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Talk to other parents whose children are preparing for university on our Higher Education forum.

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Talk to other parents whose children are preparing for university on our Higher Education forum.

Higher education

Dilemma about Uni Halls but in home town -

51 replies

Spoilt4choice · 11/04/2016 21:29

Ds has offers from 5 Unis, 2 in London plus Leeds, Sheffield and Manchester. We live in Manchester . He loves Manchester. He likes the course at Manchester. If he opts for Manchester he will get a place in Uni halls. His dilemma is that if he chooses Manchester he won't get the same experience of getting away from home as he would if he chose London/ Sheffield/Leeds .even though he wont be living at home, home will only be a short tram ride away so he says it's not the same. And all his friends will be leaving Manchester and moving away so home won't be the same either ! He's going round and round in circles and I don't know what to suggest!

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Spoilt4choice · 13/04/2016 21:17

Thanks for all your comments. He's given it a lot of thought and spoken to one of his trusted teachers today- Manchester's out of the running, and London is now number one ! We're all happy he's made his decision- it's a weight off and he can focus on his work now

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rightsaidfrederickII · 13/04/2016 19:35

I knew a few students who chose to go to uni in their home town but go into halls for first year. None of them regretted the decision to move out, all had a fairly normal university experience (albeit with slightly more regular visits to get their mums to do their laundry!) and while one moved back home for second year, the rest moved into shared houses.

If he feels he will be happiest in Manchester, then I don't think it's a bad option for him at all.

HocusWireless · 13/04/2016 00:59

Spoilt , not quite the same thing but may be of help - My DS's 2nd choice was in our home city. If he had gone there and lived in student accommodation , I would be in no doubt he would have got a "proper student experience". As pps have said the city you live in as an adult is different in degree rather than actual geography than that which a student would live in. Can't comment on Manchester v Leeds v Sheffield - but as a parent of a Ds who had a "local" i.e. part of the city we live in university on his UCAS form - I wouldn't worry. If he is worried then he needs to think it through. A good friend of mine's son has just accepted a place in the city we live in (London) . Manchester is great, obviously. So is London. If he likes cities in the way it seems he does - get him to think through London again. It's not that scary - seriously it's not. I wouldn't push him there but he sounds like he wants a city experience so could he go and visit again ?

hellsbells99 · 12/04/2016 21:44

Spoilt4choice - DD says she doesn't make decisions! A week before the deadline I am going to get her to write a list of pros and cons for each one (or maybe a spreadsheet) ......but she will probably end up pulling a name out of a hat! we are an hour from one, 40 minutes from another and the remaining 2 are probably 2 hours on the train but 1.5 hours to drive. She wants somewhere affordable with a good social life and plenty of gigs. She didn't apply for any London ones after speaking to a couple of DD1s friends that are there.

motheroftwoboys · 12/04/2016 17:38

We live in Newcastle (great uni city). DS1 went to Queen Mary's in London and DS2 went to Leeds Met. I felt it was much better for them to live away from home. Leeds was def. cheaper to live in than London. They both live and work near Manchester now. I am a great believer in the student debt belonging to the student btw. Up to them to get the relevant student loan and and get jobs to help support themselves. Not up to parents to bankrupt themselves although I know a lot of people don't agree.

BoboChic · 12/04/2016 17:33

TBH, I think your DS should take the plunge and move to London!

GeorgeTheThird · 12/04/2016 17:29

So he lives in Manchester, near the tram. And he has quite a limited view of Leeds and Sheffield, and needs to find out more about them. Neither is more than an hour away by train. Can I suggest he gets his arse on a train and has another look around? 😄

BoboChic · 12/04/2016 17:29

:)

Maybe your DS should fully explore the London option. Which universities does he have offers from?

Decorhate · 12/04/2016 17:20

Spoilt4choice My dd is at Leeds. She would have considered all the northern cities tbh but Leeds was the best fit for her academics etc

Spoilt4choice · 12/04/2016 14:47

Is it going somewhere else just for the sake of going somewhere else? And if it is, is that very bad?

