Time’s running out and can’t decide on Uni choice - advice much appreciated!

Hi everyone! I’m an 18 year old girl going to Uni in September. The issue is I still can’t decide on my Uni and want some tips and advice please before I make my choice before the deadline in 3 weeks.

I have chosen Manchester (my home city), Leeds, Liverpool, MMU, and Sheffield. I’ve got all my offers.

Now I’ve visited all these cities but not all the unis. I’m going to study English lit and went to the offer holder day and was a bit unimpressed. The lecturers were not enthusiastic and whilst the students were really nice it was a bit off putting, and not professional.

I haven’t had the chance to go to any other offer holder days. I’ve visited Manchester Uni on a school trip at high school though and loved it.

I’m terms of the cities, I’ve been quite sheltered me whole life due to having confidence issues and being shy. Some stuff has happened lately that’s really brought me out of that and I want to go out there socialise and become more independent and start living life! I really want to move to another city but know I have got it good if I become a student in Manchester and I love the city centre and everything here. My mum told me with my personality I would probably need a big city with loads to do, little boutiques, restaurants, places to get lost…. She wanted me to choose london but I thought realistically my family wouldn’t be able to support me enough to be comfortable and I don’t want to work too much during my degree. I want to experience clubbing properly for the first time but I also am into sports a lot (boxing and weightlifting) and like having random cool experiences like in Manchester there are so many unique things to do depending on which street you walk in, in town.

My aunt and uncle used to live in Sheffield and they loved it. I visited them all the time and I went this weekend and it’s just like I remember. A nice mix of village Peak District and city centre life. It’s just not got that buzzing Manchester or Leeds vibe and seems more chilled out. The people were so nice there though! I loved how the air and city seemed cleaner. I love hiking and seeing nature and outdoor sports so would like that aspect of it. But I didn’t like the city centre compared to Manchester, it seemed like you have to walk a while to get to any shops or food places from student accommodation., and I can’t picture it having the same nightlife as somewhere like Manchester but we didn’t see the clubs and that sort of thing, we went in early afternoon. I have a friend at Sheffield who loves it though.

Then with Leeds I had to visit it alone for the first time last week and was a bit underwhelmed with the actual Uni set up and how they did it, but I loved the vibe and it seemed to have a real student community. There were students having fun with friends everywhere in the parks and green spaces. The people there I spoke to were nice but seemed busier than Sheffield, reminded me of Manchester. But of course that’s nothing to go off. I liked how the city centre was close to the Uni and you could see the Yorkshire countryside and the hills and everything, loads of good unique shops and it reminded me a lot of the Manchester City centre. I can imagine it having a good nightlife, and lots of things to do.

I haven’t visited Liverpool yet recently but I visited it a year ago for a day out. I remember loving it, the people were really nice again. The Liverpool docks were cool to have that in the centre of town, lots of shops and things to do. I watched a live stream from the Uni English professors and they seemed better than the ones from Leeds and genuinely conveyed their passion for English more but that could just be them having a bad day.

I would be happy to study in any of them to be honest but a part of me thinks did I make the wrong choice of cities and should have actually ventured out to Brighton, Edinburgh, like my parents were saying….. but too late for that. I want an affordable city similar to my home city where loads of different people with different interests come and I have chances to meet them to make friends, but I’m pretty sure I’ll get that at any university 🙂 do any of you or your children have experiences at any of these unis?