Manchester Uni - visit outside of open day

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My DD (y12) has a sports event on 2nd Jan in Manchester and we’re traveling up from London the morning of the day before. She’s been considering manchester as an option for uni and I thought we might spend our afternoon in Manchester looking at the city and the uni.

Does that sound doable? Can anyone with knowledge of the uni suggest what/where we might visit? Likely to be studying economics/business/maths degree.

thanks!

It’s been 16 years since I graduated from Manchester (I have no idea where that time went) but I am not sure you will be able to look around inside the buildings outside of a proper open day. When I attended, you needed a student swipe card to gain access.

That being said, most of the university is located in a fairly compact area on Oxford Road, so you could have a look around the outside of the main buildings quite easily within an hour or two. Depending on whether you wanted to venture a little further, Fallowfield and Rusholme were (and I think still are) the main areas for student housing and would give a feel of what the studenty areas are like.

The city centre is also pretty compact and close to the uni. Walkable within probably 20 minutes.

I agree with what has been said above apart from it being walkable unless you want to be knackered! You can get the bus up and down Oxford road really easily (which is what all the students do) so you could start in town with a look round the shops and town centre then get the bus up to the uni and have a bit of a walk round the main buildings to get a feel for it then continue on the same bus route up to fallowfield to see the main student area.

I loved Manchester, it was amazing. Great nightlife, decent size, amazing mix of people, good uni and excellent teachers. She would have a great time there if she chooses it.

We did the same thing in Yr12, it was useful for DS to get a feel for a city university and compare it to a campus.

He did do an open day later in the year in order to look inside too.

OP,

Your plan would generally be fine. However if I understand your dates you are travelling up on New Year’s Day? Universities will be closed. I am afraid that few if any university staff will be around on 2 Jan, either. Buildings, uni cafes, etc are likely to be shut tight.

Thank you all so much. I think we’ll do as @wasanneofcleves suggested. I appreciate we won’t be able to go inside any buildings but it was more to understand the lay of the land. She’s v keen on a city university Rather than a campus and I thought it would be good for her to get a sense of things!

Thanks @poetryandwine , you’re right we’re going up on New Year’s Day. I appreciate this is not the most sensible in terms of uni buildings being open but the sports event on 2 Jan isn’t moveable so it is more about making sensible use of the time we are there.

At least you can look around, OP. If your DD knows what subject(s) she is interested in you can take a look at the associated area(s), etc. Hope you have a good trip

Maybe I just like walking 🤷🏼‍♀️ but I walked from the city centre to the uni in about 20 mins (and then back again) in 30 degree heat in the summer and I was sweaty but not exhausted! I agree all the way to Fallowfield might be better by bus if doing that as well as the city centre to uni part. But still perfectly walkable in my opinion 🤣

Thanks all. Can I ask where the economics/maths buildings in the uni are? Maybe it makes no difference if we can only see from outside but just wondering how “central” all the uni buildings are given it is a city uni rather than a campus?

My son does economics and data analystics at Manchester and is enjoying it. He says the economics building is the Arthur Lewis building and the maths is the Alan Turing building....however he barely does any lectures in the economics building as they are all over the campus. You could wander round the campus and get a feel for it. I'm sure some of the buildings will be open.
The main accommodation is in Fallowfield which is a bus ride away. My son lived in Oak house - avoid it, unless you like sleeping next to a mould ridden wall and live in a breeze block prison cell 😀 Don't let that put you off though - there was other nicer accommodation but I'd avoid that one.

You can get an app on the app store called Visit UoM which has a self-guided tour of the campus, DS used it I think.

Thanks @pinkysmum and @Hughs . Really helpful. Have downloaded the app.

No worries - it's not really a campus like Nottingham or Birmingham but all the university buildings are together.

U of Manchester very walkable from town centre or Manchester Oxford Road station. The university will mostly be closed on 2 January. At my place we have that day as an extra holiday day because of Bank Holidays we can’t take as days off.

The main library may be open but you need an ID card to get past the foyer. You can look at the rate books library - John Rylands on Deansgate which has opened up to tourists but again on 2 January it may be closed.

But you can walk around the campus - it’s all pretty open. You might get a bus to the main student accommodation areas