Choosing a university

Check out the campus

Never, if you can avoid it, accept the offer of a university place without first visiting the campus. The feel you get about a university from their website or prospectus, teachers or friends may differ quite radically from the reality you discover on an open day or any other visit, or indeed if and when you join. Do not become one of the many students who leave university within their first year because they chose the wrong place. When you do visit, we recommend you also explore the surrounding area so that you can see what facilities the local town or city offers and also where you might be living when you move off campus in your second year. If you possibly can, book a place at an open day - it will be time well spent.

Proximity of the campus to home, friends, airports, etc, can be extremely important. Some students are choosing to live at home with their parents to save costs and this could be worthwhile, providing always that their home town university offers a suitable course.

Some universities have totally integrated campuses on the edge of towns or in the countryside with all the facilities and accommodation together. You may find this very appealing and it can certainly help you to make friends quickly. Other universities occupy sites in the centre of large towns and cities. This may mean that student accommodation and sports facilities lie some distance away. You will have to consider the costs of urban transport and how safe it is to travel around certain areas after dark. On the other hand, large cities offer a whole range of social and cultural facilities that smaller towns do not. It may also be useful to find out what percentage of the students is of your age group, study full-time and live locally. This can have an important impact on the social scene.

Where is the degree course being offered? Many universities are based on a split site and a number franchise out their degree courses to other colleges. In such cases be very clear where your course is being offered. The actual site could be some distance from the parent campus involving a lot of time travelling to and fro each day and associated travel expenses.  Remote sites may have fewer facilities, for example limited internet access or catering, and it may still be necessary to return to the main campus whenever you wish to use the library.

University sign

Quality

The university league tables include information on the quality of teaching and research in key subjects. This can be particularly important if you are thinking of going to postgraduate study later on, but is less vital if you are not. This is only one of a number of criteria on which you should choose a course and campus. Remember that some of the information that goes into these league tables can be somewhat out of date and that universities with a relatively low position in the general league tables may have a particularly good reputation for the subject you wish to study. League tables are published by newspapers such as The Guardian.  Be sure you understand the criteria against which the universities have been measured and remember that some smaller institutions may not have been ranked in the lists at all because of a lack of data.

Size

British universities vary enormously from many thousands of students to only a few hundred. Some are divided up into small individual colleges which operate as the student's social unit as well as where some of the teaching is done. For example, Southampton University has over 20,000 students, split between 8 faculties, and the university is spread over 5 different campuses.

The size of individual teaching units can also vary hugely from university to university and within departments. Size matters, because it can have an important impact on how well a student learns and settles in.

If you need help in choosing a university, let us help you.