Nottingham Trent vs Surrey?!

Hello all!
I am currently finishing off my A-Levels now, and I have two main choices of University that I've been considering, but I can't make my mind up with.

Before I continue I live in South England, near Hastings, and so Surrey is 2 hours away, whilst NT is 4 hours away. So at Surrey I've chosen Psychology with a placement year, which requires me to get grades BBC. At NT I've chosen Developmental Psychology with a placement year, which also requires me to get a BBC.

I've been to both campuses, and I have explored both cities, and these are my pros and cons for each:

Surrey -

Pros: Campus Uni, everything is close together. High student satisfaction, quality of teaching, and placement promises seem very good. Closer to home, and closer to London, if I ever wanted to travel there.

Cons: Expensive, both for accommodation and regular cost of living stuff. Guildford, whilst a nice city, seemed quite small and not very popular with nightlife.

Nottingham Trent -

Pros: WhatUni voted it 1st in student satisfaction, and has marginally higher rankings for both the course, and the quality of the University itself. City Campus is very close to ... the city, which I've seen very good things about. Cheaper accommodation and cost of living, and a good postgraduate employment promise.

Cons: Further away from home, and being smack dab in the midlands is far away from London and all that. Apparently Nottingham is a more dangerous city? I can't think of anything beyond this.

Beyond these points I feel like I don't know enough to make a decision, and I'd appreciate any help or insight I can get from both current and past students.
I'm stressing, alongside all the revision for my exams, I feel like if I don't make a decision now then there won't be any accommodation or something (despite all rooms still having loads of space.)

Thank you for reading up until now, and I can't wait to read all your responses!

Reply 1

Scotland Yard

Volunteer Team, Clearing and Applications Advisor

20

Original post by mob_lmao

Hello all!
I am currently finishing off my A-Levels now, and I have two main choices of University that I've been considering, but I can't make my mind up with.

Before I continue I live in South England, near Hastings, and so Surrey is 2 hours away, whilst NT is 4 hours away. So at Surrey I've chosen Psychology with a placement year, which requires me to get grades BBC. At NT I've chosen Developmental Psychology with a placement year, which also requires me to get a BBC.

I've been to both campuses, and I have explored both cities, and these are my pros and cons for each:

Surrey -

Pros: Campus Uni, everything is close together. High student satisfaction, quality of teaching, and placement promises seem very good. Closer to home, and closer to London, if I ever wanted to travel there.

Cons: Expensive, both for accommodation and regular cost of living stuff. Guildford, whilst a nice city, seemed quite small and not very popular with nightlife.

Nottingham Trent -

Pros: WhatUni voted it 1st in student satisfaction, and has marginally higher rankings for both the course, and the quality of the University itself. City Campus is very close to ... the city, which I've seen very good things about. Cheaper accommodation and cost of living, and a good postgraduate employment promise.

Cons: Further away from home, and being smack dab in the midlands is far away from London and all that. Apparently Nottingham is a more dangerous city? I can't think of anything beyond this.

Beyond these points I feel like I don't know enough to make a decision, and I'd appreciate any help or insight I can get from both current and past students.
I'm stressing, alongside all the revision for my exams, I feel like if I don't make a decision now then there won't be any accommodation or something (despite all rooms still having loads of space.)

Thank you for reading up until now, and I can't wait to read all your responses!

Not a student at either but I went to an event at Nottingham Trent once. At least one of the university buildings of Nottingham Trent is a literal five minute walk from the city centre. Nottingham is a nice city and from what little I saw of it, didn't seem "dangerous" at all.

I'm interested in what your motivation for wanting to be close to London is. Like, yes, London is cool and all but realistically speaking you're not going to be going to London all the time, you'll be busy with university work and doing other things within your own university town. And in any case, it's only like an hour and a half from Nottingham to London on train, which isn't an awful lot of time travelling anyway for a day trip.

I may be doing a little too much reading between the lines but your post gives the impression that you like the prospect of Nottingham Trent more than Surrey. The best place for you will be the one you're happier in. So, keep that in mind and good luck with your A levels :smile:

Reply 2

University of Surrey Student Rep

Official Rep

15

Original post by mob_lmao

Hello all!
I am currently finishing off my A-Levels now, and I have two main choices of University that I've been considering, but I can't make my mind up with.
Before I continue I live in South England, near Hastings, and so Surrey is 2 hours away, whilst NT is 4 hours away. So at Surrey I've chosen Psychology with a placement year, which requires me to get grades BBC. At NT I've chosen Developmental Psychology with a placement year, which also requires me to get a BBC.
I've been to both campuses, and I have explored both cities, and these are my pros and cons for each:
Surrey -
Pros: Campus Uni, everything is close together. High student satisfaction, quality of teaching, and placement promises seem very good. Closer to home, and closer to London, if I ever wanted to travel there.
Cons: Expensive, both for accommodation and regular cost of living stuff. Guildford, whilst a nice city, seemed quite small and not very popular with nightlife.
Nottingham Trent -
Pros: WhatUni voted it 1st in student satisfaction, and has marginally higher rankings for both the course, and the quality of the University itself. City Campus is very close to ... the city, which I've seen very good things about. Cheaper accommodation and cost of living, and a good postgraduate employment promise.
Cons: Further away from home, and being smack dab in the midlands is far away from London and all that. Apparently Nottingham is a more dangerous city? I can't think of anything beyond this.
Beyond these points I feel like I don't know enough to make a decision, and I'd appreciate any help or insight I can get from both current and past students.
I'm stressing, alongside all the revision for my exams, I feel like if I don't make a decision now then there won't be any accommodation or something (despite all rooms still having loads of space.)
Thank you for reading up until now, and I can't wait to read all your responses!

Hi there 🙂

I agree with the previous post in that you'll most likely thrive where you're happiest.

Bearing that in mind, just make sure being further away from your family is something you'll be ok with. During my uni experience, I've never been more than 2 hours away from mine. With 30-min links to central London, Guildford is a good location to study for ease of travel to and from your family home.

Regarding accommodation, for the proximity to London, I've always found the prices incredibly reasonable (I stayed in Band C1 and loved it), but of course they struggle to compete with Nottingham - you might need to review the train prices to get home though, as I know it mounts up, if that's your chosen mode of transport.

Having pointed that out, I believe you're that bit more informed and hopefully ready to make a decision.

Please let me know if you have further questions 🙂

Marko
Accounting and Finance BSc

Nottingham Trent vs Surrey?!

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