Where would you live for one year only?

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Hi all,

My ds is graduating from Cambridge this year (fingers crosed!).
He has got himself onto a professional training course for the next few years. As part of it, he needs to go and do a 1 year masters course, followed by another 1 year masters in London.

He gets a stipend of £12,000 for the year. Which isn't a massive amount. That would just about cover rent in London.

We are from Glasgow originally. He has a few options on what cities to do it in.

He is trying to weigh up options of where he might know some people and the cost of rent. To me it's pretty scary to move to a city just for a year with no friends. Especially with covid and all that.

His options are

Bristol (UWE)
Oxford (Brookes)
Leeds (Beckett)
Manchester (Met)
London (South Bank)

It really doesn't matter where he studies it. But anyone got any insight? Is it worth the huge extra expense to be in London where he has a few friends? In London he would have to work and we'd support him
Leeds or Manchester on the other hand, he could do rent for £3,500 and live off the rest of the money quite nicely.

Definitely not London. Probably Bristol.

I have a family member who went to Leeds uni and she was really happy there. People were very friendly and the uni was good.

Oxford is absurdly expensive for accommodation.

I'm fond of LSBU because I went there & loved it but again accommodation is nightmarishly expensive.

None of them will be cheap but I'd choose, Bristol, Leeds, Manchester, in that order.

Bristol is a great city, lots to do, big but not overwhelming so. Manchester is amazing too, but very large.

I adore Oxford, but he’s just spent 3 years in Cambridge, so maybe a change of pace might be good. Oxford is expensive too.

Oxford will be pretty similar to Cambridge if he liked that type of place! I think Bristol seems like a great place to spend a year.

I’d say Bristol too. Was at uni there and it’s a great city with lovely areas like Clifton too.
Friend of DS’s has done a one year placement in Manchester this year and has been very very lonely. Also says he has felt quite unsafe in the city.
Are you still in Glasgow? In which case he may prefer Leeds to be closer to home?

Bristol is lovely but rents are really expensive.

Manchester. So much to do in the city.

There are direct trains from Manchester, to Glasgow if that is a consideration.

DS1 is currently doing a masters at UoB, but sharing a flat out towards the UWE Frenchay campus. He doesn't actually intend to stay there when he finishes, but does like the city of Bristol, which had not previously visited. Iirc, he found a potential flatmate - and then flat - through the SpareRooms website.

Would he be eligible for postgraduate accommodation at any of the unis - this could be a way of keeping costs down and ensuring he meets new people/makes friends?

I was going to mention postgraduate accommodation, but is it necessarily any cheaper than a private rental? DS1's flat is definitely cheaper than the UoB postgrad rooms he looked at would have been, even with the separate charge for utilities.

I'd say Manchester. It's an awesome city.

Leeds

They have a surplus of accommodation so you can always get something relatively cheaply.

It is a fab student city. So much going on. My son is at Beckett and is really happy.

He's been looking into different cities.
Manchester city centre is a bit cold, much like London feels in areas.
Bristol is leafy and nice, and probably more where he would feel comfortable walking about but he won't know anyone there.

Manchester is a great city and the centre is pretty compact. You get to know your way around pretty quickly . Lots to see and do. It’s very cool and has a good vibe.

Rents around UWE are cheaper than Clifton around the University of Bristol. Leeds isn’t too bad for student rents. London will be more expensive but not £1000 a month to share. Definitely less than that. Oxford ditto.

On balance - Manchester to get home. Leeds or Bristol. Which uni has the best reputation for his masters? Is that not important?

Surely once he starts the course he will make friends with others doing it too? Or is it likely to be online?

Leeds is well placed for getting to Glasgow and London- and back to Cambridge for a visit without having to go into London and out again.
Leeds Beckett is close to University of Leeds so lots of opportunities for socialising, and an easy walk to the more central shops and restaurants etc

Bristol or Manchester. Manchester is a lot closer to home which might be a useful back up in these Covid times...

If he's going to be spending the subsequent year in London there's something to be said for moving there now and getting himself established, meeting a few people and finding his feet. That said I don't think London is a great place to be a student and there's no doubt it's very expensive, so perhaps he'd be better to hold off for a year and save some cash for 2022/23?
Does he not have an opinion of where he wants to go? I'd personally chose to live by the sea for a year, in somewhere with a completely different vibe; St Andrews or Aberystwyth or maybe Brighton or Bournemouth, but it doesn't sound from what you've said that they'd be an option.

I am slightly surprised the Masters courses are not at RG universities. Was there not a bigger choice?

@PresentingPercy those courses that are professional training courses will be unis chosen by a company, they’ll be tailored to what they want, harder to do that with an RG that probably has plenty of demand.

With regards to location, of those absolutely head and shoulders, Manchester.
The city centre is pretty compact, it’s so much fun, but caters to everyone, from punk venues to fancy cocktail bars to concert halls to life drawing studios all within seconds of each other. Due to the vast swathes of regeneration there’s a lot of good quality accommodation all over and a lot of it is pretty reasonable.
Manchester is mint, has everything but a beach

Bristol is great fun as a student, so much so that a high proportion of people who study here never leave (me included)

Manchester or Leeds would be cheaper if that’s the driving factor, and still both exciting cities to live in for a year

of note TheMotherlode Manchester, Belfast and Birmingham have the second highest retention of students staying in the city after graduation with 50% of students staying on (London has the highest of course).

I think I'd go for Leeds or Manchester - both great cities and much cheaper to live in than Bristol.
Oxford is really expensive and I'd rule out London on cost.

I am biased but I would choose Leeds. It is a great city that has a great vibe with loads of options to visit other places.

For visits home he can take the scenic Settle-Carlisle train and then another from Carlisle. This is the cheapest route to Glasgow from Leeds.