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Your views on university

00:43 / 13.01.03

I'm currently trying to decide which university to give three years of my life to. I am finding this agonizing. So....what can you say about the whole experience. Was it worthwhile?; Anywhere that should be avoided?, etc, etc.
I would be particularly interested if you could tell me how you found the whole experience if your university in question was Royal Holloway or Glasgow, seeing how I'm tryting to choose between the two.

05:55 / 13.01.03

If you go to Glasgow it will be four years (five for languages) rather than three. Which is fantastic. Obviously. It is a good university and a great city to live in. So I vote for Glasgow. I'm a bit biased, though.

What you going to be studying?

07:28 / 13.01.03

Personally, I loved university, for hundreds of different reasons, some more accademic than others.

A chance to live far away from family, to learn and try out so many new things, (creative, personal and accademic) that might not be as easy to try if you don't go to uni, a chance to see a load of bands, and you get a degree at the end (hopefully if you work etc etc.) which will give you greater chance of getting many jobs. (these days a degree is often a minimum requirement rather than the clinching add on).

Uni isn't for everyone. But it certainly gave me a range of opportunities that I wouldn't have had otherwise.

08:40 / 13.01.03

I am frankly incapable of imagining a life that doesn't involve going to university (for me, that is. Not for everyone). Think of all the extra years I could have with deadlines and reading lists and teachers and financial support from my parents!

Now if one would actually like to SEND ME A MOTHERFUCKING OFFER SO I COULD STOP PANICING THE SHIT OUT OF MYSELF, that would be very much appreciated.

09:15 / 13.01.03

Choosing it: yes, the place is important, the nightlife might be important, the location relative to you at the moment might be important... but seriously, go for the course. Which has the course you want to do? Which course suits you better? No good choosing do to, say, languages at one place to discover that it doesn't offer you what languages somewhere else-you-were-considering does. Cities are all much of a muchness, courses can be quite specific. It really is worth investigating the prospecti in detail.

Said the gimp who does this kind of stuff all the time.

ANYHOW.

University is, basically, what you make it. It has the potential to be fantastic; it also has the potential to be an expensive, debt-ridden three years in the pub. It's really NOT very had to make anything of it, though; just throw yourself headfirst into things, get involved, talk to people, and take any opportunity that comes your way. Oh, and do the work as well, it helps. All that is, of course, a little trickier than I make it sound; it's easy to get sidetracked.

Choosing universities... hmn. It's difficult. Try and get along to them, open days if at all possible, or at least talk to someone who's there at the moment. If there aren't any proper open days, ring the admissions office; Leeds were happy to chat to me when I couldn't make the proper open day. Exeter, by contrast, could not give a shit. (I could not give a shit about Exeter, but that was by the by). So far, what are your pros/cons to Glasgow and Royal Holloway?

University is good. It's different for everybody, and I think the "best years of your life" moniker is a bit out of date - I'm convinced my life get a bit better in the next couple of years - but most people seem to enjoy it in one way or another.

10:18 / 13.01.03

I liked university - liked studying, liked not having to get a real job, and hopefully will be going back soon to start a PhD. But while doing my BA, I didn't live in halls, and didn't associate with anyone from college at all, and nightlife means nothing to me, so in that sense my testimony is of limited usefulness. But I reckon Paleface is right - the course you choose is the most important thing - you're not really giving three years of you life up to a university (you can make friends anywhere, nightlife is much of a muchness, only thing you really need concern yourself with is living arrangements) so much as you're giving three years of your life to a subject which might shape your whole future - you need to find out stuff like - 'how well are these colleges rated?'. But one thing - when you've started your degree, you'll probably be surprised at just how quickly the 3+ years really go. I almost didn't go to university because I was worried about committing to something for three years. Now, I'm incredibly, incredibly glad that I went, and get cold shivers thinking 'what if?'.

10:19 / 13.01.03

Having said that - open days really are useful. Experiencing the true horror of the Roehampton anthropology department convinced me of that.

10:49 / 13.01.03

Don't make the mistake I did!

Forget seriousness and 'job prospects' and stuff - study something really fun, somewhere really cool, cos it's the only chance you'll get!

And don't expect too much of students. They're all bastards.

The Natural Way

11:18 / 13.01.03

Don't sweat it, Pin. It's easy to get into universities. If they don't accept you initially, fuck it, go through clearing - s'what I did.

14:25 / 13.01.03

I would really suggest the open day thing. Sometimes you can just get the right vibe from a university (or location) and it just feels right.
Other times... (like Cholister said) you suddenly see that there is no way in the world you want to go and study in that place!

I wouldn't worry too much about making friends. Just be prepared to go and do stuff that you are interested outside of your course and you'll find people with similar interests, pretty much anywhere.

If you do find part way through your course that it's not what you want, or you are getting really stuck, go and ask for help. Talk to your lecturers. If it's really bad consider changing your course. I really wish I had earlier, not just in time for my last year. It is incredibly depressing if you care about your course and it just isn't working.

