[Boothy]

Right, I'm looking at universities now, but I'm not sure how far away to move. I'm think Worcester because it's only about 45 minutes away on the train, few others based in the midlands (coventry, derby, nottingham etc) and manchester (about 1 and a half hours).

Any students on here? How far away did you move? Also, how beneficial were the open days? They're all within the next 2 weeks so I need to start booking them soon, that's if they're useful.

Also, if anyone could offer their thoughts on uni, I mean like, what you think of it, any tips, experiences etc., I'd be very grateful.

[Sunny_01]

I think the open days are pretty valuable, they give you a feel for the places you might select. I would try to narrow your choices down as far as you can though otherwise you will be trogging off all over the place.

I see the benefits of both staying at home and going away for uni, staying at home will obviously reduce costs for you and hopefully you could leave uni with smaller debts. Living away from home gives you a taste of independent living with a kind of safety blanket and its a blast.

Depends on what you want to do, look at the tables for the courses that you are considering, see which schools offer the best for your course choice.

[Z]

Originally Posted by Boothy

Right, I'm looking at universities now, but I'm not sure how far away to move. I'm think Worcester because it's only about 45 minutes away on the train, few others based in the midlands (coventry, derby, nottingham etc) and manchester (about 1 and a half hours).

Any students on here? How far away did you move? Also, how beneficial were the open days? They're all within the next 2 weeks so I need to start booking them soon, that's if they're useful.

Also, if anyone could offer their thoughts on uni, I mean like, what you think of it, any tips, experiences etc., I'd be very grateful.

I'm from Aberdeen and moved to Glasgow for University; so about 3 hours away from home - these days with things like MSN, Skype, Facebook, phones and so on, you can keep in contact with your friends and family with no problems, so I wouldn't worry about how far away from home it is, worry about what's right for you in terms of a course. To be honest with you, all open days are the same, the only differences being what they show you (i.e. the buildings) and, if you've applied for a variety of different courses, what kind of questions you're there to ask. I didn't really go to many open days, I only went to one (in Aberdeen) before I made my choices on UCAS.

Uni itself is easy going in 1st year. You're generally only in for like the equivalent of two full school days, and the learning aspect is entirely up to you - it's up to you if you go to lectures or not (dunno about other Unis, but Glasgow posts lecture materials up online anyway, so going to lectures isn't even necessary) and if you've picked the right courses, it's actually really interesting, you don't get bored as easily as you do in school. If you're moving away from home; halls are just amazing. You will meet SO many different types of people, and lots of them. Freshers week is mental, just be as friendly as you possibly can and get to know as many people as possible. Some of them you might never see again, others might turn out to be your best friends from your first year - both of those things happened for me! You learn how to look after yourself a lot better if you move away from home; I'd never really done much in the way of cooking or laundry etc, but I was getting pretty good at it by the time I moved out of halls a couple of weeks ago.

It's good fun. I remember being really nervous before I went to Uni, but all of that disappears as soon as your parents leave you to it. Don't be shy! That's the worst thing you can do, even if it's your natural instinct to shy away. Just go up to people and get talking to them, I appreciated it when people did it to me, and (as one of my friends from Uni told me) people appreciated it when I did it to them. You've probably got a million and one questions with no idea where to start, but if I can be of any help then don't hesitate to ask!

[Boothy]

Originally Posted by Zee

I'm from Aberdeen and moved to Glasgow for University; so about 3 hours away from home - these days with things like MSN, Skype, Facebook, phones and so on, you can keep in contact with your friends and family with no problems, so I wouldn't worry about how far away from home it is, worry about what's right for you in terms of a course. To be honest with you, all open days are the same, the only differences being what they show you (i.e. the buildings) and, if you've applied for a variety of different courses, what kind of questions you're there to ask. I didn't really go to many open days, I only went to one (in Aberdeen) before I made my choices on UCAS.

Uni itself is easy going in 1st year. You're generally only in for like the equivalent of two full school days, and the learning aspect is entirely up to you - it's up to you if you go to lectures or not (dunno about other Unis, but Glasgow posts lecture materials up online anyway, so going to lectures isn't even necessary) and if you've picked the right courses, it's actually really interesting, you don't get bored as easily as you do in school. If you're moving away from home; halls are just amazing. You will meet SO many different types of people, and lots of them. Freshers week is mental, just be as friendly as you possibly can and get to know as many people as possible. Some of them you might never see again, others might turn out to be your best friends from your first year - both of those things happened for me! You learn how to look after yourself a lot better if you move away from home; I'd never really done much in the way of cooking or laundry etc, but I was getting pretty good at it by the time I moved out of halls a couple of weeks ago.

