Bristol, Manchester or Sheffield Uni?

[mrsmootoo]

DD1 has been lucky enough to get three good offers from three good universities to study German & Russian next autumn, but she cannot decide which to choose. Has anyone got any firsthand experience through their children/friends etc of any of these cities and/or language departments? We live in the country but she likes the idea of a big city so that's not a problem. I like the idea of Bristol as a bit more manageable than huge Manchester. (Rain also not a problem apparently - I know it's wet there). Thanks!

Bristol is lovely in so many ways. It has an excellent reputation.
DD found the city a good size - not too small or too big. It has something for everyone from night clubs to great shops, cinemas, restaurants, music venues, pubs, bars etc. DD found it was all very familiar quickly. The city has a really special feel and is very pretty.
It is a good cross between a campus and city uni as most of the departments are in one place all along a few rounds in huge townhouses along with the main libraries and sports centre but the 'campus' is right next to the town where there are shops to get lunch and cafes where students congregate. It seems a really nice set up.
The actual uni is much smaller than other unis (although growing) which DD loved, she said she knew a lot of the people she saw around on campus. DD misses it tremendously and had the best few years there.

My DD had friends who went to Manchester but felt they did not really fit in. Sheffield is friendly but Bristol has a good reputation regarding employment. It has a very high proportion of public school students, and fewer locals. Few people commute. My DD had an offer from Manchester for MFL but we found it depressing. It rains in Bristol too, by the way. There won't be much to choose between the courses, it will really come down to the sort of person she is, and sheer she feels settled, but i would choose Bristol every time. Others, no doubt, will differ!

Has she been to some open days or visited the cities to get a feel for them? It's really the best way to make a decision.
My DD is at Bristol and really loving it. Great city, excellent uni, loads of extra-curricular stuff, good accommodation.
Personally I quite like Manchester as a city - it has a good 'buzz', but I wouldn't choose it over Bristol as a place to live. Never been to Sheffield, but friends who went to uni there loved it as very easy to get out for lots of hill-walking and outdoorsy stuff in the surrounding area.

Congratulations to your DD on her offers - a nice dilemma to have!

I had offers for Russian (about 15 years ago) from Sheffield and Bristol. Both are very well respected. She should check course content depending on how much literature vs history vs language vs culture she wants to study.

Depending on what she wants to do in the future and as a graduate recruiter, in general Bristol > Manchester > Sheffield. Though that totally depends on what she wants to do as a career.

PM me if I can offer any more advice.

Bristol is the best uni on that list.

But of course it depends how she feels about them. Go on the post offer open days. You never know until you experience them.

My dd is in her first year at Bristol studying German and Italian. The language facilities are amazing - a modern Multimedia Centre - it is really up to date and has computer language labs, TVs, a library of DVDs in different languages & recording rooms. She says the teachers are really good & she will be going to Berlin soon with the German Society (which organises events and trips). Hope that helps.

DD1 is doing German and Russian, but at UCL. She was offered Bristol too and as someone else said, it does have excellent facilities in the language dept.
DD2 is at Bristol doing psychology and absolutely loving it. Everything is so accessible and the city is small enough to navigate on foot or bus, but big enough to have everything they could want.
She was also offered Sheffield and Manchester (and York and Durham), but decided Manchester was just too big for her. She liked Sheffield - it's a great city, but something just 'clicked' when she went to Bristol for the applicant day. As someone else has said, I'd really recommend going to all of the applicant days - they're much more detailed than the open days and really give a flavour of the university, the course and lecturers.
The only issue at Bristol this year was the shortage of accommodation for the first year students - some people having to double up in rooms or staying in hotels which must be a bit unsettling for some. Hopefully they'll have it sorted for next year.
They're all good universities, so she should go with where she feels most comfortable and for the course she thinks she'd like most.

DS went to Sheffield for undergraduate work and Manchester for his masters and loved both. Possibly Sheffield just had the edge, but we had family connections there, which might have swung it.

Bristol often has a shortage of accommodation if it is not your first choice and therefore did not apply by the deadline day. However, most people get into student accommodation but some halls are more popular than others, so be flexible.

Would say Bristol has the better "name" of the three. All have excellent reputations though.

Manchester guarantees accommodation for all firm & insurance students. DD currently favours Manchester for her firm. A good fiend of DDs is in her first year there and thoroughly enjoying herself. We have friends studying at Sheffield who love it - it also helps that it is cheap to live there. Don't know much about Bristol.

