It takes more than just finding the right course to determine which university suits you best, and it can be a difficult and stressful process (I know it was for me). I'm sure many of you will be beginning this exciting yet nerve racking journey soon, and to save you even a little bit of anxiety, I'm here to share how I chose the perfect school for me.
If you've read any of my travelling chapters, you'll know that I live in Spain, but I'm orininally from the UK. When I graduated from my A-Levels, or Bachillerato as they call it here, I heavily considered studying at a Spanish university. Despite this, a little voice in my head kept telling me to at least consider getting a degree in my home country, the UK.
Thus began my decision nightmare: Spain or the UK?
1. CHOOSING THE COUNTRY
If you too are having to choose between two or more countries to study in, here are a few do's and dont's that may help you down the options:
DO'S | DONT'S |
|---|---|
- Consider if you enjoy the country in question (if you have ever visited and didn't enjoy, why? Will this affect uni life?) | - Don't worry about speaking the language perfectly, thousands of students study abroad without language profficiency. |
- Check out the student life, especially the social life*. | - Don't stress about going to the best of the best. Most unis offer great courses and amazing professors to teach them. |
- Check if the university offers good accommodation! If you have the option, I recommend you stay in the uni accommodation!** | - Never worry about not making friends. Everyone makes freinds at uni!! Go and read my chapter on settling in during your first week at uni, I'm sure it will really help with the nerves! |
- Get input!! Ask student's opinion of the countries you're considering. Ask for pros and cons***. | - Don't dismiss a country based on how strict it is with grades. There's always a way around them if you don't meet the criteria****. |
*Social life: it's important to look for somewhere with a good social life. It's the easiest way to make friends! Find a university with a good work/party ratio that fits your needs. For instance, I wanted more party than work (who doesn't?), and the UK student life is known for being super fun. Luckily for me, I had friends studying in Spain and also ones in the UK, so I asked for their input. Apparently Spain doesn't go quite as hard with the party life as the UK does, so that got me one step further in my decision making process.
**Accommodation: I really wanted to stay at the university accommodation, because it seemed so amusing and all of my friends recommended it 100%. Spanish unis have halls of residence, but it's usually only international students who live there. In the UK, around 90% of the students stay in the halls, and there's never a dull moment apparently.
***Getting input: if you don't know anyone in a country you're considering, you can either ask any family or friends to see if they know anyone, or go online and search for student reviews! This helped me so much (also, after going through this whole process myself, I'm quite knowledgeable on this subject, especially with student life in Spain and the UK. If you have absolutely any questions, ask away!! I'm always happy to help).
****The grades: as I said, don't worry. I didn't have the grades to get into my university, but I created a great personal statement (almost like a CV of my life) to prove that I indeed was someone they wanted.
Now that you have all of this information, it's time to write up a pros and cons list with everything you have learned of each country. And after this, you're on your own kid: the decision is up to you, noone can help you with it.
Something to keep in mind during this time is that, no matter how stressful and pressurising it may be, it's the first step in arguably the best chapter of your life. It will get a little worse (possible entrance exams, application process, accommodation choices) before it gets better, but once you've passed the burden of deciding and preparing, you'll thank yourself for spending the time to focus on this process.
So, for the sake of this chapter, I'm going to assume that you've come to a conclusion on which country you'd like to study in. Well done! When you reach this milestone, I hope you appreciate what a good job you have done so far. It's not easy to get to where you have, it takes a lot of will power.
Which brings me to my next point.
2. NARROWING DOWN THE SEARCH
You've decided on a country, that's an amazing start. The next step is to find the best universities for your preferred course.
I wanted to study something to do with languages, with a course that offered more than one language, so I decided on Modern Languages. With this course in mind, I searched up "best unis in the UK for modern languages", and it came up with a big list of promising schools.
If you want to add to the list, or if you simply don't like the look of the universities the search engine has come up with, search up universities in the part of the country you'd like to be in.
Which I'll follow up with: where don't you want to study?
Cross off any universities that are in areas you're certain that you don't want to live in. For example, when I was narrowing down my options, I immediately knew I didn't want to be anywhere around London or anywhere too quiet or secluded.
The subsequent yet equally as important question to ask yourself is: do you want a city university, or a campus university?
It seems like an irrelevant question, but feeling comfortable is so important at uni, especially to be able to study properly.
Next up, what kind of building would you prefer the university to be?
And by this I am refferring to the style of the building: modern, victorian, red brick... again, it seems insignificant, but it isn't to many people.
Next, if you are planning to stay at the university's accommodation, check that the universities have the kind of accommodation you're looking for.
I wanted an en-suite room for my first year, and there were a few universities on my list that didn't actually provide en-suites. I didn't completely cross them off my list, however I did keep them on 'stand by'.
It isn't the end of the world if you really like the look of a certain university, but it isn't the kind of building you wanted it to be. For example, mine ended up being a completely different style to what I initially envisioned it to be, and I love it. These questions are to help you on your journey of finding the best place for you, even if, after this whole process, you realise that you don't actually care about anything other than the course. You need to consider everything to realise what you want.
3. CONSIDER YOUR OPTIONS
By now you'll be left with a checklist of universities you're considering. You've done a great job so far with narrowing down your options, but don't throw your feet up yet, there's still a way to go.
What you need to be focusing on now is getting the feel of studying at these universities. Of course, the best way to do this is attending open days, but these days it isn't always possible. An alternative yet great option is to take virtual tours of campus (I'm sure the uni websites feature virtual open day events and/or 360 degree videos of campus) to experience where you will be living. Take notes from each campus experience and compare them after you've explored all of the schools on your list. Did one stand out more than the others? Did one have more facilities you're interested in, such as a gym/ pool etc? Could you imagine yourself living comfortable in one more than the others? Ask yourself these kind of questions, try and get a feel of which one is more you.
Another trick I tried was imagining myself walking through campus with my future friends all the way to my dorm room. I created this scenario in each of my options, and it wasn't that one stood out, but there were immediately two that I simply couldn't imagine myself being completely satsfied in.
This pretend situation may seem silly, but it helped me cross two off my list! With decisions as important as this, being thorough is essential. There isn't one trick that just immediately helps you choose one of the options, it takes time. The best way to find the perfect fit for you, like I said before, is to consider all of your options with the same amount of energy and will power. Be patient, and you'll thank yourself later.
The last step that helped me was to go online and just search up whatever student reviews I could find about each university. YouTube videos, comment rooms, Reddit sections, you name it. I performed a very intensive search, noted all of the positive and negative reviews (all of them were positive, however some did include a few complaints about certain things, like the heating etc) and later reviewed them, together with my notes from the campus virtual tours.
Student reviews are so helpful. They know what you're looking to read because they were in your position not long before. Many of the assessments and opinions were incredibly detailed, explaining even how the campus car park worked. If you're reading this and have made a student review, thank you!! No matter how brief your report, know that you have helped so many people.
And that's it from me! I truly hope this was helpful to you. If you're going to be making an important decision like this soon, just remember to stay calm and true to yourself. Choose what feels the best for you, and definitely don't base your choice off of other people's thoughts. You and only you can find the best option for you!! I wish you the best of luck, and like always, if you have any questions about anything, I'm always happy to help in any way that I can. You can ask me questions in the comment section of this chapter, or via my private email (find it in the 'contact' section of my site!).