You’re thinking about university and taking the next step in your educational career. Where do you even start? There’re so many choices and so many different courses, when you’re thinking about where to study it can be a really difficult choice. You’ve also got to think about the city, where you live will have a massive impact on how much you enjoy university and how well you settle down.

With most people in England going to university at the tender age of 18, it’s a huge decision to make. So, where do you even start? With university open days mostly being held virtually due to the ongoing pandemic, the opportunity to check a place out is even harder now, so doing your research is even more key than it used to be.

Picking the right course

The A-level choices you make at school should give you a bit of an indication as to the educational path you want to make and what you choose will have a direct impact on the options available to you. But even if you narrow down a course, there are still tons of different varieties on just the course itself. Some university courses have specific modules which you again have to pick out yourself, if you're not quite sure about these modules, go for a course that has plenty of freedom to explore different subject areas.

What’s your course worth?

If you haven’t thought about the kind of career path you want to take, consider what you enjoy and what you’re good at. Write down what you’ve enjoyed doing at school or what kind of things you’re interested in and see which courses are available. From here you’ll have a better perspective of what sort of options you’ve got and then you can slowly narrow it down even further.

The University

Once you have an idea of the kind of course you want to do, you’ll then be able to get a better perspective of which university might be right for you. From finding the right course you can narrow down the universities available, not all unis have the same courses available and some are renowned or specialise in certain subject areas.

Check the rankings

It’s worth taking a look through the university rankings and for your specific course too. Even if the university you’re looking at isn’t super high in the rankings, it could be one of the top ones in the country for your chosen course. If you do your research, you can also see which universities and particular courses are well respected amongst employers and businesses.

Location

When you go to university, you’re committing yourself to three or four years’ worth of study in potentially a completely new city. You’ve got to ask yourself where you might feel most comfortable. Is the city too big for me? Is it close to home? How expensive is the city to live in? When you’ve narrowed down your choice of universities it’ll give you a much better idea of which cities might suit you.

Costs of living

If the cost of studying is weighing heavily on your mind, you should consider some of the smaller cities and town. Bigger cities like London, Leeds and Manchester will always be more expensive. If the cost of living is a potentially decisive factor, studying closer to home means you might not even have to move out and can save some pennies.

What’s living in the city like?

Expense shouldn’t be the only thing on your mind though. What’s the city actually like? Is there a high crime rate? Are there good public transport options? Is there a big student community? These are just some of the extras you need to think about when delving further into a university location. Perhaps the most important thing to consider though? What’s the nightlife like!? A city which is student friendly and has a big population is much more likely to cater to a student budget.

As long as you do your research, then you've got the best chance of finding the right course, university and city for you. Such a big decision isn’t as straightforward as just picking something out of thin air, look at uni reviews, speak to other students, go to virtual open days. It’s such an important decision, but if you consider what’s good for you, you'll end up making the right choice