Bath or Durham for Economics?

[parkvilla]

DD holding offers for both but can't decide and doesn't know anyone at either currently. Does anyone have a view on either the course or accommodation in both?? Very confused!!

Which college at Durham?

She should look at threads on The Student Room about both, and ask any questions she might have. Is there anything she's particularly concerned about?

Does she have any strong extra-curricular interests that might offer better opportunities at one or the other?
They are opposite ends of the country, so is one easier to get to?
Has she visited both? Does she need to go back for another look? It's a big decision, so she shouldn't be afraid to ask lots more questions.

Durham accommodation depends on the college :)

I went to Durham. I had a great time, for me it was great because it was small, the colleges make it seem even smaller too so it is easy to get involved in stuff. You might not be able to sing or play and instrument, act or play a sport well enough for a university wide choir/team etc but there will be smaller ones in the colleges you can join so that is fun. Also plenty of scope to get involved int he running of your college jcr if that is your thing. Plus you have all the usual university wide teams and orchestras and societies.

Depends on what she wants from a place really. I like a small city like Durham (so much so I still live in County Durham). There is a lot more night life that when I was a student so even though it is small it is well served on that front!

Hi fellow Durham grads

Have they visited them both? Very often things that aren't obvious from reading the prospectus and other written things become very obvious when you get there. Sometimes people get a 'gut feeling' about a uni too - I had a bad gut feeling about Exeter, for instance, and a very good gut feeling about the university I eventually did go to - and that gut feeling turned out to be completely correct.

My DD was offered one of the colleges out by the park and ride at Durham. She could not have been further away from her faculty. She rejected the offer on those grounds! Right decision though. College offered is everything there! I have friends whose DCs went to Bath. They loved it but it is not in the middle of the city unlike most Durham colleges.

Has she not looked at the course content at each? Which looks best? Does one offer a year abroad? What are the lecturers like? Has she been invited to a post offer day? . If not, go and visit anyway. We could not do the Durham open day,so made private appointments in the faculty and the colleges DD was interested in. They only offer one college and lots do not get the one they choose.

Thanks to all; she has now visited her Durham college, St Mary's, which seemed great and very near to where Economics is taught; she still seems very unsure about it though so off to Bath on Wednesday which I hope will make things clearer - I am really hoping she has a GUT feeling about one of them (though I would prefer her to have the back up of the college system for food/social life/sport etc)! Still maybe need some Bath grads to make contact?

No idea about economics but DD2 is studying Maths at Bath - she is on work placement this year but will be back in Bath in the autumn for her final year. The campus is at the top of a very big hill so a little bit out of the city but buses run backwards and forwards till 4am. Second and third years either live at the bottom of the hill or in Oldfield Park. If life isn't exciting enough then Bristol is nearby.

DD2 has had a fabulous time at Bath so far, she enjoys her course, has lots of friends and there are lots of things to get involved in. The work placement has been a very positive experience as well and the university were a great help with the application process.

Hopefully your DD will get a feeling about where she wants to be but she will more than likely have a great experience at either university (I'm a Durham graduate as well )

Mary's is nice, well placed really as is towards the bottom of the hill so close to library which is part of the science site but also close to the city centre. Was always regarded as very friendly when I was a student. Though it was all girls back then and rugby teams on bar crawls were prone to making lewd jokes and drunkenly attempting to uproot bushes because stealing Mary's Bush is very funny when drunk .

I wonder how much it has changed now that they have had boys for a while.

I'm sure another visit to Bath will help her choose. She will have a wonderful time wherever she goes. Most halls of residence in non collegiate universities provide a good community and she will make friends in halls and on her course.

Aw, I'm a Mary's grad, from the days it was all girls. It is a lovely city, and the college system does make it easy to settle in quickly. It felt a little claustrophobic by the end of three years though, there's more to Bath as a city.

Indith, I was on Mary's bar committee, and had to regularly deal with the drunken bar crawls!

I spent many a Tuesday lunchtime in one of your jcr rooms for the dusagg club coffee. so did ds1 . He had his own teeny tiny stash. I still have it tucked away in a memory box.

Happy days.

Oh I do love Durham. I kind of agree on the claustrophobia. I suppose it depends on how involved in other things you get. People I was good friends with were, and still are, very active in scouting and guiding and gradually built lives in the city not just the university.

Hi, I've joined MN just to contribute to this thread - I've been reading aibu for a while to try to keep in touch with the real world outside the uni bubble (it replaces the gossip I get from my mum at home!)

Anyway, I'm a student at Bath and while I love it I would advise against it for economics. I have found the teaching and feedback from that department to be almost universally awful, I'm afraid. I study a joint honours course with economics.

I can't get past your reading AIBU to keep in touch with the "real world" . AIBU doesn't come close to any real world I know!

Sorry you've not had a great experience of the department at Bath.

Bath is likely to be 4 years with a placement year? This is a big consideration. For a friend of my DD it meant he got a graduate job with the big firm he did his placement with (one of the top accountancy firms). BUT he had to do an extra year +fees...he probably could have secured the job with an internship.

From DDs friends I know those at durham are very involved with uni, it is far from where we live and so they really get into the 'bubble'. The colleges mean there are loads of events on.
Bath is lovely and those there have made great friends but the placement year can disrupt friendships and make uni fragmented as they are all off for a year across the country on placements. Big thing to think about!

Any 4 year degree becomes an issue if you make friends with people doing 3 year degrees. Often people don't make really good friends with the people doing the same degrees as themselves. It is just the way it goes but most people really like the university they choose.