The Student Room Group

nottingham or york?

i've received offers from both. english studies at notts and english/politics at york. the latter course seems much more interesting than the former but nottingham as a uni, city and campus seems superior. i'm also worried about the social aspects of york... will i be sitting in a boring pub with a pint every friday night, wishing i was at some wicked music venue or club in nottingham? will i be sitting at my desk in notts, trying to unpick old english texts, wishing i could be reading about 20th cent british politics at york?

i face the course versus place dilemma and i just DON'T know what to do. can anyone (especially students from notts and york) be of any help?
Reply 1
I'm of the opinion that course matters more than place. I went to study Law at Cardiff and found it awful 'cos I didn't like the course - despite the fact that Cardiff the city is immense. I think the people you meet matters more than place. If you get involved in good societies and are active socially generally, I think you'd be able to make any uni an exciting place to be for yourself. Pretty much all unis are varied interesting places - by virtue of being packed by young, intelligent and interesting types like ourselves. You really get out of it what you put in.

But I'm probably biased - having been stuck with a course that wasn't to my tastes.
Reply 2
IeuanF
I'm of the opinion that course matters more than place. I went to study Law at Cardiff and found it awful 'cos I didn't like the course - despite the fact that Cardiff the city is immense. I think the people you meet matters more than place. If you get involved in good societies and are active socially generally, I think you'd be able to make any uni an exciting place to be for yourself. Pretty much all unis are varied interesting places - by virtue of being packed by young, intelligent and interesting types like ourselves. You really get out of it what you put in.

But I'm probably biased - having been stuck with a course that wasn't to my tastes.

thanks for your thoughts, really appreciated
Reply 3
I literally, am having the same dilemma... I love Notts ... the place... the reputation.
Both York and Notts ask for AAA (for English) ... so I don't know. Haven't visited York yet, apparently it's like marmite.. you love it or you hate it... It's also further from home so a bit hesitant about it having heard the social life aspect of pubs. However, York is above Nottingham in international and British prestige... but you shouldn't really base you decision on that!
Reply 4
Original post by Lilbec
I literally, am having the same dilemma... I love Notts ... the place... the reputation.
Both York and Notts ask for AAA (for English) ... so I don't know. Haven't visited York yet, apparently it's like marmite.. you love it or you hate it... It's also further from home so a bit hesitant about it having heard the social life aspect of pubs. However, York is above Nottingham in international and British prestige... but you shouldn't really base you decision on that!


Not sure where you got that impression from. Nottingham is ranked 14th in the UK for the latest QS World Rankings, York is lower at round 20th. Also Nottingham has always been a stronger research intensive university. For prestige I'd give the edge to Nottingham, regardless of what the UK newspaper rankings say. Who cares about flawed rankings that include student satisfaction? What about academic strength as with the QS World Rankings?

Both are Russell Group universities, so both are amongst the top UK universities. There is little between them overall. York is a nicer historical city but with limited nightlife, and quite far north. Nottingham is a really buzzing city with nightlife that offers far too many bars and clubs every day of the week.
(edited 10 years ago)
I’m really struggling between Uni of Nottingham/York as well. I have to put one of them as my firm choice (I’m doing Politics and IR starting 2022) and it’s completely 50/50. My priorities are a nice community where I can make solid friendships, somewhere easy to study and focus, good lecturers, and mental health support and accommodations. A good nightlife would also be appreciated. If anyone has any general info or tips for picking one I would be super grateful :smile:I’m visiting both of them in March and April so I’m hoping that would help - please let me know if there’s something I should ask/visit when I’m there!
Original post by oqs500
i've received offers from both. english studies at notts and english/politics at york. the latter course seems much more interesting than the former but nottingham as a uni, city and campus seems superior. i'm also worried about the social aspects of york... will i be sitting in a boring pub with a pint every friday night, wishing i was at some wicked music venue or club in nottingham? will i be sitting at my desk in notts, trying to unpick old english texts, wishing i could be reading about 20th cent british politics at york?

i face the course versus place dilemma and i just DON'T know what to do. can anyone (especially students from notts and york) be of any help?

I live in Notts, and I have visited York with daughter on open day. York does give as good as it gets socially. We used to watch a you tuber called faye singleton https://www.youtube.com/c/fayesingleton (3rd year now) and she does a good vlog on the social side of York for the past couple of years so shes worth watching some of her fresher videos. Notts is also good too, my fave is the cornerhouse entertainment complex side of notts with wagamamas, tgi fridays, chiquitos, a few bars in the area..

I would personally go for the course. Both campus and cities are amazing and socially I think you will get on at both, but your course needs to be interesting as you will doing that most days.
I'm having the exact same problem: I'm choosing between Nottingham and York for Politics and IR and it's 50/50. I like having a campus with a good community but I don't want somewhere that's dead for partying. I do really care about the atmosphere so if anyone has any recommendations as to which library/study spaces are better or any advice really I would appreciate it!!! I live in the South East and my safe choice is either gonna be Kent or Essex so if there are any opinions on those I would love them.

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