I day to decide! Physics - Bristol Durham or Bath

Hi there,
Thanks for reaching out and congrats on your offers from those fab unis!
I personally cannot speak for Physics as I did psychology here, but as a general teaching and study environment I found Bath to be extremely supportive and friendly. The quality of the teaching and the industrial placement scheme and support with this is excellent, and Bath because of its smallish size as a uni has a lovely community feel to it. There is also a lot of emphasis on getting involved with other things besides academics such as part time work and societies and so life here is very fun and varied!
I would advise you to look again in detail at the course module structure and base your decision primarily on which one you're most interested in. I wouldn't take too much from rankings as all of your options are good unis. I'd also suggest then thinking about which campus and city you liked best and how far you'd be happy to be from home, as Bath & Bristol are a very long way away from Durham.
One thing I'd say about Bath is that because its so close to Bristol and so well transport connected, you can still visit Bristol regularly as its only half an hour's bus ride away, so if you chose Bath or Bristol you could get to experience and visit both cities quite easily.
I hope some of this helps - let us know if you have any more questions 🙂
University of Bath

Any advice please on Physics at Bristol or Durham (or Bath) ? Thinking about the department / teaching / student Physics experience. Have visited so have a feel for each city, it’s more about what it’s like to be studying the subject there. Thanks!

Hi,
I studied Physics at Bath - and loved it so much I stayed to do a PhD here! In general, all undergrad physics courses look very similar in the first couple of years. This is to make sure all Physics students have the same foundation before choosing more specific modules in the final 1/2 years.
I think the best thing about Physics at Bath in the placement option. Bath in renowned for the placement programme and every department has it's own placements team that help you find the perfect internship. I was employed at a medical physics company that only hired their physics interns at Bath Uni. Doing a placement programme is a great CV builder. However, you don't need to decide for sure on if you want to do a placement until 2nd year.
In terms of the university, it is a campus based university which I personally like: I appreciate having uni/life balance physically. Bristol, which is about 15 mins away by train, is a much larger city and is a city based university, so all the buildings aren't on the same campus.
I think it's important to consider which city you'll feel the most comfortable living. Bath in considered a very safe city and has a little bit of everything. Some people prefer to go on nights out in Bristol, which is definitely doable. The cost of living in Bath, Bristol and Durham are all comparable I think.
The undergraduate Physics society (PhySoc) is a very lively society - they often run a yearly trip abroad as well as pub lectures and more casual social events.
If you have any questions about the course structure or course specifics please let me know!
Thanks,
Hannah - Bath Uni Rep

Thanks a lot for your reply. Do you much computational physics at Bath? Modelling physics? Thanks