University Edinburgh, Bristol, York, Leeds and Cardiff

Hi, I’ve just applied to these universities on UCAS and was wondering if anyone could share the pros and cons of their experience in terms of uni social life, teaching quality and city life ect

Reply 1

University of York

Official Rep

Original post by Jessregan123

Hi, I’ve just applied to these universities on UCAS and was wondering if anyone could share the pros and cons of their experience in terms of uni social life, teaching quality and city life ect

Hi Jess!

We're so excited to hear that you've applied to study at York 🎉 Which course(s) have you applied for?

I graduated from York two years ago with a degree in Biology. I loved my time there, so much so that I now work for the University! I was part of Derwent College, which is on Campus West, and I got on really well with my flatmates in first year - my closest friend is actually one of my first year flatmates. For the later years of me degree, I lived in private accommodation off campus, within walking distance of the University and city. I lived with a mix of first year flatmates and course mates.

Biology is a really sociable course, with lots of workshop sessions and practical lab sessions as well as lectures, so I found meeting people and making friends on my course pretty easy. I did join a couple of societies, but only kept up with one of them (choir) for the full length of my degree. This was mainly because I found that with my course, looking after myself and seeing friends, one society was enough for me. But I know people who were members of a few societies throughout their degree. I thought the teaching quality in Biology was excellent, and I felt well-supported by my academic supervisor.

As for the city, I found it to be safe and welcoming with loads to do, despite it being on the smaller side. There are plenty of pubs, bars and clubs - and I felt I definitely had my fair share of fun nights out. There's a good shopping and restaurant scene, my friends from home and my parents were always keen to visit as York is such a nice place to be in! My favourite cafe is still Brew&Brownie 😍

I hope this brief review of my time at York is helpful. You can find out more about what life is like as a current student at UoY by checking out our student blogs and vlogs. If you haven't already, I'd also recommend visiting the universities (and their cities) which you've applied to as this will be one of the best ways to get a feel for whether somewhere is the right fit for you.

Best of luck! Hannah 😀

Reply 2

CardiffUni Rep 2

Official Rep

Original post by Jessregan123

Hi, I’ve just applied to these universities on UCAS and was wondering if anyone could share the pros and cons of their experience in terms of uni social life, teaching quality and city life ect

Hi! Awesome to hear you're interested in Cardiff! I'm in my 4th year studying here now (so been here a while!) and still enjoying it quite a lot 😀 In general:

Social life:
There's a lot to do! Pros is that there are over 200 societies haha so you literally will never find yourself bored. The student union holds club nights usually 2x a week, and there are also clubs in town. If night outs aren't your thing, there's lots of chill/non-alcoholic events as well :smile:

I can't really think of any cons, except that if you come from a big city (like London), some people say there's less stuff to do here, but honestly I think the sheer amount of student activities make up for it haha

Teaching quality:
Can't really say without knowing what course you're on to be honest! But DiscoverUni is a really good websites to see what students think about their course. I would also recommend having a look at Cardiff's Unibuddy profiles - there might be a student from a particular course that you'd like to chat to. In general though, I've found the teaching good, I think Cardiff's strong point is all the career opportunities here.

City life:
I love it here (more than my home town haha)! Pros - you'd probably never have to spend any money on public transport (or very little), cons - you'd be walking everywhere a lot, so if you hated walking, it's probably not for you ahah. Its pretty affordable living here as well! Also, the Cathays campus is literally right next to city center - probably a 10-15 minute walk. So, a very convenient location!

Of course there's loads more to talk about, but let me know if I can help answer anything else about Cardiff :biggrin: