Anyone's DC at Liverpool for Uni?

[mumblechum1]

Visited LJMU yesterday with DS. It was until recently the choice he was least likely to go for out of his offers as it ranks quite low in all the tables, but it happens to be very close to St Helens which is where he intends to be transferred to within the TA.

My impression was that the Uni faculty building itself was, if not tatty, then certainly not as slick as the others we've looked at (Manch and Bristol), but that's no real problem, and the lecturer was, I thought, good, and I think the way they teach would fit DS's way of learning better than Manchester which is very heavily exams rather than coursework.

The accomodation was really nice, airy, clean and central.

Here's the but;

The actual city itself seemed to be full of huge tracts of wasteland almost like bombsites, and there was hardly anyone in the streets. I know it was a Wednesday in winter, but literally one or two people in a city centre street seemed kind of strange. We didn't find the bit where the bars, clubs, restaurants are and I suspect they may be in a pedestrianised bit (we were driving around the city).

So my question is, is Liverpool a lively sort of place usually, ie are there buzzing clubs, pubs, shops, is it reasonably safe (the wasteland bits were a bit offputting to me, DS didn't seem bothered by them).

We actually lived in the outskirts of Liverpool for a couple of years a long time ago and DS was born there but we moved when he was 5 weeks old and haven't been back for 18 years, so we don't know anyone in RL to ask. One of the main reasons we left was that we had 5 or 6 instances of crime within 2 years (mugging, burglaries, car break ins etc)

Can anyone say what their experience/impressions of Liverpool these days is please?

[MirandaWest]

My impressions of Liverpool are good but I lived about 10 miles north of the city when I grew up and I love it there. Am slightly sad that my mum and dad have gone and moved away from there now.

Have to admit I don't know exactly where John Moores is in comparison to other parts of the city but the middle itself has had lots done to it in the past couple of years and there is a massive lots of shops in an area called Liverpool One and there are plenty of bars and pubs and shops there. Any major city is going to have some unsafe areas but as a whole I have never felt unsafe in Liverpool.

Do you know where you were driving as I'd think it would be quite hard to miss the middle of Liverpool (although as I said I'm not sure where John Moores is). St Helen's is pretty close by and easy to get to from Liverpool.

[MirandaWest]

Have found where John Moores is now - you need to head down the hill and towards the river to get to the main shopping part. I was never a big clubber but I am sure there are lots of clubs around the place :)

[mumblechum1]

Thanks Miranda.

We drove down Hope Street, then right along the main road parallel to the docklands bit, then the road basically took us out of the city. I did glimpse a John Lewis sign in the distance though (not DS's priority but it hit my radar!)

I have a vague recollection of Matthew St, I think it was called, where there were pubs etc.

We're 5 hours away so won't be going back until/if he goes in Sept.

thanks for your reply

[mumblechum1]

hopeful bump

[boomting]

If we're talking about Uni of Manchester / Uni of Bristol as opposed to MMU / UWE, then he would be mad to pass up an offer there to go to LJMU.

[bakingaddict]

Nope you didn't find the city center because you cant actually drive into the heart of Liverpool City Center. It's a 5 min walk from LJMU, you should have parked up the car and headed into the city on foot. All you needed to do was cross the flyover, go past the World Musuem, the Walker Art Gallery and St John's Gardens and you would have found everything such as Liverpool One, John Lewis etc. From there another 5 min walk would have got you to the Albert Dock.

LJMU is situated on one of the main roads into and out of Liverpool city center, a bit like the A404 North Circular in London, mostly industrial parks, business premises etc etc not a place to find lots of people on foot or representative of 2 of the country's most dynamic cities and I say that as an exiled Scouser living in London. In recent years Liverpool has become very vibrant with a great energy and less inward looking. In the 80's and early 90's Liverpool struggled with itself, lots of urban, social and image problems but although i've not lived there for many years, I find the city has really changed for the better.

I agree with Boomting as LJMU is a former poly, I wouldn't advise anyone to go to one at the expense of a red-brick uni but Liverpool Uni as opposed to LJMU is a red-brick so has he considered this one too

[NightmareMoon]

Liverpool is one of the best nights out EVER and I have been out in many cities in my time. It's especially good for local live music and the band scene. I never go out around Matthew St, more the student areas around Hardman, Duke, Seel St. You can't move for bars and clubs and live music venues around there and a friendly atmosphere.

I don't know the "wastelands" you're referring to, but if you drove out of the city down Edge Lane then there are large areas of land that have been cleared, and lots of derelict housing waiting to be knocked down, because the plan was to extend the motorway into the city, but there have been lots of opposition and planning problems so this has been delayed. The rest of the city doesn't look like this.

