Uni of York or Manchester?

Hi there,
I am currently in my gap year and have a deferred place at the Uni of York for English Literature, however, I am starting to consider possibly applying to the Uni of Manchester instead, or perhaps going through clearing when the time comes. I just can't decide. I am a highly sociable person, I love good nightlife and drinking culture, and a good music scene, but I'm starting to worry UoY won't have this. In fact a few things online say York is a touristy city with not-so-great nightlife.

I have about 4-5 friends who have gone to respective universities in Manchester, two of them to the UoM, and all of them love it. I am visiting them in November, so I can get a taste of Manchester. I am aware the accommodation is appalling in comparison to York, but it just seems like a much more vibrant place to go. I really liked York when I looked around but I didn't do so much research into student life there, so I am curious what it is like.

Both uni's are ranked and regarded pretty similar, so I'm not too fussed about that, I am just worried that the type of people who go to UoY won't be as interested in socialising and going out. This is a complete generalisation, hence why I am asking for advice and opinions. Any students from either uni care to share their thoughts? Any advice is appreciated.

Reply 1

Anonymous #1

Original post by Clarkeeshoes

Hi there,
I am currently in my gap year and have a deferred place at the Uni of York for English Literature, however, I am starting to consider possibly applying to the Uni of Manchester instead, or perhaps going through clearing when the time comes. I just can't decide. I am a highly sociable person, I love good nightlife and drinking culture, and a good music scene, but I'm starting to worry UoY won't have this. In fact a few things online say York is a touristy city with not-so-great nightlife.
I have about 4-5 friends who have gone to respective universities in Manchester, two of them to the UoM, and all of them love it. I am visiting them in November, so I can get a taste of Manchester. I am aware the accommodation is appalling in comparison to York, but it just seems like a much more vibrant place to go. I really liked York when I looked around but I didn't do so much research into student life there, so I am curious what it is like.
Both uni's are ranked and regarded pretty similar, so I'm not too fussed about that, I am just worried that the type of people who go to UoY won't be as interested in socialising and going out. This is a complete generalisation, hence why I am asking for advice and opinions. Any students from either uni care to share their thoughts? Any advice is appreciated.

York is a good uni and the social aspects are definitely sufficient, there are multiple student only club nights a week and there are student deals to get free entry and queue jump for the whole year. The college system as well is really good for socialising, if you are a sociable person id recommend joining one of the sociable colleges like James or Derwent they do on campus events and being in catered halls you soon get to know a lot of good people. There are also lots of uni and college societies for everyone which do socials that usually end up in the clubs. The only negative side of york is the crazy rent, York is one of the most expensive places to rent in the uk so you'll save a lot of money on rent by going to Manchester.

Reply 2

phh03

Original post by Clarkeeshoes

Hi there,
I am currently in my gap year and have a deferred place at the Uni of York for English Literature, however, I am starting to consider possibly applying to the Uni of Manchester instead, or perhaps going through clearing when the time comes. I just can't decide. I am a highly sociable person, I love good nightlife and drinking culture, and a good music scene, but I'm starting to worry UoY won't have this. In fact a few things online say York is a touristy city with not-so-great nightlife.
I have about 4-5 friends who have gone to respective universities in Manchester, two of them to the UoM, and all of them love it. I am visiting them in November, so I can get a taste of Manchester. I am aware the accommodation is appalling in comparison to York, but it just seems like a much more vibrant place to go. I really liked York when I looked around but I didn't do so much research into student life there, so I am curious what it is like.
Both uni's are ranked and regarded pretty similar, so I'm not too fussed about that, I am just worried that the type of people who go to UoY won't be as interested in socialising and going out. This is a complete generalisation, hence why I am asking for advice and opinions. Any students from either uni care to share their thoughts? Any advice is appreciated.

Hiya, I did English Lit at York but I’m from Manchester, so probably the best person to answer this question! If you want your uni experience to be about partying and nightlife I would definitely recommend Manchester as there is always so much to do in terms of bars and clubs, whereas York on the other hand only has 4 clubs excluding a Popworld. I feel like I was bored of York before I’d even finished first year, whereas I can go out at home all the time and never get bored.

In regards to your issues surrounding York I would say having people that actually want to go out is really dependent on luck with your flatmates (which I didn’t have) and joining a college sports team. Pretty much every college will have football, netball, etc that you can join with no experience or just as a social member and involves different fancy dress themes and going out on Wednesday. Additionally people who want to party tend to choose James, Derwent and Langwith as these are stereotypically the most ‘sociable’ colleges, although again it depends on who you end up getting roomed with. I was in Halifax which is made up of 10 person houses, as opposed to say Derwent which has blocks of flats with about 10 people on each floor, and unfortunately I had really antisocial flatmates so I really struggled to meet people.

