Brighton. Portsmouth & the UWE

lauraaa

I'm in year 13 at the moment, so trying to sort out the UCAS application.
These are my top 3, went to see the UWE at the weekend and was fairly impressed.
Anyone got any opinions on the three?

holstar

I didnt look at either of these, so Im afraid I can't offer any personal advice, except go and visit all 3, several times if possible, on weekends and weekdays so you get a better feel for the place...time (approximately) how long it takes to get from where you'll be living to lectures, to nearest shops, to nearest pubs etc. These are really important when its raining
Speak to as many students as you can, both on the course you want to do and just generally, to get as many opinions as you can.
Check places like Times education for league tables for your subject, see where the 3 are.

edit - remember that if you go to visit on an open day, everyone will be out to impress you, so try and look beyond that. Maybe try and take along a more impartial friend or parent? Like...if your friend doesn't want to go to any of the 3, he/she may be able to see past the gloss a little more easily than you. And, then you could return the favour and go along to see their choices of uni's.

Marmiter

It depends what subject you are studying.

I went to Portsmouth for my final year, and the language school was really good. However, other departments might not have such a good reputation.

Portsmouth's a great place to live, however I would check out things like accommodation, the Students Union and the department you are applying to.

As Holstar has suggested, bring a friend along who might think of things that you have not noticed!
Is there anyone at these Unis who also went to your school, perhaps your teachers would be able to put you in touch with them and they could show you around?

andrewwilloughby

I went there for my first year and everything went wrong.

I could not get a place in the student halls so i had to go to a housing place where they broke all of they're contract rules and did not repay the deposit.

I was arrested in the student union for someone else attacking me.

The university were no help at all with any student difficulties and the film and tv course had pretty much no film making.

Sorry just my gripes with portsmouth really

SunnyBrighton_2

Which subject/s ??

Glitterari

It depends on subjects.

I'm from Portsmouth and know loads of students that went to the uni. I didn't go to the uni but I like it around there. People are usually really friendly and there's some good nightlife. Can't say about accom.

mikey-mike_2

The social life and general living environment would be best by far in Brighton.

Say hello to Cockcroft from me and tell them I’m sorry about the car

Hellz85

Bristol. Dont listen to anythin else. :beer:

ddavis

I went to Portsmouth, was pretty good.

The new union (few years old now though) is nice too.

si1503

Glitterari wrote:

It depends on subjects.

Yes.

Different universities will be better suited for different courses. It is vital to study at a university that has a good reputation for the subject that you wish to study.

radaas

You really have to look at it 2 ways, there is the educational aspect and the social.
All three have good social sides UWE bein the better.
I do not know much about the social scene in Brighton as it is very gay orientated, I had a friend go there simply on the fact that as there was such a great proportion of gay men, there would be more women available!

Anyhow Brighton is not that good academically while portsmouth and UWE are about the same place.

Portsmouth compared to Bristol is near enough like comparing a village to a city.
There is a really nice club called the Union its a £5m purpose built by the uni SU and is pretty lush, apart from that you have a club called Tiger Tiger in town which frequently has problems with fights, drugs and spiked drinks (a lot of this).
Apart from them you really just have bars pretending to be clubs but they aint. There is a large student communit especcially around Fratton Park as IBM headquarters are there which also takes on about 100-150 students a year.

UWE on the other hand has a crap student run drinking establishment as it is located on campus and there is nothing near it. However it has one of the best club scenes outside of london, with clubs and events catering for all.
Two massive clubs Academy (The Rock), Oceana are based there.
Academically UWE cant be faulted it is growing Uni just opened a £85m student village with state of the art gym on their main campus, the Business School has excelled to the point that it will be merging to an affect with the business school of Bristol uni.

But what it comes down to is the course you are on, you need to look this up. Cost of living is about the same compared to all 3.
Also think about travel arrangements

At the moment however Bristol looks a bit of a hole, as central bristol is getting torn down for the massive (when i say massive i mean massive development) which will not be fully completed until 2010!