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Spoilt4choice · 12/04/2016 14:45

Bobo i think you've hit the nail on the head. He feels Leeds / Sheffield are (sorry in advance to those of you who don't agree, but this is him not me...!) second rate versions of Manchester, but i thinkthe prpspect of coping with a) transition to Uni + b) leaving home + c) coping with a move to London is all a bit too much at once. So he then goes round it all again & ends up back at square one!

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Spoilt4choice · 12/04/2016 14:21

I've heard Sheffield is cheaper than Manchester, but don't really understand why/ how

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BoboChic · 12/04/2016 14:21

Given that your DS has grown up in a large provincial city, there isn't much point in moving to another large provincial city for university. He can either stay at home or go to London.

Spoilt4choice · 12/04/2016 14:19

I suspect a lack of depth in his research methods. Or CBA syndrome

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LuckySantangelo1 · 12/04/2016 14:19

I went to uni in Sheffield & loved it. Yes it has deprived areas but the unis and halls etc are not in these areas. My best mate & then boyfriend went to Manchester so I'm familiar with that area too, TBH Sheffield is much nicer than Manchester. It's England's greenest city and the nightlife is fab. Friendly place too and affordable. You can get so much out of the student experience there. I didn't stay but I have an awful lot of old uni mates still up there.

Spoilt4choice · 12/04/2016 14:18

Talking of Liverpool has reminded me that was on DSs list to start with , but quickly dropped for some reason even he can't remember

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Spoilt4choice · 12/04/2016 14:17

You could just put them all in a hat & pick two . If the courses are all similar there's not much to choose between Leeds Manchester or Sheffield, they're all great places to be an Undergraduate

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Spoilt4choice · 12/04/2016 14:13

how is she going to make the final decision, Hells? Are any of them where you already live?

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hellsbells99 · 12/04/2016 13:41

Op - my DD2 still hasn't made her choices yet either! It is now between 4: Manchester, Sheffield, Leeds and Liverpool. I preferred Leeds, DH prefers Sheffield, DD1 is voting for Liverpool and DD2 likes them all - and spends quite a lot of time in Manchester going to gigs!

Spoilt4choice · 12/04/2016 12:26

As my name suggests, i think it's a case of spoilt for choice. But he has to make the choice !

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Spoilt4choice · 12/04/2016 12:24

Suburban, im not sure why he didnt like Leeds. The course is very good and it's a great city (I used to live there) . He said he didn't like the campus .. so it was dismissed on that basis , which is daft but what can you do.

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lljkk · 12/04/2016 09:32

Sheffield apparently has the highest number of students who stay in the city after their course has finished because they like it so much.

UEA claims the same about Norwich. Student satisfaction thing, too. But This claims NI trumps all.

I'm foreign & find it puzzling how welded English are to the idea that a student must go away for university. It's not the default where i'm from.

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Spoilt4choice · 12/04/2016 08:29

Decor hate that's a good point, it's a Uk thing about uni 'experience ' I guess. What city did you DD choose? Bike- thanks for the Sheffield vote, reminds me that i only had vague but positive notions of Sheffield before all this. It's all so subjective . Id find it hard to to choose if i were 17 , no wonder DS is tying himself in knots!

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Shirkingfromhome · 12/04/2016 08:26

I haven't rtft but I live in Manchester and went to Sheffield Uni. Sheffield is great for students, probably more so than Manchester because it's a bit smaller. That said Manchester is only an hour on the train and is serviced quite well. If he's really missing the night life that much, what's to stop him going out in Manchester every once in a while?

I will say that picking your university based on the night life is probably not the way to go (I too did this before dropping out and re-applying) as it will be your friends that make the experience and not the club's / bars.

SuburbanRhonda · 12/04/2016 07:53

Anyone else still can't get over not liking Leeds? I think it's an amazing city! And we used to go to Sheffied a lot at the weekend but it never compared with Leeds.

DD is in London. Accommodation is eye-wateringly expensive. She paid £145 a week for halls in first year and £450 a month in second year sharing a room with her b/f. She loves living in London but she has no idea how she's going to afford to stay there when she finishes and her b/f has another year.

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