UCL or Loughborough or Sheffield for Architecture

[Tyagi13]

Hello there, my daughter has received offers for Architecture courses (MSci, BA) from UCL Bartlett, Loughborough and Sheffield. We have not visited Sheffield yet. Post her visits to UCL and Loughborough, she found Loughborough very appealing both in terms of culture and type of course they offer while UCL is a popular name across the World and it has a lot that London can offer. We will visit Sheffield soon too. In the meantime, I was wondering if any insights and real life experience can be shared here that would help us frame our choices in an informed way. The things that I am specially interested in are safety, cost of living, support from staff and peers, quality of life in general, satisfaction with courses, focus on art vs tech, and future employment prospects. Thank you

Isn't UCL number 1 in the world for architecture? https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/news/2025/mar/bartlett-retains-global-1-ranking-2025#:~:text=The%20Bartlett%2C%20UCL's%20Faculty%20of%20the%20Built%20Environment%2C%20has%20been,for%20the%2011th%20consecutive%20year.

My son isn't studying architecture but he is in his first year at UCL and loves it.

No idea about the reputation of those universities for architecture but Sheffield is a lovely city, it is large but also quite town-like for someone coming from a different area and doesn’t feel too big. It has some amazing architecture and lots going on for students, all close by. It isn’t an expensive place really and close to the Peak District which offers a nice mix of city and countryside life. No where is 100% safe but I’d be happy for my children to go to uni there and feel fine.

Loughborough and London are so different - town versus city, campus uni versus non campus uni, difference in costs of living but possibly in opportunities too? Sheffield is probably in between these two.

Sheffield - you’ll be right at the top of the arts tower.
Its very popular with outdoorsy types being so close to the Peak District

Yeh very much agree with @Bobbybobbins – Loughborough and London could hardly be more different.

London – big big capital city, wonderful cultural offer, everything you could need or want to see, buy, watch, be at, excellent public transport, no campus, halls possibly spread out, accommodation very expensive and possibly a long way out, CoL very high.

Loughborough – small town, uni very much the focus, huge lovely campus, halls on campus ranging from cheap SC to £££ catered, accomm in the town pretty cheap, massive offer for students on campus, excellent sports facilities and lots more, but very little in the town in the way of clubs or pubs or shops or cinema; very weak cultural offer in the town – need to go to Nottingham for a gig or a show.

Sheffield yes is kind of between them – big city but not huge, decent infrastructure and theatres, clubs, cinemas etc but not overwhelming. Not campus. Close to the Peaks which appeals to climbers. Good sports offer. ]

I don't know about the course specifically but all are great unis. Just quite different. So your DD needs to think about where she would be happy.

If you were comparing (say) Lboro/Warwick/Lancaster (three campus unis not that close to a big city) or Leeds/Sheffield/Newcastle (three unis in big cities) it would be harder tbh. With three very different choices I would imagine she will have a clear view of where might be good for her.

UCL. There is absolutely no contest here, either in the reputation of the course or in the proximity to employers.

If money is not an issue (living expenses etc) I’d say declining UCL would be madness? Given it’s reputation and access to incredible employment opportunities both during and after the course, an offer from there is a real achievement.

Exactly. Was going to say the same thing.

UCL is definitely regarded as world No 1 but dd knows someone who recently finished their Part 1 there and will not back for their Part 2. The bullying and racism and sexism towards students is meant to be awful, so much so that there was an article in The Guardian about it a while ago. For a female student it's definitely worth a consideration. The flip side is that with a degree from UCL it will make it easier in the cut throat post uni landscape where there are not many jobs!

DD is applying for Part 2 currently and has applied to UCL (waiting to hear back). However she has an offer from Manchester now and says she will take Manchester over UCL because of the culture reputation at UCL.

She has also applied to Loughborough and is also waiting to hear back from them but wouldn't consider them now she has Manchester. However when she was chasing them up about a decision the other week someone in the admissions office said there had been a lot of architecture staff leave so decisions were delayed. Not sure how correct that is but worth asking about. Also last time I looked a short while ago they were still waiting for RIBA accreditation, hopefully that's just a formality if they have written a new programme. That was the impression they gave but there's always a slim chance they don't get accredited.

News story is 3 years old but dd's friend says it's no better. Very toxic environment. I'd be asking what their attrition rate is. It's high for architecture anywhere as the reality of 60 hour weeks hits students hard but you at least need a supportive environment.

