Sheffield Hallam or Aberyswyth for MFL with business?

[ComeonArsenal]

We haven't visited either uni and they both want BBC so would be DC's insurance. Which one to pick? Is one more prestigious than the other?

Sheffield is quite different from Aberystwyth. I would visit both and see whether the would-be student fancies spending their student years in either!

yes, could you possibly visit? Aber is only a small seaside town- depending on where the teen has grown up I can envisage a massive culture shock... it was for me!

@tartlets and @HappyHolidai We are from London and I know Aber is remote and quite the contrast. DC doesn't seem to mind but I guess I will have to face up to the 7 hour drive and check it out!

I can't comment on Aberystwyth Uni, but the town is a small quite Welsh seaside town, this is not a criticism, it's just very different from Sheffield.
Sheffield has two large universities and so a sizeable student population. Hallam is probably 4 times as large as Aber. DC1 is in their second year at Hallam and loving it. Likes the tutors/professors, lots of friends, very involved with sports. So it depends on whether your DC wants lots going on, or a smaller more intimate experience (my DC1 wanted the former and DC2 would want the latter).
Also think about travel. Depending on where you live, North Wales can be tricky on public transport. Equally if you are crossing the Pennines to Sheffield that can be difficult when it snows.
I really would recommend a visit if you possibly can to help your DC assess these things. On the other side, neither is a bad choice, I'm not aware that either is particularly more prestigious, and both seem to have good reputations.

I know someone who did his UG Business degree at SH. He enjoyed the programme and the uni. His mum was one of our Student Support Officers and she thought Student Support at SH (in Business, at least) was very good

Aberystwyth has been a university for 150 yrs or so, Sheffield Hallam is a former polytechnic. Look at what the course contents are like.

Aberystwyth is a small town and gets a lot of rain. Road and railway links aren't great.

Sheffield is quite simply a great student city. It's just a great city, anyway.

Apparently Sheffield has the highest number of students who end up staying and living in the city after their degree if that gives any sway.

That’s true about Sheffield but whether they all do degree level work is debatable. Not from what I’ve seen.

Neither is a prestigious university. Yes Aber is older. It’s remote with little going on outside the university, and nothing like Sheffield which is far bigger, more vibrant and great for students. Better rail link too!

I would also suggest that employers won’t care. They will set tests and he will be interviewed. How he gets on with those will mean more. BBC entry is fairly low so he would be best placed doing work and building up his cv. What language and where would he go for year abroad?

Complete university guide for Business and Management has Aber at 44 and SH at 60.

I went to Aber although did a different subject - it is awesome! A small, safe town geared for students

But it’s very different to Sheffield. If you want a big city, Aber isn’t it. I don’t think London Dc actually realise how small it will seem after London where you have Everything! DC are safe at university. Also some students want more then just university. My DD liked theatre, concerts, museums, wide choice of entertaining venues, restaurants etc. However students must evaluate what they really want and what makes them tick.

Aberystwyth has the population of a large village.

I’d suggest in terms of location they really are chalk and cheese. Although perhaps with hills in common😀

Sheffield has a population of over 500,000 Aber is more like 15,000. Sheffield with two large unis, Aber far smaller student number wise, although students in Aber clearly a much bigger proportion of the overall population. More difficult to get lost in the crowd at Aber.

Aber still has a Michelin restaurant. The Ceredigion museum is no doubt at the top of must visit places for visitors to the UK. Then of course there is the funicular cliff railway. Devil’s Bridge. Hinterland. The beaches. Potential for the occasional epic winter storm.

Everything in Welsh although everyone speaks English, the former handy if that counts as an MFL though!

Cheap Uni accommodation, all singing and dancing top of the range en-suite room with massive kitchen for six people was less that £5.5k last year. More than 50% hall room nearer the 3.5k mark, shared facilities of course. No problem finding second year rental, that might have been just luck though.

DS3,is at Aber, different course, well regarded on an international level. He really likes it, but has grown up on the edge of a rural market town in England. For him Aber has far more amenities than he is used to. His second year house is on the seafront. Step out front door, cross road and he’s on the beach.

it is a pig to get to. We are almost three hours from Shrewsbury. It is then single carriageway road all the way to Aber, granted picturesque with numerous ram purchasing opportunities. Single train line to Shrewsbury, part of which was washed away last winter.

