Cannot decide

I applied through clearing for History. I do plan on either joining the Civil Service OR converting to a Law degree but I decided on doing a history degree because I’m more likely to get a first than if I did a law degree. Especially considering I have taken 2 gap years and I am not sure if I would be able to manage the academic rigour of going head first into a law degree. I did do some online courses to try to build up my academic skills before university. 1 in history, 1 in law and 1 in Spanish.

I applied through clearing to the University of Nottingham for History with a foundation year. (4 years)

I also applied through clearing for French and Spanish at Cardiff University. (4 years)

I know they are both Russel Group universities and that holds some weight with law firms as they prefer Russel Group graduates.

Pros of Nottingham:
- I visited the campus last year and loved how beautiful it was. Nice Student Union building, arts department building,engineering building etc. Nice library. Decent accommodation.
- Better facilities, gym, swimming facilities, exercise classes
- A LOT of societies. But, to be fair, I won’t have all the time in the world to attend every single society I am interested in. Some of the societies they have that relate to my future career are also societies that Cardiff has. Pro Bono society, Amnesty International, language societies etc.
- Seems a bit more diverse than Cardiff, although Cardiff does seem like a lovely city and quite friendly.
- Midlands uni - a LOT of other universities in the surrounding cities which creates a fun student atmosphere. Huge student population in Nottingham. Uni of Nottingham alone has 42,000 students. Cardiff has 33,000 which isn’t far off.
- 70 sports clubs
- Great transport system with trams, buses and the university has provided buses for students to get from campus to campus and to the city centre.
- Living somewhere that has beautiful scenery, nature and environment has always contributed to me in being able to have good well being.
- For history, they are ranked at 19th in the UK according to the Complete University Guide
- History department is bigger than Cardiff’s School of Modern Language, which is located in what appears to be a house.
- Uni of Notts is 28th for this year.
- 80 sports and 200+ classes per week.


Cardiff for French and Spanish

Pros :
- Being able to speak these languages could be very beneficial for law as a lot of law firms are going international and this could give me a bit of a USP compared to if I did a history degree. I have also always wanted to potentially live abroad. Montreal, Latin America etc. But, to be fair you do not NEED to know French to live in Montreal.
- 60 sports clubs
- I like the modules. They also have French, Hispanic, French-African and Spanish history modules which probably has an edge over the history course as the history course is just straight history and no language.
- I have tried to self teach Spanish and French over the past 2 years and I think doing a degree in it would probably be better as its a straightforward route to being fluent and it would open up opportunities in different countries.
- Get year abroad in 2 different countries to study or work or volunteer in a school. I think this could be an amazing opportunity to develop myself, open up my world view, enrich myself and its obviously an immersive experience. Some of the options include: Quebec, Paris, Marseilles, Bordeaux, Barcelona, Valencia, Madrid etc. Paris would be a great opportunity because of it being a major international city and extremely diverse in culture too which should be fun as well. Also, the year abroad is £1350 which is much cheaper than the foundation year which is £9250.
- Really hard to find modern languages league tables but according to the Guardian - who always have questionable rankings IMO - Cardiff ranks as 30th in the country for it. However, their general ranking is 21st for this year which is good.
- Around 2 hours from London by train if I ever need to go there for concerts as I’m not sure if a lot of concerts happen in Cardiff. I’ve tried to see but cannot find info on this.
- Nature, mountains, Bute park. Good for a jog or bike ride.
- Easy to commute into the city, about 20 or 30 minute walk.
- 60+ sports

Cons
- Have not been able to visit the campus. Looked at their school of Modern Languages department online and saw it is very small, the size of a house. I do not know if they have lectures there or seminars but it is very small.
- In my opinion, not as aesthetically pleasing of a campus compared to Nottingham.
- every picture of Cardiff in general looks dull and depressing and I am from a very rainy, depressing place already and was looking forward to be able to study somewhere more cheery. The beaches look nice in some pictures but if its going to rain all the time, then its not really going to be fun.
- Their sports facilities aren’t as good as Nottingham, in my opinion. Not the most important thing but would be very nice for the social side as well. I could just get a commercial gym membership.

