To which University should I go?

[Diamond]

One thing that I think university does teach you, or at least should teach you, is to be ambitious in thinking and not be scared of making a total dick of yourself through being overly pretentious or arch.

Life has enough corrective balances to ensure that being pompous won't be tolerated but there's not often much encouragement to think imaginatively in British everyday life.

The natural inclination is towards small-minded cynicism. When you're required to read about post-everythingism on a weekly basis, that can mitigate against the sort of ingrained British negativity.

 

[Orang Utan]

I dunno, I went to uni and I'm still a small-minded cynic. I'm just even more pompous.

 

[Orang Utan]

One thing that I think university does teach you, or at least should teach you, is to be ambitious in thinking and not be scared of making a total dick of yourself through being overly pretentious or arch.

Life has enough corrective balances to ensure that being pompous won't be tolerated but there's not often much encouragement to think imaginatively in British everyday life.

And I think university curtails imagination more than anything

 

[Voley]

I learned how to feed myself at Thames Poly. That's about all I can say for it, really.

 

[Orang Utan]

I learned how to feed myself at Thames Poly. That's about all I can say for it, really.

Maybe this a Thames Poly thing, but I doubt it.

 

[Voley]

I had a good time there, mind. Really didn't learn hardly anything, but it got me away from living at me Mum's.

 

[Diamond]

Hence the caveat. It comes down to the teachers I suppose. This fellow was a great inspiration and his seminars were a real treat. A proper old school eccentric professor whose study looked like a bomb had gone off in a second hand bookstore:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Owen_Dudley_Edwards

 

[Orang Utan]

I imagined my lecturers would be either like my dad, soaks like Michael Caine in Educating Rita or crazy American radical feminist lesbians. Only the latter turned out to be true.

 

[purplex]

Id say Leeds myself, my ex's sister was up there very recently and she absolutely loved it.
Brightons a cool place to live and all that but may be too distracting, will be more expensive, and too easy for your parents to pop and embarrass you.
Uni should be about breaking free.
"dont want to go to school..."

 

[bluestreak]

Brighton used to be a great city, but now it's just a London suburb by the sea. I know nothing about Leeds, so I'd probably choose Brighton, but by all accounts Leeds is a great place to study. Go where they do what you want to do!

 

[seeformiles]

Do you mind, our beach is lovely thank you very much

Plus its warmer and doesnt rain as much as up north

Must point out that Leeds (sheltered as it is by the Pennines) is one of the driest cities up North. Manchester cops for all the rain!

 

[Agent Sparrow]

Must point out that Leeds (sheltered as it is by the Pennines) is one of the driest cities up North. Manchester cops for all the rain!

I seem to remember it being windy though!

Brighton has an excess of hen and stag nights but they would probably mainly hit the summer break, so I don't know if that's reason enough to avoid. They are all highly annoying though.

 

[Orang Utan]

The 'beach' in Brighton is horrible, but at least they have the sea to bob about in

 

[Agent Sparrow]

The 'beach' in Brighton is horrible, but at least they have the sea to bob about in

Depends on how you're viewing it though. Not the best place to sunbathe because of the busyness and pebbles. As a space to drink a beer in the open early on a summer evening though, it's pretty lush. When the hot weather hit in Leeds, we all used to just cram in beer gardens and the green bit outside the student union.

 

[Orang Utan]

Beaches need sand!

 

[danny la rouge]

Beaches need sand!

Is there no sand on Brighton beach? FS. How can it call itself a cultural centre?

Aberdeen has a sandy beach. Go to Aberdeen Uni.

 

[mrs quoad]

I'd go for Leeds and psychology, if you want a degree with any credibility.

[/judgmental]

A degree in psychology from Leeds would... at least... be more of a solid base. And open up far more options. Leeds also tends to have a more... staunch... academic reputation. As does psychology.

NB: all my family apart from me met and got married whilst doing shit at Sussex. My dad went there because he wanted a beard and a woollen suit in the 60s, and my sister went there for her Masters. My aunt's there at the mo.

Leeds [generally] has more academic credibility, like I said

 

[Upchuck]

Sussex uni is a bus journey away from Brighton though which could be a plus or a minus depending on what you think about campus universities set aside from the town centre. It would have driven me nuts,.

Me too. Never been to Leeds but I'd be damned if I caught a bus to a uni out of town, especially somewhere as nobby as Brighton. It's like being the poor neighbor in a wealthy crescent.

