YORK or CARDIFF?

Right, well - I'm quite well qualified to respond to this thread I feel - as I've been to uni in Cardiff but am now off to uni in York.

In Cardiff I found it was all brilliant for the first few weeks - everybody was sociable and I was living in the centre of a really young person's kind of city (lots of nightclubs, vibrancy, quite beautiful, culturally interesting, loads of student nights, shopping, societies and an easily accessible Lidl ). But it started to go downhill from there. There isn't really a sense of community here. The university is big and the common areas are shared between too many or are non-existant. I found the teaching to be poor at times (although that's specific to Law) - but the most widespread problem is student apathy. For some reason there's a culture here that working isn't cool. Last week's Gair Rhydd (Cardiff's student newspaper) had a big article about it - and it's extremely noticeable. I've been to lectures at other universities and people seem much more interested/actually attend. Anecdotal evidence suggests that in seminars people make more of an effort to talk and so on at other similarly ranked universities. I don't really understand why - but it certainly seems to be the case.

York is a smaller university, has the college system, and better/more communal areas for us student kids - which would suggest that there is likely to be a better community feel to the place. The teaching is rated as amongst the highest in the land, and the students that I do know there say apathy is not as much of an issue. The city itself is nowhere near as vibrant as Cardiff, and the campus nature of the university means you're more likely to feel that you're living in a bit of a bubble. However, there are still clubs and pubs and so on, and loads of brilliant societies, from what I've heard.

In summary, I'd say choose based on which kind of place you'd prefer to live - anonymity with city vibrancy, or community spirit with quieter city. My experiences will have biased my perception - and many people love being at Cardiff Uni. However - do take into consideration the student apathy aspect - I'm not just basing that on my own experiences, after all.

P.S. Apologies if my post is a bit incoherent. Sleep deprivation is to blame.

Thanks, thats was really useful Would you say the student apathy thing affected you in terms of your own work? Thing is, I want the city vibrancy along with the community feel :P I know what you mean though, I felt more welcome in a way when I went to York, it was a lot more friendly. At the same time it doesn't seem like theres much to do there whereas Cardiff offers a lot. Arg! I hate decisions. In terms of reputation though, would you say they were that different?

Well the whole work mentality thing is a really good point as it'll probably affect my studies too. What about accomodation and cost of living and stuff? And in Cardiff was it easy to getting around? Like from department to accomodation and around town and stuff? Cos thats one of the tings I wasn't so keen on.

Yeah, I'd probably need to find a part time job. Someone sad it'd be hard to get a job there seeing as there's three uni's in Cardiff but I suppose it's still easier than York. Ooh I don't know! It's really hard. Thanks for all your help IeuanF

People are saying that Cardiff's nightlife is vastly better than York's - but surely the latter's can't be too shabby?

Cardiiiiiiiiff..... because I might apply there next year

On a serious note, I think Cardff is a much better city than York (is it even a city?)