York does have a pretty good music scene - there are always live gigs going on both on campus and in pubs/bars in town, as well as Band Soc, where you can meet other people and start bands with them depending on musical interest. They also host a ‘Battle of the Bands’ gig/competition yearly.

York is a touristy place, but Manchester is constantly busy, especially at the weekends (I avoid going down Market Street for this reason) and outside the uni there’s always hundreds of people at one bus stop trying to get home to Fallowfield in the rain so you can be waiting forever.

The actual English department is really good - 90% of the tutors I had were amazing and so kind. There’s also quite little contact hours so you should be free at least two days of the week.
Please feel free to ask me any questions :smile:

Reply 3

kitkatya789

Original post by Clarkeeshoes

Hi there,
I am currently in my gap year and have a deferred place at the Uni of York for English Literature, however, I am starting to consider possibly applying to the Uni of Manchester instead, or perhaps going through clearing when the time comes. I just can't decide. I am a highly sociable person, I love good nightlife and drinking culture, and a good music scene, but I'm starting to worry UoY won't have this. In fact a few things online say York is a touristy city with not-so-great nightlife.
I have about 4-5 friends who have gone to respective universities in Manchester, two of them to the UoM, and all of them love it. I am visiting them in November, so I can get a taste of Manchester. I am aware the accommodation is appalling in comparison to York, but it just seems like a much more vibrant place to go. I really liked York when I looked around but I didn't do so much research into student life there, so I am curious what it is like.
Both uni's are ranked and regarded pretty similar, so I'm not too fussed about that, I am just worried that the type of people who go to UoY won't be as interested in socialising and going out. This is a complete generalisation, hence why I am asking for advice and opinions. Any students from either uni care to share their thoughts? Any advice is appreciated.

Someone's already replied who's from manchester and went to UoY doing english lit so I don't have much to add and you don't seem fussed about the ranking and course (but do genuinely check this and the career prospects after etc) because after all you are there for a degree not to party for 3-4 years (i did science so i'm semi nerdish so ignore me haha).

I would say that going to a uni with less of a nightlife may not necessarily be a bad thing. From my experience the university held a lot of events and the good thing was that you'd always bump into someone literally anywhere whearas in a massive city it's not really going to happen with everyone being scattered everywhere and it's something i loved. it really enchanced my social experience however I wasn't as crazy about nightlife. I'm genuinely 50:50 so whilst I needed a good social scene i didn't need something extensive plus my university was near 2 cities so it was great. My rent was also very cheap, york is insane. I don't know about manchester though.

BUT yeah to summarise that generalisation you made honestly just don't think about that. There will be people there who are very interested in socialising and going out! Again i dont want to sound like a nerd but really do research the course, connections etc it is important!

Lastly if you can get a taster of life in york or manchester than do it, perhaps stay there for a day or two and see if you like the 'vibe'. I don't know anything about english lit / your course and uni connections etc but from your post, I think manchester will be better for you and you have friends there so i'd go for that.

🙂 fyi sorry for typos or anything i dont re-read anything i post on here.

Reply 4

University of York

Official Rep

Original post by Clarkeeshoes

Hi there,
I am currently in my gap year and have a deferred place at the Uni of York for English Literature, however, I am starting to consider possibly applying to the Uni of Manchester instead, or perhaps going through clearing when the time comes. I just can't decide. I am a highly sociable person, I love good nightlife and drinking culture, and a good music scene, but I'm starting to worry UoY won't have this. In fact a few things online say York is a touristy city with not-so-great nightlife.
I have about 4-5 friends who have gone to respective universities in Manchester, two of them to the UoM, and all of them love it. I am visiting them in November, so I can get a taste of Manchester. I am aware the accommodation is appalling in comparison to York, but it just seems like a much more vibrant place to go. I really liked York when I looked around but I didn't do so much research into student life there, so I am curious what it is like.
Both uni's are ranked and regarded pretty similar, so I'm not too fussed about that, I am just worried that the type of people who go to UoY won't be as interested in socialising and going out. This is a complete generalisation, hence why I am asking for advice and opinions. Any students from either uni care to share their thoughts? Any advice is appreciated.

Hey,

I'm a recent York graduate and the nightlife is actually good - we've also been ranked the 2nd best place for a night out in the UK! If you have any questions about York, feel free to drop me a message 🙂