 

[smmudge]

LIFE

Well I've put in four years at that one so I figured I'd have a break before the next...5 decades at it.

What is the other part of the course btw? Just that I started doing psychology and sociology, and out of the 6 of us doing that option, 5 of us started doing straight psychology in our second year and 1 straight sociology.

The other half is music. What I like about Leeds Joint honours course was that you can take electives in other subjects too, so it's interesting that you all opted to do only 1 in the end. Was there any particular reason do you reckon? I wanted to learn a bit of sociology and perhaps philosophy or something as well.


Thanks for the advice folks. I don't have to decide for a while yet but I just wanted some more perspectives to chew on!

 

[kabbes]

I love Brighton and I reckon it would be a great town to be a student in. That said, it's relatively expensive.

To echo something said earlier in the thread, don't go home during term time. You're there for hardly any time as it is -- don't waste the little that you have going home.

 

[Louis MacNeice]

I was born in Brighton, grew up in Sussex, then went to Sussex University and taught there (both studied and taught in the then School of Cultural and Community Studies). I now live in Brighton. So guess what, Sussex Uni gets my vote. That said you will only get anything out of either institution in direct proportion to what you are willing and able to put in.

Cheers - Louis MacNeice

 

[equationgirl]

Is there no sand on Brighton beach? FS. How can it call itself a cultural centre?

Aberdeen has a sandy beach. Go to Aberdeen Uni.

Only when the tide's out - otherwise it doesn't exist, plus the wind off the North Sea is bracing to say the least.

 

[Louis MacNeice]

Only when the tide's out - otherwise it doesn't exist, plus the wind off the North Sea is bracing to say the least.

Oops!

 

[danny la rouge]

Only when the tide's out - otherwise it doesn't exist, plus the wind off the North Sea is bracing to say the least.

TReal man's weather. None of this soft southern nonsense.

 

[Orang Utan]

I was born in Brighton, grew up in Sussex, then went to Sussex University and taught there (both studied and taught in the then School of Cultural and Community Studies). I now live in Brighton. So guess what, Sussex Uni gets my vote. That said you will only get anything out of either institution in direct proportion to what you are willing and able to put in.

Cheers - Louis MacNeice

I thought you were Irish

 

[Louis MacNeice]

I thought you were Irish

Once I was born in Belfast.

Cheers - Louis MacNeice

 

[big eejit]

From this Guardian table of best unis to study psychology Leeds is better than Sussex. But lots of others are better than both:

http://browse.guardian.co.uk/educat...TeachingScore&Subject=Psychology&Institution=

 

[Roadkill]

To echo something said earlier in the thread, don't go home during term time. You're there for hardly any time as it is -- don't waste the little that you have going home.

Definitely. You might well find you lose interest in going home so much once you get to uni anyway.

I can imagine Brighton and Leeds both being excellent cities to be a student in. All other things being equal I'd go for Leeds, though: it's a bigger city, there's a lot going on there and it's certainly going to be cheaper than Brighton.

 

[Agent Sparrow]

The other half is music. What I like about Leeds Joint honours course was that you can take electives in other subjects too, so it's interesting that you all opted to do only 1 in the end. Was there any particular reason do you reckon? I wanted to learn a bit of sociology and perhaps philosophy or something as well.

I just found the sociology modules they give you when you're doing joint honours really boring! Although I did enjoy writing an essay comparing the stilletto heel to the corset. I did some philosophy electives in my second year though and really enjoyed them. My housemate also did music at Leeds and she seemed to have a great time. Finished before everyone else too

As you probably already know, Leeds offers a BSc course for psychology rather than a BA, which means it's meant to have a more scientific focus. I imagine you'll have more lecture hours doing psychology at Leeds than cultural studies at Sussex, for the first two years anyway.

Is there no sand on Brighton beach? FS. How can it call itself a cultural centre?

Aberdeen has a sandy beach. Go to Aberdeen Uni.

There's a sandy bit on the prominade where you can play beach volleyball, and I think there's a sandy bit as you go east beyond the main pier!

I can imagine Brighton and Leeds both being excellent cities to be a student in.

They've both got two main universities (and Leeds has smaller places) so there's certainly a student culture in both.

 

[butterfly child]

The beach at Brighton itself might be shit, but there are loads of gorgeous beaches along the coast round out towards Newhaven.