Probably quicker from Aber to get to Dublin than London.

once there utterly glorious. But your DC should consider the very significant location differences between Aber and Sheffield carefully in case his firm choice does not work out and he ends up going to one of them.

I’ve seen insurance candidates refuse to go when they don’t get their first choice! They realise their mistake! That’s why, for a pretty old university, entrance grades are lower than you would expect. It’s definitely a niche sort of place - can students afford the Michelin starred restaurant?

Name changed as outing combined with other posts.

I'm a Londoner. Went to Aberystwyth and loved every second.

Compared to friends who went to Unis in cities etc Aber felt like such a bubble. I'd be over the moon for my DC to go there. Even with the long drive back and forth. My parents only did it at the start/end of the year and then I'd get the train other times along with plenty of friends.

Probably about as friendly and safe as a Uni town could be. Bonus of the sea and mountains on your doorstep.

Just a thought, OP, but does your DC have any offers that are no higher than the firm choice and which he/she would prefer to Aber/SH? I ask because students looking to do modern languages degrees are in a relatively "buyer friendly" market. Unless right at the top of the academic pecking order, I suspect that universities are likely to be relatively forgiving of a missed grade or two for modern languages degrees, particularly if the student has shown a strong performance in language A levels and the missed grade is in a subject much less relevant to the degree.

It would be helpful to know what his first choice is.

In terms of Aber and Sheffield, you simply can't compare the two places. With such an extreme contrast I think this is far more important than the course or the reputation of the uni.

Sheffield is a big northern university city, with thousands of students and lots going on, with other cities nearby and good transport links.

Aber is unique and glorious and people who go there willingly tend to adore it - but if you find yourself there because somewhere else didn't want you, and if you've never visited before, it'll be a shock. It's tiny, just a small seaside town with nothing but beaches, countryside and market towns inside two hours drive, and one train line in and out, with just ten trains a day to Shrewsbury (2 hours) and Birmingham (3 hours). Swansea and Cardiff take a good bit longer as there's no train. The proportion of students compared to the rest of the population is high so it's quite lively, there are loads of pubs and cafes but but it is small (one night club) - and if you were expecting your university experience to be a city and all that offers, then Aberystwyth will be a grave disappointment. Personally, I'd love to go there, but I'm not sure that an 18 year old me would have loved it.

I went to Aber from London - albeit I was very familiar with mid-Wales anyway.

You either love it or you don’t.

Obviously I went some years ago , but we didn’t get the level of debt there others did as we simply didn’t have the shops - mail order will have changed all that.

It wasn’t a ghost town on weekends because very few saw commuting as a realistic option.

Aber is a way of life, rather than an institution. 😉

I once met a woman on a rural German train very late at night. We seen discovered we’d both been to aber - instant friends.

I had a car a few years (insurance is cheap and if you’re not in town parking is easy), friends had horses. There’s space to simply “be”.

I did once spot another London girl who was the year below me in school - she looked happy enough.

Noy sure if it’s changed, but when I went it was against the university rules to drown.

Aberystwyth is a lovely experience, but probably not a great insurance choice. If you choose that environment/lifestyle it can be amazing. Ending up there as an insurance choice or through clearing can be harder.

Admittedly, Aberystwyth is a bit of a trek from London (and from lots of other places, as has already been pointed out), but Sheffield is really easy to get to by train and SHU is mainly located close to the station, iirc. Is there a reason that your DS didn't visit before applying?

If he has offers, then most universities run offer holder days, which he would be sensible to attend.

I’m not sure a university choice should be about how quickly you can get out of it! Size of city/town is important. What’s available there for students matters and should match expectations. If it doesn’t it’s three wasted years in many ways.,

And for that, it would really help to have seen the places in person - it just struck me as odd that the OP's DS had not at least visited SHU, which is very easy to get to from London, even if getting to Aber is rather more of a taking (but then again, possibly more important to do?).

The OP has said towards the start of the thread that they will probably have to visit both.

Autumn term Saturday open days aren't feasible for lots of DC, for multiple reasons, e.g. work commitments, sports commitments, travel logistics etc.

You can visit both informally. At least that gives Dc a feel for city vs seaside smaller town.