Durham or Nottingham?

So what if Melbourne ranks a bit higher than Sydney currently? Small differences in ranks should be overlooked. Oxford has been ranked first in the THES ranking for several years, yet few people seriously believe it is better than the likes of Harvard, MIT and Stanford. In the US people tend to rate these as better than Oxbridge overall, given their massive endowments and industrial funding. The real reason why Oxbridge is World famous is mostly to do with how beautiful their colleges are, and beautiful on such a big scale.

Not just their beauty, Oxford and Cambridge are regularly in the top 10 in the world academically for many subjects (as are some US colleges, Ivy League or not). For some, many, most, or all, US students, some US colleges (some of which are just as beautiful or more as much of Oxbridge - Princeton, Duke, Yale, some of Harvard etc) make much more sense to attend and may provide better extra-curriculars and cities with much more scale, many more opportunities and variety (a much more vibrant, open-minded, way of life with often just as much or more sense of tradition) but UK students are very well catered for by the academics there.

uh chat anyway i firmed durham. thanks for the help tho T_T

Unlike you l actually studied at one of the two universities this thread topic is discussing. Go back to your non-existent elite uni experience and online searches.

uh chat anyway i firmed durham. thanks for the help tho T_T

Hi, I got into a london commercial law firm and went to uni of notts, also know what friends from durham who has also. You have equally the same chance at both unis. Choose based on what uni u prefer and city etc etc. I can answer questions on Notts if youd like

I graduated from Notts and students from my cohort secured TCs with almost every major law firm(Freshfields, Clifford Chance, A&O etc..). You will be at no disadvantage in terms of your graduate prospects so long as you achieve a high 2.1.(65%).
Durham is also a far smaller city and less diverse compared to Nottingham if that's something you care about. The college system seems interesting but they don't have the same resources as Oxbridge to implement tutorial-style teaching and lack the investment in facilities that are pretty outdated. Final point, if sports is something you care about then, in my opinion, there is no better place than Nottingham It's second only to Loughborough in BUCs championship medals.

I was thinking of applying to notts, but my parents think the opportunities at magic circle firms/top law firms is sm higher at durham which is stressful because now I have no idea if they're right or not. what are your thoughts x

I was thinking of applying to notts, but my parents think the opportunities at magic circle firms/top law firms is sm higher at durham which is stressful because now I have no idea if they're right or not. what are your thoughts x

Durham is ranked higher so obvious choice imo + if you want your application to appeal to a London firm in the future it’s best to go with the higher ranked university for law

Politely ignore your parents. Your chances of obtaining a training contract will depend on your own ability and potential, as developed by the quality of the university education which you receive. Your chances will not depend on the name of your university, or on some figures that someone has conjured up about where that university stands in some artificial rating system, or on how many people from one university or another were hired by firm X, Y, or Z last year, or five years ago, or whenever.
Many law firms make their recruitment decisions university blind in any event.
Study at whichever university most appeals to you and offers you a place.
Why do you want to work at a magic circle or similar law firm?

but is nottingham even good for law? tysm btw

Congratulations, it’s a beautiful university and you’ll have a great time ❤️

If you look at the data out there, Durham comes third for the most percentage of graduates in Magic Circle Law firms, and Nottingham comes fourth. The one thing that Durham has that Nottingham doesn't is the need for a very good LNAT score. Nottingham removed this requirement recently, and so the LNAT is not needed. The reason they got rid of the LNAT requirement? I think that was because they simply couldn't attract the top calibre of students by A level grades whilst also requiring the LNAT at the same time. This has, to my mind, made entry to the Law degree there a bit easier, and thus not as prestigious as when the LNAT was required. That is just my take on it. Nottingham still has a very good Law school, and it is a happy hunting ground for Law and other elite firms.
One thing to note is that at Durham, much of your student life will be based at your college in the first year (and the other years in the main). That means the 200-300 or so students within your college (these are glorified student halls) will be your social life, in effect, although of course you will also meet people on your course. At Nottingham things are a bit different. You will meet people in student halls in first year, on your course, and in societies (if you join any). The students joining these societies will be from across the uni, rather than from just your hall, as is mainly the case at Durham.
At Nottingham you will be a small fish in a gigantic pond, whereas at Durham you will be a small fish in a much smaller pond. Either of these situations can have their advantages and disadvantages. At Durham everyone at their college knows everyone else by name and face, although that doesn't mean they will be your friends necessarily, as cliques do exist there more so than at most other unis. At Nottingham most people will know a bit about you in catered halls, but the student population as a whole is double that of Durham's. The campuses at Nottingham are also much bigger. The main campus is about the size of a large golf course, and it is very green and leafy. The Jubilee campus is an extension of the main campus, and looks futuristic and stylish.
The calibre of students on the whole are higher at Durham, with typical entry requirements at AAA - A*AA, with a lot of entrants exceeding their offer by at least a grade or two. At Nottingham the calibre of students across a whole plethora of subjects will be in the AAA - BBC territory. Although some courses do ask for A*AA, they are in the vast minority, and in truth AAA - AAB would usually still get you in.
You might hear people say go to Durham because it is much more prestigious as a uni, but there is a caveat to this generalisation. Durham is about 115 or so years older, and a few of the buildings date as far back as the 11th century, which Durham inherited. The university, from an academic perspective (lecturers, researchers) are very strong for Law and the humanities, and English. But across the board of different subjects, Nottingham has the edge, with their greater research power and levels of annual funding for research.
Nottingham is a bit of a monster with well over £849 million in annual turnover, to
Durham's £500 million or so. That really shows when you see the facilities on offer. Nottingham also has more modern, state of the art academic buildings, whereas Durham seems to have quite a few buildings that look like secondary school buildings from the 1960s. Although new builds are starting to creep in, just not at the rate you would expect from a top university.
In summary, for Law specifically, Durham has a solid UK top 5-6 school, whereas Nottingham is around a UK top 10-15 school. University wise, Durham attracts a considerably higher calibre of students across the board of subjects, although for Law the gap isn't as prominent. There is a lot of superficiality associated with Durham, given that the historical buildings predate the university, and that the colleges aren't really colleges, with the exception of the four independently run colleges. Durham has cut corners with a lack of investment in new academic buildings over the last few decades, something which Nottingham has not done, and thus it has World class, state of the art campuses that Durham doesn't have. Nottingham also conducts far more research across subjects than at Durham, although for Law that is not the case.

I am not taking Law (its Economics for me) and i still loved your reply, very informative and decisive, thanks,

Do I need to explain why this is incorrect?

Where did you choose to go to? For Economics Nottingham is definitely the stronger of the two.

i am tied between Nottingham and Bath (ie subject to the offer, wishful thinking). will be going to Bath on 11th Oct for open day and then decide. For now they are at par.
My Preference: Bath~Nottingham, Durham, Exeter