I've been here for nearly 10 years now and live in a bit of a student area to the south of the city - I've not had much of a problem with crime, no more than anywhere else I've lived. I wasn't a student here and have no idea how good LJMU is as a uni. DH went there but that was 20 years ago when it was a Poly. He loved the city so much he's still here.

[mumblechum1]

Thanks everyone. He does have an offer for Manchester University (he didn't like Bristol on the open day so didn't apply), but his ASs were a let down so Manchester is going to be touch and go.

The only sane reason for going for an ex-poly over RG, in my view, is the way the course is taught, and also he's been looking on Unistats which rates LJMU way higher than Manchester in terms of feedback, helpful tutors etc etc and most of the work is coursework which he does a lot better than exams.

Ultimately of course it's his choice. I think he'd have a great time in either Manchester or Liverpool, they're both supposed to be fantastic for nightlife. He's going into the Army after Uni so the issue of employablility isn't massive; he's pretty much guaranteed a place at Sandhurst as long as he doesn't get a bad injury or something in the next 3 years.

I've told him I want him to make his mind up by tomorrow night as am worried that the best accommodation will already be booked up if he doesn't get a move on.

Thanks again everyone

[HarrietSchulenberg]

You need to be objective when you're looking at Unistats, particularly relating to student satisfaction, as they only really reflect the effectiveness of a university's recruitment. What is perfect for one student can be a nightmare for another. I can't remember if they show stats for retention but that's a very good indicator - see how many people decide the place didn't live up to expectation.

[boomting]

With regards to the Army - what happens if he changes his mind, cuts mean he gets made redundant / doesn't get taken on, gets injured, or generally leaves the army at some point before retirement age? At that point, he'll need something to fall back on, i.e. his degree. I'm sure you don't need to be told about the high number of homeless ex-servicemen.

Manchester has always struggled on student feedback scores, and I've never quite understood why - I'm a current student and have always been perfectly happy here, and actually I'm struggling to think of a single person who hasn't enjoyed their time here for reasons that are reasonably within the university's control. The only sensible thing that I can think of is that they seem to have quite a lot of trouble getting students to fill the thing out - raffles and incentives abound for those who can show that they have completed the wretched thing. Perhaps Manchester is less effective at getting people to fill out the survey than other comparable universities and so those who do fill it out are more likely to be those with an axe to grind. Who knows.

With regards to accommodation, I haven't a clue about LJMU, but I know that Manchester has a massive oversupply of beds in halls, and all the halls are of a good standard, so the idea that they will all be booked up doesn't really hold much muster. I believe that he can apply to halls at Manchester before he has chosen them as his firm / insurance though.

How about choosing Manchester as his firm and LJMU as his insurance? You don't mention any other offers that he has.

[KenDoddsDadsDog]

I went to Uni of Liverpool and had an amazing time - in fact I stayed there afterwards and would still be there now had I not met DH. I know where you were and its not the main part of the centre and especially not the new developed area. The dock road is not the place to sightsee as to be fair it wouldn't be in most cities.
Student life is buzzing and cheaper than many other Uni cities. One of my good friends is a professor at LJMU if you have any questions.
My sister went to Manchester and also loved it!

[Mrsrobertduvall]

I went toLiverpool College of Higher education near Prescot in the seventies.
Sadly it is no longer there...now a housing development.

I loved the place.

[Notsoskinnyminny]

I'd be more worried about my DS going into St Helens than Liverpool at night. I used to work there and on the few works nights out I attended saw more fights, including 2 women glassing each other, than I've ever seen in Liverpol and felt very intimidated.

The area around the universities does look rundown but this is partly due to businesses moving into the new Liverpool One shopping district which, along with John Lewis, now has a Harvey Nicks.

[mumblechum1]

Notsoskinnyminny - hopefully he'll be ok in St Helens, he'll just be going to the barracks one night a week for training, and then being picked up from there one or two weekends per month and taken off to some training base somewhere, but I'll warn him to be careful if they do go out for a drink after training.

I've asked him to make his mind up by 8pm today (I like things to be tied up neatly!)

[KenDoddsDadsDog]

He'll be ok in St Helen's if that's all he's going for !

[mumblechum1]

Well, he just firmed ljmu over manchester uni and applied for his accom. Im v grateful to everyone who posted.
I think hes going to have a great time

[sunnyday123]

I live near liverpool and its one of the best cities in the country! I went to uni in Manchester and didnt think it was anywhere near as good as liverpool! It's won capital of culture only a few years ago.

I think liverpool uni has much better reputation than John mores though so could he not try for there? When I was at college John moores was where you went if you missed your grades sadly.

Liverpool centre is fab at the minute though so def dont dismiss it!

[KenDoddsDadsDog]

He's going to have the best time !

[Changebagsandgladrags]

There are TA units in Liverpool. I had a boyfriend at university who was in the TA. Unless St Helens has something special?