Glasgow or Durham?

I am an international student from the US majoring in Ancient History and Archaeology. I have offer from both Durham and Glasgow for their Ancient History and Archaeology double major, but I'm having trouble deciding which place to choose. Durham was my firm choice and Glasgow was my insurance but I've had a change of heart and now want to have Glasgow as my firm. While Durham is/was my dream school, it is in a much smaller area and as a first year international student, I was hoping for a larger university feel. Throwing this out there to the "room" for input.. Would love to hear your thoughts...

Reply 1

SS378

I'm curious about why Durham is/was your dream school. Was it the academic program or some other aspect?

Reply 2

SS378

Try to see if the departments or admissions teams can connect you with other international students from the US, even those at the graduate level. Their campus experiences might be informative and get to the heart of some of your concerns. You mentioned both location size and a large university feeling. Well, Durham and Glasgow can both give you a large university feel, both have large undergraduate student bodies. Their enrollment numbers are much higher than most of the top private US universities. However, you're right, Durham won't have that same city feel as Glasgow. But is that a bad thing? I don't have an answer for you in that regard. I have heard of Glasgow being compared to both Boston and L.A. I think Boston has a great feeling, but I'm not a fan of L.A. Personally, I would choose the program with the better academic reputation. From a cursory glance, that seems to be Durham. Have you considered visiting the universities and talking with both the students and professors in the departments before making your final decision? If you can, give it a go! If not, reach out to them online and see what kind of feedback you get.

Reply 3

niamhrowanch

Original post by belle6466

Hey! I have an offer from Durham Uni for Archaeology too, it's also my dream school. I have to say that yeah the area is small, I'm not sure if you have ever visited but it is absolutely gorgeous, lot's of old buildings and the archaeology department is absolutely stunning. I live in Newcastle which is about 30 minutes from Durham in the car and I know that at Durham a lot of students have their nights out in Newcastle, which is a MUCH bigger place with absolutely all sorts of people. Newcastle is absolutely brilliant for students and the train ride from Durham is about 10 ish minutes and only like 3 pounds. If you wanna talk more about it I would love to :smile: