After discovering what I wanted to study at university, next on my journey was choosing where to do it.
Not being spoilt for choice when searching for institutions offering the courses I want study, these were the five it came down to when I applied; Edge Hill University, Brighton University, Loughborough University, Staffordshire University and the University of Central Lancashire.
Not being geographically immobile, my old man and I left hardly a corner of England unturned visiting all of my choices over the past month or so, judging them on criteria as diverse as the quality of their complementary coffee to the employment prospect they would provide.
Brighton University
We were most disappointed with Brighton Uni. It’s no exaggeration to say that while we could forgive them for being one staff member down, they obviously had no contingency plan and as a result the event (probably planned on a napkin in the pub the night before) became an unmethodical chaos which just lead us an overwhelming urge to snigger constantly at each and every mishap the School of Computing presented us with.
The course I’d applied for; Digital Media Development BSc, they were only able to provide limited information on which didn’t provide a world of confidence in their department either.
So, with what seemed to be an unjustifiably high grade offer, the former polytechnic left a disreputable impression which was starkly clear from the amount of people who voted with their feet, leaving the event early.
The university itself is based across several campuses, and this particular site at Moulsecoomb felt quite crampt, surrounded by hetic inner city metroplis and embessaled in its own grim 1970’s tower block architecture. This complete with no guarentee of hall accommodation, even in the first year of study didn’t do much to sway opinions.
Brighton itself was perhaps let down by the harsh weather that day and gave an impression of a seaside resort in deline. Although with its gay and vibrant reputation, I wouldn’t doubt that the town provides a lively ambiance to university life.
University of Central Lancashire (Uclan)
Firstly I had difficultly in just pronouncing the name of the university marketed only under ‘Uclan’. Set in the heart of the UK’s newest city; Preston, in the industrial North West.
From a positive prospective, the Web & Multimedia BSc degree offers great variety in its content. Additionally, being coursework focused and examined through multiple choice questions, it presented what could be an easy ride.
The ‘Media Factory’ of the university where the course is based, although coming with a gimiky feel akin to a tour of the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin, had a pleasing modern astetic and housed some reasuringly cutting edge hardware and software.
The inexpensive cost of living, superb library, extensive students union, along with some of the most comfy lecture theartre seating we experienced and a whole host of free goodies (including a fake tattoo of the university emblem) played as Uclan’s strengths.
Although from a negative stance, Uclan hadn’t won me over. Boasting the most studients of any of the universities I’d applied to, with 34,863, it felt like a place where you could easily become an anonymous entity as one among the many.
Most disappointingly we were placed for in a room for a couple of hours, with one of the lectures teaching the course, who as far as I could see had become senile before his time. Hellishly underprepared he scrapped the surface for any content to keep us occupied during the session, leaving a bad impression.
Embedded within the city streets, over a large area, making use of all of the university’s facilities would require a significant amount of travel and with absolutely no parking provision, the layout wasn’t appealing and in terms of location, the city itself was rather repellent and didn’t live up to its upcoming image.
Edge Hill University
Being one of the most recent additions to the UK university scene, granted its status in 2006, the institution itself is hardly unestablished, having previously awarded degrees as a teacher training college for over a centery.
Set across one large campus complete with a selection of smart buildings and pleasant landscaping its comes complete with all amenities on site, except mobile phone signal.
The Business School gave what was the most well organised and enjoyable applicant day, being the only to offer a taster in the subject itself; Web Systems Development BSc.
Despite this I needed to also consider the bigger picture. For instance its remote location in the distant and quiet market town of Ormskirk in West Lancashire. Along with Ulcan, it too couldn’t offer parking. Being over four hours from home and with my great passion for driving this prospect was unacceptable and slashed a great amount of my aspirations to be there.
Although apparently having 18,752 students to it’s name, they certainly weren’t to be seen on the site that day and are in contrast to its small scale ‘community’ feel, where everyone knows eachothers ins and outs, something I’m keen to avoid.
Nevertheless, the issue of job prospects was what worried me most from my limited time at Edge Hill. In discussion with the lecturer who took our taster session the outlook appeared bleak, to say the least and his comment that attending university wasn’t “a means to an end” stuck in the forefront of my mind.
This is likely due to the repute Edge Hill has with employers, suffering from what is probably an unfair ranking at the very bottom of league tables.
Staffordshire University
Staffordshire University in the West Midlands ticked the boxes. With its proxminity, just under two hours, it’s close to home, but still a comfortable distance away from the nest.
All based at the Stafford campus, their Faculty of Computing, Engineering and Technology came complete with some of the finest and most dedicated facilities we’d seen.
The course in Web Development BSc offers an appealing pick ‘n’ mix style of content, perfect for an indecisive mind like my own, and I had confidence in the teaching staff that I met.
As for the rest of the campus, it’s on the small side, but feels connected, offers plenty of green space and that all important parking provision!
Contrary to these benefits though were that it didn’t seem to offer a sizeable amount of social activity and the beds in the university halls did look a bit on the hard side..
Loughborough University
‘A drinking uni with a sporting problem’ – This was the only place on my travels I had some preconceptions about and that I actually knew of ‘people’ who’d gone there. I doubt I’ll add much to their sporting reputation, however their degree in Web Development and Design BSc seems to hit the spot as the best around, although still being in its infancy.
Like Staffordshire, they required an interview before they’d offer a place and I already had some favour towards Loughborough in my heart. There were plenty of others there for interview and we were told it was their third day of interviews, with the others having greater turn outs, even though the prospectious only stated an expected intake of fifteen. Thankfully though, I’d prepared myself, supplied a strong personal statement and looked the part.
The Department Information Sciences may not offer the most blatent tech as far as the eye can see, but the necessities are there and staff I came into contact with were very compident and proffesional which I had to admire.
The university itself is a set across a single secure and expansive campus, comprising of plenty of green space. It’s great to walk around the site between buildings and see people getting indulged in extracurricular activities, especially the sport. A nice visual incentive to keep fit.
Loughborough itself is a small town, but has everything you could need and the uni isn’t short of social distractions, having won The Times Best Student Experience Award every year since its interception.
Another aspect I found was that I had a greater level of affinity with the other candidates there. We were each others kind of people and unlike on the other open days I had attended, we all seemed to enjoy each others company and have a laugh together, even within those few short hours, rather than maintaining a continuous awkward silence at all cost.
Loughborough is ranked 10th in the UK on The Guardian’s 2010 league table and was The Sunday Times University of the Year for 2009.
With the unusual benefit of having enough hall accommodation to see me through my entire time there and that all important prospect of a place to park my beloved Renault Twingo, I couldn’t help but be won over.
The greatest pull-factor in favour of Loughborough though are the employment prospects it provides. Hearing of the exciting placements and what they’d achieved on their sandwich courses with big name companies such as IBM, Goldman Sachs and BT to name a few, couldn’t help but get my blood flowing. In addition to this it also sticks out that they award you for this year out with a further qualification; a Diploma in Industrial Studies. This being a world away from the Edge Hill, where the very lucky of their graduates went on to achieve positions with the local council, hardly high flying.
So after much deliberation, and being lucky enough to have received offers back from all five universities I’d applied to, when push came to shove I accepted Loughborough as my firm choice and Staffordshire as insurance offer, rejecting those from the other three. Which means as long as I achieve the grades that they’ve generously offered me as a result of the interviews, I’m guaranteed a place at their institutions.
I came away with the knowledge that, courses with similar titles vary a lot in content, assessment and focus, being set among varying departments and centres. The Loughborough or Staffordshire sandwich courses will set me on track to becoming a Web Developer, whereas the others looked placed to set me on a one way road to becoming a generic media content producer and jack of all trades.
