How I Chose My University

There’s a lot of thought that goes into choosing a university – after all, if you’re going to be spending a minimum of three years studying there, it’s not a decision that should be made lightly.

I chose to study for my English with Writing degree at the University of the West of England (UWE), Bristol. It was my top choice university and was definitely the institution for me, but a lot of thought went into my decision to applying there in the first place. So, here are a few of the reasons as to why I chose UWE Bristol as my place to study, which I hope will help you if you are planning on going to university yourselves. Enjoy!

The course UWE offered was perfect for me

The first reason I chose my university was on account of the course I wanted to study, as I wanted to learn the skills needed to eventually land my dream job as a writer/journalist. So naturally, I started looking into writing courses first.

But then, one of my English teachers from my old school advised me to look into English courses too, so my opportunities weren’t as narrow – and I’m so glad she did. After a bit of research, I found that UWE had an English with Writing course, which of course sounded perfect to me, and ended up being just so.

I read so many brilliant books and expanded my literary repertoire, I learnt about literary theory and delved into the minds of writers, philosophers and others, and I got taught to analyse other people’s writing in a way that will help me when it comes to my own.

I started searching for English and Creative and Professional Writing joint honours courses before I found that UWE offered a full English with Writing single honours degree, so a tip from me would be to make sure you’re 100% set on what you want to study before going on to choose where to go. Check out the course content on the university’s website too so you’re clued up on what you’ll be taught, because this will help your decision a lot.

It was the perfect distance away

I’m no stranger to travelling away from home, however before uni I had never been away from my family for longer than a couple of weeks. So when I was looking at universities, I wanted to go somewhere that was far enough away that I could be independent, but not so far that I couldn’t easily go home if I needed to. I also chose other universities to apply for with this in mind, such as Coventry, Buckingham, Wolverhampton and Keele.

Bristol is just over an hour’s drive from home for me, so it was a pretty perfect distance away. University is a great learning experience and a brilliant way to expand and become your own person, but your family is a lifeline that you will probably need more than you realise.

Bristol had raving reviews

Whenever I said I was applying to study in Bristol, people always told me what a magnificent city it is – and they were right. Bristol is vibrant, colourful, eccentric and (in my opinion) the perfect place to be a student. It’s packed full of culture, history, architecture, food and art – not to mention the top-notch nightlife, which is of paramount importance of course.

There’s something for everyone, and I always feel lucky to have been able to spend three years living there.

I saw myself there from the beginning

I don’t really know how to explain it, but out of the five universities I looked round before choosing, UWE was the one that jumped out at me more than the others. When I was touring the campus on UWE’s Open Day, all I could think of was “I can see myself here”, and I just had a gut feeling that I belonged there. This gut feeling turned out to be right, and to this day it’s the best decision I’ve ever made.

These are just four main points that I took into account when I chose to study at UWE, but of course there are lots of other factors to consider aswell, such as:

• The university’s rankings on various league tables
• The sports, societies and extra-curriculars that the university has to offer
• Accommodation prices and cost of living
• Entry requirements

In short, just make sure that you do your research and trust your gut, and you can’t go far wrong. Good luck!

And that’s it! If you’re in the process of applying for university or you know someone who is, share this post! And if you’ve been to university already: where did you study and why? Let me know!

Thanks for reading x