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University of St Andrews or University of Liverpool - Philosophy?

Hello, I have been thinking about the two universities for some time already. Both of them seem to be equally good to me for different reasons and it’s so difficult to decide which one to choose.

Why St Andrews? I like nature and the fact that the city is very small, close to nature, and quiet. The university is ranked very high for student satisfaction rate (still not sure if that’s important) and has many clubs/societies to engage with other students. The community is very tight-knit. St Andrews is one of the best universities in the UK to study philosophy (if anyone knows please explain if these statistics are important or it doesn’t help). I don’t mind the weather, nor the absence of clubs. From what I had read in the internet, the staff seems to be more friendly and keen to help in St Andrews.

Why Liverpool? I have been living here for 6 months already and I find it quite nice. I have free accommodation (as a refugee), a very good job at a restaurant that I enjoy, the staff is very nice. Although I am studying in college, I already have some contacts in the university and if I stay in Liverpool I will probably be able to stay in contact with some of the friends that I already made here. Also just in general I already feel quite good here whereas with St Andrews it is unknown how will it be there.

Liverpool is 3 years, St Andrews is 4. These are both okay to me, one more year in St Andrews just means that I’ll have more time to spend with friends and the course is more flexible.

Reply 1

Picnicl

They're very, very, different places. If you want a mixture of Liverpool's city feel and nature not being far away, maybe consider the University of Leeds or the University of Nottingham too.

Reply 2

Sheykodaniel

Original post

by Picnicl

They're very, very, different places. If you want a mixture of Liverpool's city feel and nature not being far away, maybe consider the University of Leeds or the University of Nottingham too.

Could you please expand on what you see as their differences? How do you see these places yourself or what do you know about each of them?

Thanks. :smile:

Reply 3

Picnicl

Liverpool isn't regarded as the same league as St Andrews. But, personally, St Andrews is too generally quiet, too coastal, and too small a place for me to study at.

I'd think about places like University of Leeds or University of Nottingham. To be fair, Liverpool may be in their league for Philosophy but University of Leeds and University of Nottingham are regarded as a step above in general.

What's even better than all of these for Philosophy, but isn't necessarily that close to much nature, is the University of Birmingham. However it's left wing slant and real life focus would be a bit off-putting for me.

University of Manchester and University of Sheffield rank well too, for Philosophy and in general, but I've never grown to love those cities.

(edited 11 months ago)

Reply 4

gjd800

Liverpool have a strong, broad-spectrum phil dept and have strengths in Chinese and Indian philosophy as well as Anglophone and Continental. If this stuff matters to you, then it's worth considering these strengths. There is a lot of expertise there.

Picnic has some great suggestions above; for me the only course which comes close is Leeds. Brum has a fab course too, but whilst I love that city I know many struggle with the place. Maybe all this doesn't help, but just a bit of added perspective.

(I am an academic with 3x degrees in philosophy and over ten years experience teaching in HE)

Reply 5

Sheykodaniel

Original post

by gjd800

Liverpool have a strong, broad-spectrum phil dept and have strengths in Chinese and Indian philosophy as well as Anglophone and Continental. If this stuff matters to you, then it's worth considering these strengths. There is a lot of expertise there.
Picnic has some great suggestions above; for me the only course which comes close is Leeds. Brum has a fab course too, but whilst I love that city I know many struggle with the place. Maybe all this doesn't help, but just a bit of added perspective.
(I am an academic with 3x degrees in philosophy and over ten years experience teaching in HE)

On the other hand, what do you know about St Andrews? What are its strengths for studying philosophy there? Maybe any weaknesses as well?

Reply 6

gjd800

Original post

by Sheykodaniel

On the other hand, what do you know about St Andrews? What are its strengths for studying philosophy there? Maybe any weaknesses as well?

Its ranking speaks for itself in some ways, it is very strong in terms of what they cover. It is somewhat narrow in terms of there's not much non-Anglophone stuff, but they over just about everything else including aesthetics, CRT (this is contentious in the culture wars!), Enlightenment philosophy, perception, religion, feminism etc.