Nottingham, Birmingham, Exeter

[GrangeFill]

DD is hoping for offers from Uni of Nottingham, Uni of Birmingham and Uni of Exeter. We have been to open days at all three, but not ventured into the cities at all.

We are hoping to do this at offer holder days in the Spring.

What areas of each city are best to look at when we visit? For example, I’m aware Birmingham is like a collection of villages eg Stirchley, Selly Oak etc. And Nottingham Lenton, Beeston etc. Which parts of each city would a student likely venture to, so where is best to check out in each city?

For those wanting SC accommodation at University Park in Nottingham there is Broadgate which is literally across the road (and much closer to Humanities than pretty well any of the halls). The problem is that it gets booked up really quickly (partly because second years are allowed to book it quite early on) so if you know you want it you need to book as soon as accommodation opens (and you probably won't get it if Nottingham is not your first choice.

I know all 3 universities well and they are all great with strong reputations and each has a lovely campus (or two). So it may come down to the course and where your DC wants to live for 3 years. My youngest DS is currently at Exeter and I would say it is far the safest of the 3 cities. It’s basically expected at Birmingham that your house in Selly Oak will be a target for burglars. My eldest DS was threatened with a knife out clubbing on Broad St and I heard there was a stabbing on there recently so you really have to watch out. My DS’s friend at Nottingham has already had his student room robbed and he said he would never contemplate walking home from even a local night out.

My DS at Exeter walks home all the time and says he has never felt unsafe there. He said the university is perfect and although the city is small, it has everything you need. He said the clubs could be better (apparently it is a nightmare to get tickets for the main club nights so make sure you have really fast 4G) but there is a charm about going out and knowing everyone in the pub or club. He has no desire to come home every weekend and because of Exeter’s relative isolation people don’t scoot home all the time which helps build a strong student social scene.

Dd1 is in her 3rd year at Nottingham and loves it. She lives at home because she has horses,snakes and spiders ect to look after,so commutes most days by train. She's often out and about in Nottingham at night,on her own,going to and from the train station and has never felt at risk or in danger.

There are two different unis,Nottingham Trent and University of Nottingham. Dd1 is at the latter and based mostly at The Queens Medical Centre,she often stays with friends who live in the Lenton area.

Is UoN all catered on campus? We hadn't realised and DD needs gluten free. Her experience of GF options catered have always been dire - 7yrs of baked potatoes at school 🤨 That could be a deal breaker for her.

@TurquoiseSeasAndSilverSand yes, and the food isn't great - its OK but my DD is looking forward to coming home for "decent" food. If you look at a map of the campus, the halls in this image are in purple. If you look at the bottom left of the image, where it says West Entrance the buildings in turquoise closest to the road is Broadgate Park - thats the self catering accommodation. So it is off campus, but not massively so (although to give you an idea of distances, its about a 25/30 min walk from there to QMC - top right). Dagfa Hall, another self catrering hall is just along the road (going away from the campus) after Broadgate Park.

If that doesn't show clearly, this is the link [[//UP Master A4 2021.psd (nottingham.ac.uk)

My dd is at Birmingham.
Most first years live in the Vale which is far but similar to the distance that dd walked to secondary school so she was fine.
She is now a second year and lives in Selly Oak. Google maps will give you a good idea what it’s like. She shops at the Aldi near the station if you want a street to start with. The side streets basically all have student houses.
I’ve only been the central Birmingham during daytime so no idea what it’s like at night but that’s for dd to judge really. Aston and City uni are more central so I suspect that there’s plenty to do for students on a student budget.

Thanks ever so much for the map, it's really helpful.

Yes every single one on campus is catered but Broadgate Park is just off campus, across the road and is self catered. It's really not that far away and they mainly seem to go to the City Centre for nights out.

My DD is a first year at UoN and is in Broadgate as she didn't want catered accomodation. It is incredibly close to the the campus - she is a historian so is a five minute walk to her building and also very close to the sports centre.

Our DD was in Derby halls in Nottingham and loved it. One thing to warn you abaout is that the contract was only for term time and she had to clear her room for the holidays as they get rented out over that period.

This was about 9 years ago so it may have changed.

I think you're right. I think that the on campus students have to vacate their rooms for Christmas.

@SiouxsieSiouxStiletto not all of them. DD never had to empty her room (Ancaster).

Ah ok it might be just done of them. @TurquoiseSeasAndSilverSand I think it might depend on the length of their contract.

It was the accommodation that put my dc off Nottingham.
I thought it was a lovely campus, and the City seemed nice enough, the course interested her and it was a reasonable distance from where we live, but the fac that the overwhelming majority of accommodation was self catered was really off putting, as was the fact they open booking for accommodation on a first come first serve basis really early in the year, before you even have all your offers in, creating a sort o panic situation.
Shame, as the University itself had lots of positives.

It's only got 9 months. And then city accommodation is plentiful and cheaper than most. DD was a medic so got offer quite late and still managed to get on campus.

For not got 😡

I have lived in Birmingham for 25 years and still feel I am getting to know the place.

@UsingChangeofName they open the accommodation quite late I thought. When most people have firmed up.

DS got his first choice without any trouble and they seem to have run some kind of algorithm so everyone in his flat has had a gap year and they're all the same age. It seems to work quite well and he really gets on with the students in his flat.

@SiouxsieSiouxStiletto I think out of 12+ halls on campus I think there are only 2 (stand to be corrected) where you have to move out at Christmas and Easter. They're actually popular because you only have to pay for a 31 week contract instead of a 39 week contract which makes quite a difference.

@SiouxsieSiouxStiletto @Africa2go yes, there are 2 (or were when dd applied - now in year 2) - Rutland and Sherwood. It made a big difference to overall cost and dd left stuff in friends' rooms in different halls over the holidays,