It's good fun. I remember being really nervous before I went to Uni, but all of that disappears as soon as your parents leave you to it. Don't be shy! That's the worst thing you can do, even if it's your natural instinct to shy away. Just go up to people and get talking to them, I appreciated it when people did it to me, and (as one of my friends from Uni told me) people appreciated it when I did it to them. You've probably got a million and one questions with no idea where to start, but if I can be of any help then don't hesitate to ask!

Thanks a lot for that, really detailed!

Yeah, I'm definitely gonna move into the halls, I need to learn to live on my own lol. The experience of living alone with other people appeals to me aswell, really looking forward to it.

I've know what course I want to do. Well, sort of. I've narrowed it down to business management, international business (year in america) or business management with marketing, so questions will be very similar. I think I'll get to a couple of the local open days just to get a feel for university in general and maybe just email the ones which are a bit further away.

I am pretty shy why I first meet people, but get on with people easily. If that makes sense lol. I'm pretty worried about meeting people to start with, but know I'll be fine as soon as I've started the conversation. What actually happens in freshers week? Like, how do you actually meet people? Just a big gathering or a party or something?

Again, thanks for going into so much detail, really appreciate it!

[KG.]

Definitely go to the open days, it will be so beneficial.

I was at uni for the first term, but due to not really wanting to continue the course and not wanting to be in the debt, I quit at the end of the first term and I went to Coventry.

The university itself was pretty decent, I stayed in Callice Court which was pretty nice accomodation but there are some other decent ones too. Parts of it can be pretty dodgy though and the nightlife isn't anything to rave about.

Out of the ones you have suggested, purely based on what I think you'd get the best "student lifestyle" out of, I'd say Nottingham. I've got quite a few friends there who absolutely love it, and it's much better nightlife than Coventry.

RE: the fresher's week thing and meeting people. I was shown to my room with my parents, parents stayed for a bit helped me to unpack, saw a couple of people in and out of the flat but didn't really say much until the parents were gone and people were moving stuff into the kitchen where you meet all your flatmates.

Usually university's will put on a shit load of stuff for fresher's week to make you feel as comfortable and welcome as possible so don't worry about being shy at first, I was exactly the same, and I know you hear people say "Oh, everyone's in the same boat" and you think, yeah I know, but I'm shitting it!

Everyone really is in the same boat, and you'll be absolutely fine when you get there, we had a massive pub crawl for the whole accomodation when we got there, just find out before you go to uni what's going on in fresher's week and make sure you join in with as much as you can, you'll probably start with your flatmates, then find other people to join.

In the first night we had already organised a flat party the next night with 3 other flats and it went from there. It's great fun, but my only advice is make sure you think it out as much as you can before you go, I made the mistake of not really doing that and only wanting to go for the life, then had to give it up when I realised I didn't want to carry on the course

[Z]

As KG. said, just lurk in the communal bit of your flat (most likely your kitchen) and just introduce yourself to your flatmates as and when they appear. You don't need alcohol to have a good time; but if you're shy when it comes to meeting new people, like I was, then get tipsy to lose those inhibitions (WITH other people, for the love of God don't be the drunk flatmate that embarrasses himself on arrival ) and just talk to your flatmates. They might have friends also at the same Uni, so you'll get to meet your flatmates friends. You meet people through your course as well. Lectures aren't so great for them, but tutorials and seminars (where you're in small groups and have to talk to each other) are good places to meet new people; and through these people you'll meet the friends they've made at Uni... before I went, I was scared of meeting new people, but it's honestly the easiest part of Uni, because it happens whether you want it to or not! Our flat had a party on one of the first nights of freshers week. There will be freshers helpers (students from 2nd-4th year) who are there to make you feel a lot better about the whole thing, they're good fun and are there to make sure you feel included and have a good time.

[Boothy]

Thanks KG really informative! I think I'll book some open days then, they'll also give me a chance to look around the area too. Also, I get time off college

Thanks again Zee, you've been really helpful

[Z]

Originally Posted by Boothy

Thanks KG really informative! I think I'll book some open days then, they'll also give me a chance to look around the area too. Also, I get time off college

Thanks again Zee, you've been really helpful

No worries! It's honestly a blast, I wish I'd made more of it looking back! You'll make friends no problem!