Insight on Leeds or Bristol for English lit

[Tindrum]

Hi my dd has offers for Bristol and Leeds for English literature. She likes both universities equally so I was hoping for any insight you may have on the course and the uni. Good or bad it would be great to hear any thoughts 😊

very true, it was a specific worst case scenario and I'm sure could happen anywhere and totally dependent on luck (and covid meant he was pretty stuck with his flat mates and no others)
I regret for him that university has been a sad place despite loving his subject and doing well.

I can't comment on the courses but my dd finished at Leeds last year and didn't come home she loves it there , she is really settled . I love going to visit it's a great city , must be cheaper than Bristol surely 🤔

i’m just really pleased that she seems to have two excellent options, I’m excited for her. Thanks for all the really helpful advice - I’ll pass it all on

I’m an English lit graduate from Leeds albeit many years ago now and loved absolutely everything about it from my first year in self catered halls to my student houses in the Hyde Park area. The course was absolutely perfect for me because back then it offered the opportunity to explore language as well as literature.
I was lucky because my first year set me up for the years that followed as I made friends in halls that that have been part of my life ever since. We were a diverse lot both in terms of background and subjects studied but whoever was responsible for placing us altogether did a wonderful job.

Aww very lovely post

My DD is in Y1 doing English Lit & Spanish at Leeds. Accommodation good, everything local. We are Manchester so only 1 hour / a tenner on train home. Cost of living re food, out and about etc reasonable. 2nd year house share is £100 a week. Can't speak to course, though she seems happy and engaged enough and getting good grades & feedback. There's not a bad choice between those two - it's the small things like distance home, any support networks there, cost of living etc. Good choices!

Cost of transport around Bristol is negligible for lots of students. Even if you are in Stoke Bishop, the bus into the university area is included in the cost of the hall. Students might get a taxi home when it’s very late! Many students live within walking distance of the uni area in y2/3 but that’s the expensive bit! Cheaper accommodation is available elsewhere. However looking early is vital. Many rentals are 1 year too. 1 July-30 June.

Forty (!) years ago I wanted to do English at Bristol but didn't get an offer. I ended up at my second choice, which was Leeds, and had a great time. I loved it there.

I did English at Leeds (like other pp 20 odd years ago) - one of the things I loved were the beautiful old houses you went to for your tutorials and Brotherton library felt like the perfect place to sit and study 18th century literature!

With the huge expansion of university places, I think experiences of 20/40 years ago are probably a bit off the money. It’s a bigger world in these departments now with far more students.,

I genuinely hope you are right @TizerorFizz. Your dc is at Bristol I think? Out of interest, is it sufficiently diverse in their view? When I was there I don't recall seeing a single non white face among student or teaching body. Barely even a woman in the latter (one across two depts) so yy my experiebce there must be our of date.

Still hilly tho - I'm from the flatlands so it was a struggle 😁

@clary. DD was but did MFL.,Her friend from school that went there for law was black. Similar to Exeter on diversity I think. MFL doesn’t tend to be diverse. However you cannot make students go there if they don’t want to. DD wasn’t looking for diversity so didn’t have opinions, as far as I know. She works for ethnic minorities now so who you are with at university doesn’t frame your thinking overall. People will naturally drift to “people like us” whether it’s working class, or upper class or joining the Chinese society or the Jewish students group. Live and let live tends to work quite well.

Thanks for the advice all. She got rejected from UCL yesterday (not surprising she had a horror show interview in November) but now also has an St Andrews offer to weigh up. I think she was favouring Leeds over Bristol, so now she needs to figure which out of Leeds and St Andrews to firm and insure.

St Andrews is a very long journey from London. I’ve said this before on MN but IMO distance from home to uni is a key factor.

Not necessarily just to enable weekends at home, but for other reasons. Watching sports matches or concerts, offering moral or physical support, lifts at each end of term…I’ve been v glad that my dc were relatively local. Leeds is an easy train ride, n Scotland not so much.

Its easy enough to get to St Andrews from London. The train goes most of the way from Kings Cross. Far more difficult if you have to travel into London. But if you want it, you accept mum and dad won’t be watching you play sport! Plus coming home a lot isn’t on. However you won’t be that type of student!

King’s Cross is fine for us as we’re in London, infact I work directly opposite the St Pancras on Midland Road. Whether the St Andrews experience and course is worth the journey over the one at Leeds is what she’s ruminating. I think she’s attracted to the Simon Armitage vibe of Leeds - she’s applied to straight English Lit but she’s also very keen on writing poetry and short stories in her spare time. Both courses offer modules beyond English which she likes the idea of. She says she likes the vibrant city aspect of Leeds but is also attracted to the remote romantic small beach town atmosphere as well. Cost and travel time are persuading factors but is the St Andrews prestige worth considering or is that just pishposh?

I thought there was no railway station in St Andrews? Apols if incorrect (read it on another thread)

St Andrews doesn't have a train station, @clary. The nearest is Leuchars, about 7 miles away. Anyone contemplating the London-St Andrews journey by train also needs to consider the cost and the fact that it's rare for a journey to pass without some form of interruption (strikes, delays etc.)

Ah thought not @Outnumberedbytwo

Not that that is a reason not to go, I am not saying all DC MUST be near home. Just that it is worth considering, and speaking from my own experience, it was in many ways a good thing that my two were/are.

DS2 does witter that Lboro is a bit close to home but there are advantages (like when he forgets something over the holidays and can easily go back for it! haha maybe if he was more far-flung he would be more organised )

There's cost too. The train will be veeeery expensive.. My DS2 is an hour's train journey form home and on a stopping route his ticket is £9 with railcard. It is a consideration some may need to factor in.

Most actual Scots think the St Andrew's thing is pishposh, OP. It's certainly a lot academically more highly regarded than it was in the 80s/early 90s when it was just one of the many excellent Scottish unis - and mostly filled up by non Scots, to be honest. I do think the prevalence of English people from the highest social classes, and Americans, increased its reputation and desirability. It may mean of course, that this means it has since attracted funding , quality academics and a broader range of undergraduates - and this has been god all round for the university.

Hi OP, just to add my (ancient) experience into the mix. I'm from London and studied there for my first degree and then did a postgraduate in Glasgow. It is a very long way away (no shit!) But was doable for a year as a 21 year old. Not sure about three years starting from 18. I missed a few major events while being up there as the cost of coming home was big. Leeds is a great city- reminds me of Glasgow in many ways, friendly and accepting. New student flats seem to go up every week and it seems a diverse student population. Also very easy and safe to get around, plenty of student bars and street food places that don't cost the earth and I imagine fairly easy to find a part time job.

I think resourceful oriole manage to get to St A by public transport! Anyone would think it was on Mars. However it’s not for the students who have to watch their £. Obviously.

Gosh. Hard to turn down St Andrews from a prestige point of view, but it would be interesting for someone who knows to comment on the uni and students. My observation as a non student is that they are extremely posh - lots of sailing types and preppy Americans. I don’t know if that’s representative and would be an issue or not.

Leeds is pretty hilly and rainy too ... I wouldn't choose on that basis. I know people who've done English at both and been happy so go with the vibe she prefers