meet the minimum grade requirements. I’m definitely bias for soton as it is my firm choice but it is number 2 for physio and number 1 for BSc physio.
UWE is definitely more inclusive and they are awesome for that, I always suggest them to mature students. And they are more forgiving with grades as they aim to look for the person rather than just the grades which I think is why it is a well loved uni for physio.
Look at the course modules each uni offer and like med apply strategically as it is a very competitive course. Let me know if you want to know anything about Southampton or UWE for physiotherapy or the universities in general. I’m also coming from the countryside so understand how daunting cities can be. Best of luck 🫶
Original post by Milliewest2
I am interested in studying physio and have done some research and i know which unis are rated top in the charts but i am curious as to what current students think. I am interested in applying to birmingham, nottingham, southampton, and then maybe cardiff or liverpool or chichester or plymouth or oxford brookes. Just wanted to know from current students or applicants why they chose to go to any of these unis and what they are like and also the facilities/course/city/campus etc as i really like the look of birmingham course and that it is 4 years but i also come from a small town so not sure if will suit me big city

Hi there,


Great to hear that you are considering apply to Liverpool! If you have any questions about the University of Liverpool, or the city itself then feel free to ask

Malachy - University of Liverpool
Reply 7
Original post by Feeb_05
Hey, Physiotherapy applicant here with my offers for September 2023. My firm is Southampton and my insurance is UWE. I definitely recommend both of these however I chose Southampton over UWE as it was the uni that made me fall in love with the course, it has higher grade requirements (mine being ABB + A in my EPQ or AAB) compared to UWE at 128 UCAS points.
Physiotherapy as a whole is very competitive with soton being one of the most competitive physio courses as it has less than 40 students per cohort. This is another reason I chose it over UWE, I have people I know in UWE that love it but due to the larger cohort sizes they have difficulty placing students and some have to do research placements. Whereas the small cohort of soton means you’re going to get clinical placements and it was really appealing to me as well as getting over 1200 hours of placement.
Both soton and uwe gave very similar feelings in the terms of interviews, both were looking more at you as a person and they give interview invites based on personal statement as long as you meet the minimum grade requirements. I’m definitely bias for soton as it is my firm choice but it is number 2 for physio and number 1 for BSc physio.
UWE is definitely more inclusive and they are awesome for that, I always suggest them to mature students. And they are more forgiving with grades as they aim to look for the person rather than just the grades which I think is why it is a well loved uni for physio.
Look at the course modules each uni offer and like med apply strategically as it is a very competitive course. Let me know if you want to know anything about Southampton or UWE for physiotherapy or the universities in general. I’m also coming from the countryside so understand how daunting cities can be. Best of luck 🫶
If you ended up going southampton for physio how is the uni and the course as im looking to put it as my firm
Reply 8
hey im yr 13 rn going to do physio at plymouth in september assuming i get the grades!!! i also applied for nottingham and birmingham and oxford brookes (they offered me an interview but i swapped them for another uni jus cos oxford is too close to home for me, otherwise i defo wld have considered it further!)out of ur options, nottingham rejected me... i think they were just oversubscribed as i had 2 lots of work experience and strong personal statement and my predicted was a* a b so it was plently high enough! plymouth were the most like 'active' uni and seemed to put the most care into my application, and clearly put in lots of effort for me to go there. bham didnt get back to till the other week with an offer since my interview in december. i went to a bham like open day/taster lecture the other week and it did seem rlly good, but i dont think the actual courses vary at all with physio. i asked a Question to the lecturer abt the benefits of their 4 yr course and in short he basically said it wasnt any extra benefit unless you want to go into research after u graduate, the NHS is short on physios so basically wherever u go u will get a job later on, so i got the hint that maybe 4 years is a waste of money... however bham was a VERY nice (probs the nicest out of the 3) campus, but the city is not the greatest. plymouth and nottingham campus are mid and i havent personally seen nottinghams city, but out of birmingham and plymouth, pkymouth was by far the prettiest place and i basically instantly wanted to live there!!! if you are into the research element and do want to 4 years but think birmingham may be too big, then plymouth also has a 4 yr course and a 3 yr course, and you can start with the 3 yr course and can transition to the 4th year if you want to after studying there for a year! Im from near oxford so maybe im biased but i think plymouth and oxford are of a similar size, smaller cities, and oxford is very pretty too, but not beachy so didnt stand out above plymouth!!! but i defo think oxford was a nicer city than bham, but not as nice campus! all courses have the same facilities pretty much, and the physio faciltiies for lots of unis tend to be a but further away (like a bus ride away) from the main campus. the only 2 unis where the physio campus was near/only a short walk from the main campus was in plymouth and birmingham. I hope this helped!!! make sure you contact a main hospital asap if u do wanna do physio cos every uni wants work experience in hospitals but its not easy to get so you have to get in there first!!! good luck for the next year x

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