How do you choose the best uni from your offers?

Location

Where to study is often as important as what to study. Do you prefer an urban or rural environment? How close do you want or need to be to family and friends? Knowing the answer to these sorts of questions will help you prioritise.

Cost

While everything seems to be getting more expensive, there are still cheaper places to live and study in the UK. University accommodation varies in price and quality so look into this during your research. You may want to live on campus in your first year but think about how expensive private rents are for subsequent years. Factor in travel costs too, both to and from campus as well as trip home.

Extracurricular activities

There’s more to university life than lectures so do some digging into what sorts of extracurricular activities, clubs and societies your potential university could offer as well as what’s available off campus.

Student union

Student unions can play an important role in university life. They provide representation, advice and support on lots of key issues such as accommodation, finances and well being. They also help organise social events. For example Freshers’ Week is often organised by a student union so consider how active it is at the places you hold offers.

Research the universities that have offered you a place

You can get some sense of a university from doing research but nothing beats a visit in person, or if that’s not possible, a virtual tour. A university that looks good on paper, might feel very different in real life.

Visit the universities open days

University open days and virtual events can be held very early in the academic year so look out for these opportunities from the get go. You’ll usually need to book in advance and are often very popular. Don’t panic if you miss out, you can still visit a university on an unofficial open day by contacting the university and arranging something with them yourself.

Its often a good idea to take someone else with you, a parent, guardian or friend might offer a different perspective.

Talk to current students and staff at the universities

This is your opportunity to get a sense of what university life is really like from the people who know. Think of some questions to ask based on your research and read our pointers to help you.

Weigh up the pros and cons of each university

Making a list of pros and cons for each university based on your research and a visit might help your decision making process. You could also explore our league tables ranking 130 UK universities against different measures. Compare universities by subject or place along with other factors like student satisfaction and graduate outcomes using the table filters.

You might decide that you have a firm favourite and an acceptable back up choice from this process.