Leeds uni-thoughts and experience anyone,dd contemplating a visit and it's a farkin long drive

[brimfull]

any thing really?

boden-really ?that is handy to know thanks!

at leeds at the moment as a very mature PGCe student (did my first and Phd degrees here too) fab uni, fab city - am watching the charlie mo revamp from the window as i type!
lower cost of living than london, oxbridge etc. and close enough to the dales to escape when had enough of uni/city life/nightlife

"cheeky-yes that has crossed my mind,we live on south coast..I want her to go to southampton but she's having none of it "

Ahem... one day my father confessed that he didn't allow me to go to an out of town university because he was afraid I would meet someone there, marry and stay there or move further away.

Sometimes I wonder if it would have been better for my father to let me go... lacking the living away of home experience (and with a little more money on my account) I decided to do my master abroad... I met who would be my husband the same day I landed in that country, and after marriage ended up in a further away one. If he had let me go to the first one, I suspect that at least I would still be in the same country

Leeds is a great city. Welcome to the phase of long journys! DD2 had auditons in several universites and DH took her to nearly all of them ( I don't drive). She had to be in Livepool at 8.30 on a Sunday morniong for one of them.

Orangefish-I know what you mean. I will let her pick and I will not try to sway her.My new mantra.

I had two friends who went there and did not enjoy it, it is very big and they both felt rather lost. But they are quite quiet people who did subjects where its easy to get lost type thing. They came to my uni (Hull) which is much smaller and cosier but also rather grim.

But Leeds is fab and I have other friends who loooooooved it.

I think its about chosing the right uni for your personality.

I'm Loshad's little sister and I went to Leeds too many many moons ago. I had a great time, fab social life and my big sister used to make me chips.

GGirl - only just coming back to this, No Leeds isn't massive at all, is the perfect size I think, very easy to get round and the Uni is right in the city centre, Headingley which is a popular living / going out place for students is a bus ride or long walk straight up the road the uni is on.

I moved there having never visited the city before and although it did take me a few months to settle in, I loved it right from the start, there is lots going on for students.

I was in leeds for 5 years, we moved back to my home town a few months ago so my children could get to know my parents better, I miss the city so much and think we will all move back at some point.

Would she be going into halls of residence? If not the Unipol website is really great for finding student houses.

I think I have CAT, please feel free to message me, or your daughter can as well if she would like to.

Sent my son up for an Open Day at the art college/uni the other day - a mere £91.60 by train!!!! Aaaah!!!!! (from the SE)

My best friend and my BIL both went and loved it.

My friend found it a bit huge and daunting at first and soon settled in and started enjoying herself (a bit too well and didn't end up with a very good degree!)

I went up to visit a few times and really enjoyed the city, really friendly with loads of great bars.

Personally I tried to make my decision based on a few things like:

1. Did I want to be on a city or campus (city, so ruled out a few)
2. Did I want to go to London (no, too expensive and not enough "studentyness")
3. Did I want a massive trek back home (no, but wanted to be far enough away - thus ruling out Durham and Scottish unis)

Then on the basis of those decisions I looked at courses and did open days and visits.

(I ended up in Bristol based on my above criteria....)

I did Spanish at Leeds many moons ago and yes, it has a good reputation for languages. 4 years ago I moved back here again for work, so now I have the student and non-student perspective on it! (And god yes they still do the Otley Run, ds has grown up thinking it's perfectly normal to see adult males dressed as Little Bo Peep at 4 o'clock in the afternoon when he comes with dh to fetch me from work!)

Yes, the unis are large, but it's a friendly place (bus drivers excepted of course) and it's very popular.

I went to Leeds far more years ago than I care to recount (left 11 years ago, suddenly feeling very old.) It is a fabulous place. Yes the uni is big but it is very friendly and very supportive. The best thing about it for me was that it is a city but it was not too large to feel intimidating. As I am from the sticks, I remember visiting Manchester and Birmingham on Open Days and feeling a little scared because they were so massive. Leeds has a wonderful city feel but it is small enough to find your way around pretty quickly. UNiversity also has a good academic reputation and also a good reputation for student life. HTH.

thankyou everyone
sounds good
will report back how she likes it when we go to the openday

No way!!! I went to Leeds Uni and studied music!

Wonderful Uni, great campus, fab city, and this was in the 90s so now it must be even better!
The music professors were all lovely. I cannot recall a single one that didn't inspire in some way.

oh good to know the music dept is so good! thanks

Is Ellbell around? She has first hand current experience!

My cousin graduated 2 or 3 years ago from Leeds and recommended it to my DD.

Imagine if she wanted Durham or even St Andrews!!! We are in the SOuth East and one of DD's friends applied to Nottingham then all Scottish Uni's, and had to keep travelling for interviews!

I know -why so far away

we are visiting sheffield open day,then leeds the next day
cardiff -only 2 hrs away so easy
southampton 30min away

pray she likes cardiff or soton best

My DD liked Southampton - AND they have given her an unconditional offer, so she felt quite mean not selecting them as first choice, although the offer did clinch it being her reserve (over Warwick & Durham).

Are you looking for entry in 2010? (Only asking as all DD's cohert have firmed their choices for this year).

All your DD's choices seem really good as well, I am sooo envious of them all as I never considered Uni when I left school.

yes entry in 2010

she is quite excited about it all

I am however dreading her leaving home

well done to your dd on her offer,she's doing languages isn't she?

Yes, and if she goes to S'ton then she can do 3 which would be great. The others restrict you to 2 for the degree but you can work for language awards as an extra with any degree.

did she look at Leeds by any chance

ds1 currently at Leeds and loves it.

oh that's good to know madlentil
what's he doing there?

She didn't visit or apply to Leeds, but did get a prospectus in the early days.

I think she only applied to those who were ranked in the top 10 for her subject combination! (although which tables you believe, who knows?)

linguistics