Bristol has a very good reputation and is still seen as tough to get in because it's relatively small. I loved it there. Manchester was more grim when I looked round, and though possibly might have been better for my first love (astronomy) I chose the place I thought I could live in. I come from near Sheffield so didn't apply there, but it is a very good, solid university and I'd have cheerfully applied had it not been far too close to home!
Bristol was, even in the '80s, horribly expensive. We used to moan that we ought to have had the same extra grants as London students got. I saved like mad each summer vac from holiday jobs to supplement my grant, and I hate to think what it's like these days with loans and tuition fees.

Oh, one reason I chose Bristol was because it was a small city in gorgeous countryside. Best of both worlds!

Bristol is expensive if you want to live in the Clifton/Clifton Village area. Halls are no more expensive than elsewhere. It has one of the highest public school educated student bodies in the country so it is hugely popular if you are not Oxbridge bound. It has more varied entertainment options than Durham!

DD is firming Manchester. She has older friends at both Manchester and Sheffield and all are enjoying themselves. I believe Sheffield is the cheapest place to live out of the 3.

Son at Sheffield. Its brilliant! Has a very safe and friendly feel which is very reassuring for us parents living in another part of uk. Manchester just felt a bit too big /edgy and accommodation was in pretty grim area whereas Sheffield halls are in lively area and walking distance to uni. Can't comment on Bristol x

Should say lovely not lively area...though with thousands of first years in student villages, I suspect its pretty lively too;-)

Manchester is huge - this means you can find other people with similar interests; but can also be a bit anonymous. Great nightlife, good value

Sheffield - good size city, cheapest, enough student life without it dominating the place

Bristol - v expensive, also a good size, but can be a bit too small if you crave a large city

In terms of reputation, I'd put Manchester and Bristol on level pegging, with Sheffield behind

But really they're all good

Bristol is definitely the 'best' university and will be considered so by future employers. I've lived in Manchester and Bristol and personally think that Bristol is far nicer!!

I heart Bristol

Sheffield accomodation is excellent. Private 2nd year accomodation is plentiful, cheap,and can be found close to the uni buildings.

Bristol accomodation can be further away and require bus journeys

Btw does Manchester really guarentee accomodation for insurance offer students.? That's amazing if they do. I'd double check what they mean by it though.

Manchester does guarantee accommodation for both Firm and insurance students. All should do really as they know approx. how many students they will end up with eventually. Friend's DD went to Manchester through clearing last year and still got into the university accommodation.

That's excellent of Manchester guaranteeing accomodation for all applicants.

I've heard some horror stories about friends DCs having trouble getting accomodation at their insurance universities and ending up miles away from their Unis in grotty flats.

Sheffield is a great city to be in. It is one of the safest cities in the country. It is pretty cheap compared to other cities. It is VERY green and is close to lots of open space and has LOADS of parks which is nice. There is a strong student scene and plenty going on.
Hope that helps

Is there really no difference in course content? I did French & Business (at Sheffield) and there was a difference between courses re time spent abroad (I did 6 months of 2nd year at Bordeaux uni, then whole of 3rd year in industry in France) and what you did (whether you worked or whether you were just teaching English in a foreign uni. I would prioritise the course which gave me the most time abroad / business experience if possible.

I don't know Bristol at all but live in Manchester now and think it must be great to be a student here but enjoyed my time in Sheffield too.

Although a long time ago, I went to Manchester for my undergrad and Sheffield for my masters and while working at Bath I also did some p/t teaching at Bristol.

She really needs to look at the courses in detail first and see if there is one she prefers (although of course optional modules may not always be on offer every year).

If they all seem much of a likeness and there is no clear winner on course, then it is down purely to the type of city she wants to live in. Manchester has huge amounts of stuff going on music/clubs, film and drama wise, but so have Bristol and Sheffield. All are good for getting out into the countryside with excellent hiking groups to either the Pennines or the Breacon Beacons, although Bristol has the advantage for seaside trips to Weston. I think Manchester just about wins out for museums (but then I have a real soft spot for the mummy gallery in the University museum), and the Whitworth Art Gallery is on campus. But then Sheffield has a paternoster in the Arts Tower and the Botanic Gardens are right next to campus. Of the campuses, I think Manchester has the edge, if only for not being at the top of a hill!

Bristol has a quirky, west country, crusty feel to it, almost another country. Mind, Sheffield also has that slight dislocation feel to it, marching to its own rhythm. Manchester is larger than both and I've only really found Londoners who think it is 'small', so if she's not into a big city experience it might not be for her.

Expense-wise, Sheffield is the cheapest for accommodation and certainly when I was there the quality of accommodation was higher for less money than Manchester.

But the course has to come first before making choices of where to live.