Australian with choice of 3 unis in UK and no idea. HELP pls!

[marvellousmaple]

Asking on behalf of my son who is doing a university exchange semester next year . The 3 uni's that fit in with his law subjects are Reading, Liverpool and Glasgow. I've never been to any of these areas but I said I would ask if anyone here has an idea . Basically he wants to know which would likely be the best thought of upon his return to Australia ; and which would be the most fun. Also anything he should know as 21yo living there for 6 months. I am jealous and have offered to come over in his suitcase but I don't think I'd fit. Thanks !

Excuse typos! Not Glasgow dialect OP!

Exactly !

Piggy is completely spot on. (Waves).

Come to Glasgow OP. It's vibrant, busy, fun and full of culture. It's near amazing outdoor locations (my boys mountain bike/ mountain climb/ kayak regularly) and one of the friendliest places you'll visit.

The university has an excellent reputation - particularly for Law (my cousin is one of the top judges in the country and attended there)- and if he does decide to come you could PM me and my son would be delighted to meet him when he arrives. DS is starting Glasgow in a few weeks (not law) and is massively into his music and partying in any/ all ways he can 🤣.

I lived in Melbourne for a time and found it very similar in many ways.

In saying all that I do love Liverpool and can see it is a great student experience- smaller than Glasgow though.

And to the PP who stated that the accents in Glasgow and Liverpool might be a problem.- are you for real? Get back in your SE- centric, small-minded bubble. Sheesht.

Liverpool 100% especially if he’s a musician.
If he’s staying in Halls on campus he’ll be right in the city centre so no need to worry about ‘rough’ areas.
airport is 25 mins from campus with lots of flights to the rest of Europe, and main train station is ten mins from campus and then only two hours to London, plus easy reach of Manchester, Leeds etc.

I was born in Yorkshire, brought up in Lancashire and I have had people not understand me because of my rather mixed but generally northern accent.

Speaking to a fellow northerner in France I was once asked what language we were speaking.

Like it or not, some people in Liverpool and Glasgow have strong accents.

Part of Kevin Bridges routine is about trying to order drinks on holiday and some 'translating' from English to English for the bar staff.

Part of Kevin Bridges routine is about trying to order drinks on holiday and some 'translating' from English to English for the bar staff.

It's comedy. You will also find he does a piece about the infamous, posh, Glasgow Uni accent.

Thr school kids I taught in Melbourne had no problem with my Glaswegian accent. Heck, they even passed exams being taught by me!

The thickest accent I ever came across was a Cockney- apparently he was trying to chat me up: I had no idea, at all whatsoever. Travel is supposed to be new, challenging, different. OPs son will be grand wherever he lands.

And it's a very international place- lots of students and lecturers from everywhere. It's a prestigious university, not a pub in the East End at kicking out time on a Saturday (although that's full of culture too!).

Reading is a great campus uni and only a short 25 min train ride from London for nights out.

Pick one of the older halls of residence - Wantage, Patricks or Andrews and he'll have an AMAZING time.

Great campus - with lots of places to hang out, local pubs and great restaurants for weekends, it's a much more intimate and local experience than Liverpool and Glasgow during the week and then access to London and therefore Europe via Eurorail plus lots of lovely local countryside during the weekends.

Adding that if he likes the idea of a Oxbridge style experience then he would get that if he gets into the Wantage/St Patrick Halls of residence - they are set up and resemble the Oxbridge colleges.

I am Australian and live near reading and have been to Liverpool - Liverpool reminds me a bit of Australia as it just has a more laid back feel with friendly people I guess due to the areas working class history. Everyone is right about reading being close to London but really this is about him settling into uni it’s likely he will want to spend time with new uni friends on weekends and Liverpool has a better night life.

Although my suggestion is he asks the same question on some student websites - he’s better to ask people who are studying law at these unis now. Perhaps post asking for links to relevant student forums? I think there is one called student room

Can't comment on the relative merits of the courses, but as a place to live for 6 months I'd definitely pick Glasgow. It's a great city with loads going on, easy access to some of the most beautiful countryside in the UK and excellent transport links. If I had to choose any UK city to live in Glasgow would definitely be in my top 3.
I don't really understand the love for Liverpool that is so prevalent on here. I lived on Merseyside for quite a lot of my youth and was very happy to leave. But lots of people seem to love it and there's a big student population so I suppose it has it's plus points. It's also quite easy to get to other places from (though I have to say that I have had more bad than good experiences flying to or from Liverpool airport - Manchester or Glasgow are far better in my experience. )
I've never been to Reading but one of my relatives went to University there and she really enjoyed it. I think it would be quieter than either Glasgow or Liverpool but not necessarily dull. As others have said, if he wants to visit London regularly it's by far the closest of the 3. The weather is probably also likely to be a bit better, though I'd imagine that the difference between Reading and Glasgow is pretty marginal compared to the difference between the climate in Australia and the UK as a whole, so that may be unimportant.
However, your son probably can't really get the choice "wrong" as if he comes with a positive attitude he'll almost certainly enjoy himself in any of the 3. And of course distances between different cities and places of interest in this country are relatively small so in 6 months, assuming he has sufficient funds, he could have a lot of interesting weekends away from any of those places.

It's only far away from the parts of the UK that are far from it!

Glasgow teaches both Scots Law and Common Law so there is no issue for your son studying there. For a student it’s a great city and has a very vibrant music scene!

Meant to add ta to @Puffalicious for the kind offer of her son meeting up with mine. Will keep that in mind. I will recommend he check out the student forums. Thought I'd get a mums and ex-students idea too. CHeers!

Glasgow is an amazing city, and the uni is right in the heart of the west end, which is one of the nicest areas, with so much going on.

Both Glasgow and Liverpool have European cities of culture, and both are also near stunning outdoor areas so there would be easy access to the Highlands/the Lake District for outdoorsy student clubs. Both also have good access to other lovely cities (Edinburgh and Manchester respectively).

Reading would be quite a different experience as a campus uni rather than a big city one. It's much nearer to London, but personally I'd have gone for either of the other two options and enjoyed being centered in a good sized city with a lot going on.

Personally just entirely based on location I would choose Liverpool its such a wonderful city to go to uni in. (I also went there).

It's beautiful, central for travelling, people are very friendly and loads to do as a student.

Reading is a bit of a shit hole

Glasgow is also fun but so cold and harder for travel

I wish people would stop spouting nonsense about Glasgow and travel! It's a major transport hub including two international airports and two major train stations.

Also, it is not especially cold.

Liverpool no brainer. Quite respected for law. Glasgow would be Scot’s law which is totally different. No to Reading not well thought of.

Is Australian Law the same as English Law? If not, why does it matter? Besides which , people have already explained that this doesn't matter upthread.

Totally. It's been a cracking summer.

And when it is cold, out of all 3 it's the only one, I reckon, with skiing in travelling distance 😆. My aussie ex was obsessed with snow and huntng it out at any sniff of a report of it on the hills 🤣. When his father came to visit he was exactly the same. Their minds nearly blew when we got to Glencoe (you can do it easily as a day trip). Mind you, DS1 was snow-boarding in our local park- city centre- last year as well.

Says who? There's virtually nothing between Liverpool and Reading in the overall university league tables. There was also some rubbish spouted about Reading not having any nice countryside nearby to get out into – which is absolute nonsense.

Personally, I would opt for Liverpool, but Reading is a perfectly decent university.

neither Liverpool nor Glasgow would be cities I’d choose to visit. Both have significantly higher crime rates than other cities of similar size. Yea wouldn’t want my children studying there.

reading is very near London and would be an easier transition to U.K. living being a campus.