Southampton or Exeter?

Give me some ammunition!

I've visited both, so here goes:

Southampton:
1. Overall, an academically strong university - I think the Economics dept. is of similar standard to Exeter.
2. It's distanced from the city centre so it is bus-linked everywhere.
3. Good night life.
4. Nice modern campus
5. Near to the New Forest

Exeter:
1. Like Soton, its a decent uni so no worries there.
2. Very green, attractive, cosey campus.
3. Crud nightlife, and apparently a poor students union.
4. Over representative of the white, middle-class. This is only a problem if you make it one, but there is no denying the fact that Exeter is pretty "posh", despite what people try to say - stereotypes arise from somewhere at the end of the day.
5. In a very nice part of the country, safe city, small and compact...
6. Close to the city centre. *

Overall, I would say pick Southampton. Academically there is little difference between the two, other than the fact that Soton is generally perceived as being more research-intensive than Exeter.

But I think Soton is better in the sense that there is more to do, and the student composition is more mixed. I think you need to look at the courses and definately visit Exeter. It really has a gorgeous campus and you may well love the idea of spending 3 years there.

Southampton all the way! Better links to places in the uk via london and if Exeter's best feature is that it is green, well you will soon get bored of that whereas Soton has the green as well as loads of other things to support it as a great university and city to be a student in. Also, the city is actually walkable from uni and doesn't take that long, maybe 40mins- But as a first year if you live in halls you get a free bus pass worth over £200 so that is such an amazing perk!!

Soton, Soton, Soton! wooooop! lol

You will? I certainly haven't, and I've been coming to Exeter for various reasons since I was about 2! Also noone said the the best feature was it's green-ness - it all depends on opinion 40 minutes is walkable, but when you compare it to 10-30 (depending which end of the high street you go to) it isn't so impressive. Exeter you don't really need to bus pass - you can get from one end of the city (as in the halls where I was last year) to the other (the furthest club from the halls) in less than an hour. Exeter doesn't exactly have bad links either - yes worse than some places (like Reading and London), but considering that Exe and Plymouth are the major transport hubs for the southwest...the transport is damn good! Even to my poxy station (which has one track up and one down) theres a train an hour!

To tell the honest truth, I could not see myself being this happy in any other university. As I say many many times during open days - if I had the chance to change where I went to Uni and which course, I wouldn't.

Sorry i don't get the 'you will?' question! lol
All your points are cool, hence why you chose your uni! And obviously we will be bias towards our own!
It depends what halls you are in in Soton though for the whole walkability thing! the one i lived in was 15 min walk to city centre, 5 mins from one area of clubs/bars/restaurants and 20mins from the major student area and 20 mins walk to uni - so didn't use my bus pass (apart from going up to the airport)

To the OP, you do need to look round a place to see if it feels right for you, that's the only way i made my decision!

Well I went to both open days to narrow down my 5 choices for Maths and ended up choosing Exeter instead of Southampton. The only drawback to Exeter was the hills.
I don't know if you've come across this site www.unionview.com

Ive received offers from Southampton and Exeter both for Mathematics with Economics and they both want AAB.

I chose them both as my backup / low grade choices, but now i need to decide which one to choose as my insurance and which one to forget.

Seeing as they are both the for the same course and have the same requirement, i can only base my choice on advice of others and also visiting the universities.

Ive managed to visit Southampton (today actually, just got back). Im not sure when im going to have time to visit Exeter for a while. So has anyone got any opinions on either or both of the universities? Are there any key differences that i should know about? Ive heard they are both very green universities. Which one has the nicest city and campus?

Give me some ammunition! Anything!

Thanks for the advice guys.
I was talking to my teacher the other day, and she was saying her daughter went to Exeter, and she finds the people/students very snobby and even racist in some cases. Ive heard this from other people to. This is a big concern to me. Is this true? I don't understand how this can be when people from all over the UK go to the university, not just from Exeter. How can it be that it only attracts people like this?

I would not say in a million years that Exeter only attracts rah/racist people. I know that I am not a rah nor a racist.

Ah, the old "Rah" question that haunts the "white middle class" universities like Exeter.

They'll always be a minority (however vocal they may seem). What some people do (writing anyone who is white and from a well off background and plummy accent as a "rah" or racist) is just as bad.

I have no real experience with Exeter but I don't suppose it's any different to other universities and cities that are a similar size and also have a similar tradition. I do have experience of those and the rahs are so easily avoided. There's still variety there.

It's times like these you miss Boosh. He's conspicuous by his absence.

Indeed. You've hit the nail right on the head!

Sorry for bumping this old thread, but i've finally got all my offers/rejections and i know i definately have to choose one of these two as my insurance. Has anyone got anymore advice?