Warwick or York for English Literature

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DD is torn between Warwick and York as her first choice for an English Literature degree.
Despite creating a complicated list of criteria and rankings, she can't separate them. She's seemingly narrowed it down to deciding whether it's better to have a closer to home university (Warwick) or wanting a nicer location university (York).

So, I'm calling on the combined wisdom and personal experience of MN. Are there particular things that make these two universities/courses stick out that would help DD decide which one she prefers?

The other possibly contributing factor is that, although both normally offer the same grades, York has dropped their offer by a grade as DD has a high EPQ, and Warwick has not. DD is nervous about the higher Warwick offer.

York is probably more fun for students, but as someone resident in Warwick and Leamington, it's a great place to live (but I came here aged 29 on the cusp of marriage and then children). The courses will be fine at either Uni.

Both great options. Dd firmed Warwick for Eng lit after an offer holder day. We both loved the HoD. She may not be there now tho.

Warwick perhaps a bit cheaper for accommodation after first year (anecdotally). Neither really a big city but Brum and Leeds at hand. How do the modules compare? Anything stand out?

(my dd didn’t end up at Warwick btw so can’t help there.)

I went to Warwick. Had a great time, made lovely friends, really happy few years. One thing I will say though is that because it's a campus uni, people don't tend to hang around afterwards, but instead go all up and down the country looking for jobs and many of my uni friends live now in their home towns (including me). This is different to say other city university (non campus universities) where it's perhaps easier to get a job in that exact city after graduation.

If the offers have come through like that maybe choose Warwick for 1st and York for insurance? I went to York and read English lit but it was decades ago and it was excellent.

I have a dd at York, she’s really loving it. Student support has been superb, just in case you need it!

If York is like it used to be, they typically like Lit students to take a literary translation language alongside- which can be quite random eg Old Norse, Anglo Saxon, Classics etc. Depends if you're into that.

Both v prestigious, I wouldn't say night life is great at either and both have a high proportion of oxbridge rejects with a chip on their shoulder!

The cost of accommodation is different, you can choose a cheap hall at Warwick for less than £5k per year and the 2nd/3rd year accommodation in Leamington is plentiful and cheaper than York. My dd is at Warwick and loving it.

@ReallyBadEyeDeer I don't know that they do that any more. When I was there years ago we did have to take Old English (and do a translation exam - ug) and Middle English as pre-requisites to starting the 2nd term of the 1st year and then at some point, an entire term on Modern Italian Narrative, or Spanish / French lit in the original language. But I don't think they are so strict any more on that front, it seems a bit loosened up.

My DD is 2nd year English at York and currently doing Old Norse (and loving it). I think they still have units on literature in translation. They've just changed from terms to semesters this year and rearranged modules as a result. If your daughter would like to ask mine any questions, message me and I can put them in touch.

I don't think my daughter had Warwick on her original shortlist, which was created largely looking at course structure IIRC. One of the things she's enjoying at York is the lack of exams, and assessed coursework has a lot of personal choice eg come up with your own essay topic.

I would choose based on future employability. English Lit grads are competing with many others for jobs. So what are future plans and how can she prepare for work? Assuming it’s not teaching of course!

Anecdotally the rental market in York is not the easiest for tenants, so if affordability of accommodation is a concern, that would be a factor in favour of Warwick.

York has particularly good rail connections, so when considering how close the university is to home, I'd say it's important to consider actual journey time by public transport, not just distance in miles.