It sounds to me ( and I could be completely misunderstanding this) that you prefer the course in Cardiff but you prefer Nottingham uni.

Is there anyway of doing a course, similar to the Cardiff course , in Nottingham? Can you transfer to a different course after your foundation year in Nottingham?

Both are good unis, but very different. Nottingham more Campus based , Cardiff more spread out through the city. And yes, it does rain all the time in Wales (I live in Wales).☔️

Omg, thank you so much for your response!

You are spot on about me liking Nottingham, I visited them last year and have always considered going there.
I do not know if I would like Cardiff itself, I just cannot make a decision on that since I have not been able to visit the campus.
But, yes I really like the Cardiff course.

I am apprehensive because it could be a culture shock as I have never in my life been to Wales. My sister has been and said it is very scenic and has a lot of beautiful nature though.

I am not sure if I could transfer onto a different course at Nottingham, I looked at their website and am not sure about this. I tried to see if after the foundation year, I could go onto a joint honours course of History with French but they require A Level French at Nottingham, which I do not have any languages at A Level. This is why Cardiff stood out to me as they let me study a language without it at A Level.

As a Welsh person yourself, what do you think of the city of Cardiff? I know its close to other cities too like Bristol so I can travel to other cities nearby for a new environment every now and then.

I’m not a welsh, but have lived here for 26 years. I don’t live in Cardiff but it is a metropolitan city. Wales is beautiful and scenic but largely outside the city. I don’t think it would be a culture shock moving toCardiff, it is not so very different from English cities tbh. Is there any way you could visit Cardiff before making up your mind? Is there a third option? Possibly a course like Cardiff and a uni more like Nottingham? The big difference between the unis is how they are set up. Nottingham is a campus uni and Cardiff is not.

There is a third option but it is SOAS in London which is very small and also not a campus university. Also, the university isn’t too good for getting into Law compared to Cardiff and Nottingham

And, I cannot go to Cardiff before I make my decision due to some commitments and it would be too far to get back in time.

There is a third option but it is SOAS in London which is very small and also not a campus university. Also, the university isn’t too good for getting into Law compared to Cardiff and Nottingham

And, I cannot go to Cardiff before I make my decision due to some commitments and it would be too far to get back in time.

Regarding SOAS and law, worth noting in their 2019 review of NQ lawyer salaries, Chambers Student (debatable as it is as a source) found SOAS lawyers were third after overseas students and LSE grads: https://www.chambersstudent.co.uk/where-to-start/newsletter/universities-and-graduate-earnings

I suspect this may be skewed by the fact some of those SOAS grads may have been international students studying at SOAS who had good connections to obtain lucrative roles after qualifying, I suppose. But it's impossible to say based on the data available.

All in all I'd say it's probably behind Nottingham in the legal frame (but then again you aren't looking at the law course at Nottingham) but realistically equivalent to Cardiff. Obviously there are other arguably more important factors you have identified for not preferring SOAS about the size/location of the uni not being to your preference.

Would you say Cardiff and Nottingham are ranked similarly and there isn’t much of a difference between them?
I feel like with Cardiff, I will look better to employers because I get to work and/or study abroad which will really help develop myself in many ways - being more adaptable in new, novel situations, having a wider perspective on the world, learning new languages potentially valuable to international law firms.
With Nottingham, the foundation year could be a bit of disadvantage when it comes to employers in an intensely competitive sector.

SOAS only has 5000 students so the alumni network will be very small and a lot of them are international so will probably work abroad.

Also, an LSE friend of mine studying Law told me that if I go to SOAS, I will be competing with QMUL, LSE and UCL in London for internships and it’ll be fiercely competitive so Cardiff would be a better option in regards to that.

Studying in Cardiff is not studying abroad. Cardiff is essentially another city in the UK. You may or may not want to go to Cardiff but I would advise against thinking that you will get extra recognition for it being in Wales.

The foundation year maybe an advantage? It is designed to give you a good foundation for starting your degreee, thereby giving you a better chance of doing well in your degree.

Yes, but a year spent doing a foundation year won’t look as good to employers as a year abroad doing a work placement or studying.