Nottingham university. Views please!

[DinkyDaisy]

Hello,
My ds is going to university open days. Not sure about attending Nottingham this coming weekend. Someone told him it was a rough town.
However, from what I understand a good university and information he has got from an unhelpful friend may well be out of date!
He is not a party boy [yet!] but I would imagine all universities have a mix of students and he would find fellow nerdy types!
Any views on Nottingham are welcome.
Thank you.

My DD has had 4.5 very happy years there. Loads to do, beautiful campus and town is OK (it has a castle and lots of great pubs and cafes). Trams make travel v easy and cheap. Campus is beautiful, with a large lake. Sport facilities amazing. And housing cheap.
There are many worse places to live !

Thank you. This is useful!

My dd is in her second year and absolutely loves it. It’s not rough at all. We live in a very nice bit of south Norfolk so yes it’s tougher than that (!) but nothing like the part of south london we originally moved from! The students are quite a posh bunch, very middle class, mostly from posher areas of London. Depends if that’s a good thing for you or not! Most of her friends are very left wing - dd is bisexual, and all her friends are gay or trans. They do a lot of clubbing together. I’m really chuffed she’s made such a close group of friends. The course she’s on is good and she’s enjoying it. Although a lot of it is still online - after covid things haven’t really gone back to normal.

The one thing I would say is don’t go for catered halls - dd did and the food was absolutely disgusting. And so expensive. She ended up spending a lot of money on extra food: she couldn’t wait to move into her own place in year 2.

I went there and loved the town so much I stayed on for a few years after uni. Like all big towns or cities there are rough bits but the student spaces are all nice pockets throughout. Gorgeous campus, great facilities, wonderful reputation.

*when I said the food was expensive in halls I meant it’s obviously included in the rent but the rent is so expensive and totally overpriced for what you actually get!

This is great. Thanks. Cost will be an issue for us and I think self-catering would be the way to go.

Ds1 is in second year and having a ball.
The campus is stunning, easy cheap trams into the city and great nightlife. Can't really fault it tbh. Although as a Northerner from a state school he seems to be in a minority among his friendship group at least.
He had catered accommodation and found it ok. Communal dining was very sociable and his hall had a common room which was great. Paid for the shortest contract, 31 weeks I think it was, so had to empty room at Easter and Christmas but saved us well over £1000 and not a major hassle.
We're there this weekend for Ds2 to have a look.

And all his course is face to face too. But maybe something to question.

I went and loved it. Obviously there are dodgy areas, but Beeston is nice and convenient. Ask around though, and aim for walking distance to the campus and a supermarket. I thought it was a great university city!

I went there and loved it.

Gorgeous campus with great facilities and the city itself is no worse than any other big city IMO. The student areas are safe and I never felt scared or nervous walking around at night.

Great public transport, good food and night life and plenty to do. I'd definitely recommend it.

My DS is at Nottingham Trent and loves it, the city is great, loads going on whatever your interests. My DS is sporty and has made some great friends. The students at Trent and Nottingham seem to get on well and meet up for shared activities, nights out, sports matches etc.

Ds has just started there this year. Having a great time. Ds did lots of research before choosing a Uni and chose Nottingham for the campus, the wide choice of courses, and the fact that it's the 2nd most targeted Uni by big employers! 84% of students in work in their chosen area 6 months after graduating.

Apparently drink spiking is common in clubs and pubs, but ds has found a lovely group of friends in their flat and block and they all look after each other on nights out. Nothing bad to say about it.

Ds is in Broadgate Park - self catered accom. That suits him perfectly. Across the road from the campus so very easy to get everywhere.

Transport into town is easy and cheap. Lots of bars, clubs, things to do. Ds and a friend went to a local reservoir last weekend for a walk!

Go to an open day, chat to students. Everyone my ds knows there has had a good experience.

Nottingham is a great city. I work at UoN too and on the whole it's a lovely campus, great sports, many good schools and degree programmes. It's certainly a changed city since I moved here 25 years ago. There are places to avoid, like anywhere or any city. Campus is set out of town though and there's good transport via the tram and many buses connecting campuses

It’s the uni of choice from our v middle class leafy comp

Ha ha Nottingham is “rough” in the same way as London is “rough” - ie it depends where you’re talking about.

University of Nottingham is Russell Group. I understood that to be a good thing but there you go.

Nottingham Trent University just been named university of the year by The Times hasn’t it?

Some student areas nice - Beeston, the campus of uni of Nottingham etc.

Some student areas not so nice - Radford/Lenton.

Nottingham is a very cool
place.

Ah bit they all tend to live in Lenton (& Dunkirk if a medic). Cheapest Sainsburys in the country apparently.

The students are quite a posh bunch, very middle class, mostly from posher areas of London

I hope that doesn't put OP or anyone else off. It's a diverse city with a diverse student population. They even have students who are Not Posh, Not MC and Not from London.

I live in the centre of Studentville. (Lenton) about a mile from the campus. It's safe and a decent place to live. I'm completely meh about Nottingham itself. But it's ho worse tan other cities. Public transport is brilliant and the camps is beautiful.

Lenton is not rough! It's a great place to live. (And expensive!)

Lenton is absolutely fine and where most of the 2nd and 3rd years live! It’s where my dd lives. It’s a great location. Close to uni and close to town.

I wrote that. That’s just my dds experience.

She gets teased a lot about coming from Norfolk, we live in the middle of nowhere. Most of the people she’s met there come from north London.

Notting City is not rough. It’s a fantastic city to be a student in. Compact yet big enough.

Some of the towns surrounding the city have some of the worst crime rates in the country - but unless your son is planning to get on a bus/ train to hang out in them I wouldn’t worry!

Ds in his final year and has loved it. Definitely worth going to look around, we were pleasantly surprised! No worse than any other city.

We are going to the open day on Saturday as well. But my son's course would be on the Jubilee campus. The main campus looks really nice but is the Jubilee a bit isolated from it? Which halls do Jubilee students live in?

I live in Nottingham but I work all over the country in many cities and towns. The Nottingham campus is beautiful...but anyone here saying it isn't a rough city is somewhat misleading.

There is a lot of quite open and visible gang crime compared other cities (e.g a teenager was murdered outside the main shopping centre in daylight last year). There was a drive by shooting outside the city centre Tesco Express where the victim was a complete stranger to the gunman.

I think it's on a par with London, but if I had the opportunity to study at say Manchester or Leeds - I'd move there instead