14:37 / 13.01.03

All of the above, then, if you're still undecided, toss a coin. I chose my university partly because of its proximity to the centre of town. But then I spent a year of my course in an out-of-town university and had a great time locally. You never can tell.

Oh, and to maximise your friend-making opportunities, definitely spend your first year in the halls. But not after, unless everyone else does.

Oh, and STUDY ABROAD. You don't need to be doing a language course to spend at least part of a year in a foreign country. Just do it.

15:13 / 13.01.03

Speaking as uneducated Northern scum my advice would be... go to university and have a laugh. Then you can come out and rapidly overtake uneducated Northern scum like me on the career ladder.

Tryphena Absent

15:18 / 13.01.03

Screw the course, ignore everything Paleface said

the place is so much more important. A course can give you a bit of trouble and make you feel angsty but being somewhere that you actually hate is going to give you far more trouble because you will be desperate to get away. If you're an 'A' student then you've got a really wide choice and everywhere's pretty gorgeous (or at least approachable), if you're me you'll scramble around half the country trying to find somewhere kind of nice and then sigh in relief when you end up in a city.

If you do an arts degree then it's easy to change at most universities because they make you do two or three subjects in the first year. Provided you do enough work to get a second you're pretty much free to do any of them for the two years afterwards. Of course that doesn't mean you'll make the right choice but then who gives a shit anyway... I'm not going to get a bloody job because of my degree!

15:25 / 13.01.03

If you want to overtake Sax and his uneducated Northern scum on the career ladder - don't do a course with no obvious future job prospects. (Or maybe anthropology turned out like that for me just 'cause by birth and heritage I am Northern scum.)

Our Lady of The Two Towers

17:49 / 13.01.03

I do recommend considering somewhere unlike wherever you spent most of your life growing up, I went from small, white Maidstone to big, multicultural Birmingham which gave me a useful couple of kicks to the prejudices. The danger is though if you grew up in a city then a uni in the middle of nowhere might get boring very fast.

17:57 / 13.01.03

I agree that college is definitely what you make of it. I went to a small private school, which was nice, but only in terms of class size for undergraduates. Everything else that I liked about the college had to do with the location (Boston, in this case), and my personal level of motivation. I did a year in London, which was REALLY fun, but didn't involve a whole lot of studying.

Deciding which college to go to is one of those decisions that seem really important at the time, but which ultimately shouldn't have too big an impact on your life. If you are a motivated person, then even the biggest "factory" school can be a great experience. If I could suggest one thing (something I didn't do in College that I wish I had done), it is to try and really find an academic advisor who will really counsel you and go to bat for you. They help make college more interesting, and also help get into grad. school, and get jobs. I never really had a good relationship with any faculty, and it left me a little lost at graduation.

17:58 / 13.01.03

That last comment is very handy. But I'd really recommend living in a city, and shying away of campus-based unis where the campus is miles from nowhere. Warwick campus is nearer to Coventry, and thus there's loads of running around. I know I have a special case, but living in the middle (or the middle of a residential area of) of a big city is a wonderful opportunity. Halls often give you this opportunity. I particularly love this having been a village kid for far too long.

18:41 / 13.01.03

Pros and cons......
I'll give what I've got so far, then state some of the things I'm looking for.

Royal Holloway (for Psychology)
Pro's: Main building is easy on the eyes
The male:female pupil ratio (working on the basis that even I must be in the running in this place)
London student loan without London prices
Only 60 klicks from Sot'on (dubious advantage)
Low crime rate
Course rated one of best in country
Lots of undergraduates with too much money from daddy (which they'll happily lend a scrote like me on an indefinate loan)
10 minutes by train to London
The lack of nearby entertainment means that the Union puts effort into functions and important things like drinking

Cons: Too many kids with too much money from daddy
Middle of knowhere
Certain right-wing bias
The bars are not cheap
In the same country as So'ton (and Portsmouth)
Fairly dull, the WQ (which I'll explain below) doesnt rank too highly.

Glasgow (to study Psychology AND Archaeology)

Pros: Get to do a course which covers my two favourite areas. The 4-years-ness of it means they'll both be done in detail
The city is good, with lots of character (I hear), as is the university. (+ excellent nightlife)
5 student unions?!
A long way away from So'ton!
Everything is cheaper than in Hampshire or 'Surrah'
More interesting politically

Cons: Expensive to get to from my house
Most students at glasgow live at home, ergo the campus life is not too hot.
Too many urban deprivation case studies in my geography gcse have left me apprehensive of Glasgow
Degree is not so lauded as the one at Holloway (purely for employment prospects you msut understand)
Muggings against students are more prevalent

So then, I'm certainly interested in the quality of the social side of things, on and off campus. On campus, Holloway has the point, off campus, Glasgow snatches it.
What or the WQ though? The weirdness quotient combines the city and uni into one. It depends on what strangeness goes on in the surrounding area, any strange clubs and societies; the general exploits of the students; backwards talking dwarves, quality of the graffiti, etc, etc.
Ie, Loughborough would get 2 out of 100 whereas if there was a uni in Twin Peaks it would hit around 70 or 80.