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/ucl-university-college-london-students-chinese-guardian-b1005320.html

I'd love this just for the paternoster lift! 😂

I went to UCL and have several ex Bartlett friends. I’ve never heard of the culture issue albeit I left 10 years ago. They worked like dogs (would see them taking smoking breaks at 10pm as we entered the Union across the road!) but have a strong friend group among that cohort.

I loved UCL and had an incredible time living in a post code I’ll never again afford.

Bit more of a recent update here; it still doesn't sound great.

https://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/news/the-bartlett-scandal-is-the-architecture-school-now-safe-for-students

My son also had offers from those three universities for architecture. We visited all three and I definitely thought the student work at The Bartlett (UCL) was of the highest standard, followed closely by Sheffield with Loughborough well behind (was a fairly new course at this point so may have changed). The price of this is that the students work extremely long hours in a pressurised environment and you need to be able to cope with this even with the recent changes. I actually encouraged him to accept Sheffield as it seemed to have the best balance but a place at the Bartlett is very hard to turn down and he went there. He did really well - 1st class honours, prize winner and a part 1 job in a prestigious firm but is going to the RCA for part 2 as he doesn’t want to go back.
Being in London is great when you are applying for jobs and the Bartlett tutors have links to a lot of architectural practices. A good degree from there opens doors in a very competitive job market and most people would choose UCL given those options.

I think the workload is immense wherever you go to be honest. At dds uni they had a shelf in the studio so students could store them. They’d work until 4am and then sleep for a few hours on the studio floor before 9am crits. This was a frequent thing. Like more than one night a week.

The Sheffield department is really fantastic and a great atmosphere. My Dd was in the landscape architecture department there which is a floor below in the arts tower (and the best in Europe) and they work together a bit, and she also had friends there. They have a huge end of year show to which employers are invited and the employers leave business cards on the exhibits of those they are interested in. I remember some really good exhibits attracted a stack of cards but most had one or two.
I also remember those articles sbout the Bartlett and that would worry me. I would want to go to an open day and try to really question the students, if that is even permitted. You have to be happy and respected and confident to do good work. Maybe things have improved.
Sheffield is also a very cost effective place to go to uni compared to London and over a whole architecture degree that adds up which might be a consideration.
I don’t know anything about Loughborough and architecture I’m afraid.

I agree. My sister did architecture at Edinburgh and practically lived in her studio. So did dd for landscape architecture to some extent but she said the architecture bods were even more hardcore. It really matters what the culture of a department is like when you spend all your waking hours there.

Was meant to say the shelf where they could store their sleeping bags! 🙈

My eldest turned down Bartlett after hearing about the toxic culture from a few different sources. He's 3rd year at Bath & absolutely loving it, he's still not convinced UCL is a good idea for his part 2. He's keen to stay in Bath or maybe look at Cambridge - he's not one for big cities.

Lots of interesting things are happening in Architecture at Cambridge.

https://csca.aha.cam.ac.uk

Thank you all for taking time to provide comprehensive feedback, much helpful.

Hey, I hope your daughter didn’t choose Loughborough. But if she did, she should not do the masters here! It’s a mistake I solemnly regret… Loughborough seems great at first. Everyone is excited and yes plenty of good tutors… but also I know one tutor who just got kicked out for sexual misconduct and I know another who is still there and half the girls in my cohort accused him of acting and speaking inappropriately. I know another 3 tutors who would spend entire tutorials staring at my chest. On top of that last year the university fraudulently claimed it had ARB accredited master course... My entire cohort lost our student funding. We are in debt... The university didn’t support us at all. They threw us under the bus and tried to cover it up… on top of that you will assignements with briefs that are changed and updated month. When asked for what is needed they will say oh I don’t know what do you think you need to show your project and then in written feedback they will say you are missing deliverables whether you got them or not. They evade all questions about how they mark and what is good and what is not. Don’t come here. There is few very good professors here, but not enough of them are in charge… it is a burning chaos and ultimately the student support won’t have your back and the student union is not independent from university, if only pretends to have your back. Instead it closes societies it deems improper. As for students, she will be surrounded by sportsmen and athletes, if she knows a lot about sports, that can be good, otherwise it will feel like a very American high school. If only I could go back… ucl was my other choice, idk if it would be better but their work is better than ours, so maybe they actually teach you there.