UoManchester or UoEdinburgh?

I haven’t visited either, but I plan to. I’ve had offers from both, although Edi one is higher. Already know quite a lot of people already at Edinburgh, don’t really know anyone a Manchester, but it seems like a great city. I’m applying for Biology w/ Science and Society at Manchester, and straight Bio at Edinburgh. I’m looking for a good course, which I think they both are, as well as an interesting, knowable city with good nightlife and music scene. Edi does have the upper hand of being absolutely gorgeous as well…
Any thoughts?

I haven’t visited either, but I plan to. I’ve had offers from both, although Edi one is higher. Already know quite a lot of people already at Edinburgh, don’t really know anyone a Manchester, but it seems like a great city. I’m applying for Biology w/ Science and Society at Manchester, and straight Bio at Edinburgh. I’m looking for a good course, which I think they both are, as well as an interesting, knowable city with good nightlife and music scene. Edi does have the upper hand of being absolutely gorgeous as well…
Any thoughts?

I haven’t visited either, but I plan to. I’ve had offers from both, although Edi one is higher. Already know quite a lot of people already at Edinburgh, don’t really know anyone a Manchester, but it seems like a great city. I’m applying for Biology w/ Science and Society at Manchester, and straight Bio at Edinburgh. I’m looking for a good course, which I think they both are, as well as an interesting, knowable city with good nightlife and music scene. Edi does have the upper hand of being absolutely gorgeous as well…
Any thoughts?

I haven’t visited either, but I plan to. I’ve had offers from both, although Edi one is higher. Already know quite a lot of people already at Edinburgh, don’t really know anyone a Manchester, but it seems like a great city. I’m applying for Biology w/ Science and Society at Manchester, and straight Bio at Edinburgh. I’m looking for a good course, which I think they both are, as well as an interesting, knowable city with good nightlife and music scene. Edi does have the upper hand of being absolutely gorgeous as well…
Any thoughts?

I haven’t visited either, but I plan to. I’ve had offers from both, although Edi one is higher. Already know quite a lot of people already at Edinburgh, don’t really know anyone a Manchester, but it seems like a great city. I’m applying for Biology w/ Science and Society at Manchester, and straight Bio at Edinburgh. I’m looking for a good course, which I think they both are, as well as an interesting, knowable city with good nightlife and music scene. Edi does have the upper hand of being absolutely gorgeous as well…
Any thoughts?

Hi, I went to Edinburgh University for a year to study biology and let me summarise it to you in one word- hell. Unless you have very strong python skills and can balance a 9-5 monday-friday timetable with the assessments on top then you'll be alright. I still talk to some of my friends from the course as i left after a year and most of them are pretty depressed. I am just giving a heads up as i wished someone warned me before going to Edinburgh what it was like... Wish you all the best

Hi, I went to Edinburgh University for a year to study biology and let me summarise it to you in one word- hell. Unless you have very strong python skills and can balance a 9-5 monday-friday timetable with the assessments on top then you'll be alright. I still talk to some of my friends from the course as i left after a year and most of them are pretty depressed. I am just giving a heads up as i wished someone warned me before going to Edinburgh what it was like... Wish you all the best

Did you study at Edinburgh during the pandemic? I don't think it is compulsory to do much coding in a Biology course, unless perhaps if you choose Bioinformatics modules?

Hiya I am considering Ed for bio undergrad, could you tell me a bit more about what made your experience so bad? thanks

Hi there, No, i went to Edinburgh recently. I still have friends there and they had to do python in second year in an exam. It was compulsory for those in molecular biology, immunology, biology and bioinformatics. Would obvs prefer if they kept python to bioinformatics. Edinburgh said they added the python element to make it more STEM

Learning to code in Python is a really useful skill for a future career. But they should have kept the coding part for coursework only, rather than through timed exams. But with so many AI tools online, it would not be too difficult to cheat with the coursework, so l do understand why it was assessed in exams. Students now have a big advantage in that they can get AI to do most of the work for them, and then they can adapt it as they wish to avoid problems with plagiarism.

I totally agree — they should just keep it as coursework rather than an assessed component. I think it’s a useful skill, but I wish it had been made clearer before starting the course that we’d be doing Python. When I went to the open day, it wasn’t mentioned at all. It’s a shame, really, because the biology course doesn’t feel very “biology-like” anymore; they’re trying to push this whole STEM agenda. I just can’t get my head around Python — I didn’t take any computing at school, and even with AI tools, it’s still difficult. Quite a few people had to resit the Python exam in summer too, which says a lot. Edinburgh University also don't really teach you Python, they gave us an online booklet in first year and said work through it yourselves. Biomed don't do python so i tried swapping to there but Edin wouldn't let me. Just disappointed, because my lab work, paper writing, and analytical skills are all really strong, but I’m failing because of this one Python component .