Choosing a university is a guess, much more than picking a course. It's an informed guess, but still a guess. You don't get a week to try it and then go somewhere else if you want to, if you start that's it. True, you can drop out then start again somewhere else next year, but that's a waste of a year so best get it right the first time.

Even more so than the last section, this decision will have an irreversible effect upon the rest of your life. After all, what university you go to will define your friends, lovers, future interests, and your job prospects.

Do They Have Your Course?

Obviously, if you want to study Chemistry and a particular university doesn't offer the course, then you can cross it off the list. The problem is, if you're choosing a 'general' course like Chemistry and a 'normal' university then you're likely to find everywhere does the course, with loads of different specialisms. It'll be the same with courses like English, Biology, Media etc... It's only when you start applying for specialist courses or specialist universities that you will get some sort of restriction in choice.

Location

So obviously you're going to have some idea as to where you'd like to live for the next three or so years. You have to decide whether you want to stay near home or move away, whether you want to be in a city, or in the country, whether you want to be in the North or the South, England or Scotland???

Looking more locally, remember that your whole life won't revolve around the campus (if there is one in the first place) so it's important you feel happy with the community, i.e. it's safe, lively and got all the other bits and bobs you want from a town/city.

Think about this too: Chances are you'll only live in halls for the first year, and after that you'll have to find a place of your own. Also, you'll get bored of the student union in the end, so you'll have to find other places to go out.

For this reason take a look at the surrounding areas: Is there plenty of housing for students? How much will it cost? Are there lots of bars and clubs you can go to? Are there shops, restaurants, cinemas and other entertaining things around? What's the transport like? Do the buses still run late at night? Can you get Taxis

Check out what there is, and more importantly; what there isn't. Only you will know whether you'll be bored or not. I always found that my gut feeling was pretty good, but you'll have to find your own way or sorting the uni's that for you, are the real deal.

League Tables.

Lots of people look at league tables, even though they can be misinterpreted. The point is, in general, if you want to get a good job at the end, as long as you got a degree from a good university, it doesn't matter what the degree is. Get it? Remember those transferrable skills we were talking about... Employers put a lot of emphasis on how much work you do at Uni and the reputation of that Uni.

Useful/Useless Stats

When you see the league tables in the papers, there are a few of the stats you should particularly look out for.

Teaching Standards and Research Standards: These two are normally interlinked and are pretty important for most people. If you're choosing your university because you want to learn, it's advisable to take this one pretty seriously.

Drop-Out Rate: normally gives a good clue as to whether a course is good or not. You'd think that it would reflect the difficulty of a course, but actually the difficult courses are more likely to provide extra help for their students. Drop-out rate normally reflects the number of students that "can't be arsed and want to do something else, 'cos this is crap".

Clearing Rate: If half the class is coming in through clearing, you have to wonder why they couldn't fill the places with the normal interviews...

% of First Years in Halls: You need to check this one out. Living in halls is possibly the best part of going to university. If you don't stand a good chance of getting a place in halls, you are:

1. Restricting the amount of friends you can make as you're living with fewer people.
2. You won't get the same non-academic support as those in halls.
3. Frankly, you won't have as much fun.

Entry Grades

Look at the entry grades for the university. You should have an idea as to what grades you'll get in the end, normally from your AS grades and your coursework marks.

Try to pick a range of courses, so they are mainly within range with one or two that might be too high a grade in case of amazing results and one or two that are a bit lower in case of disaster.

So, this narrows it a bit more. Having an idea of a course, possible universities and your likely grades, scour the UCAS handbook to come up with some possible options. Also check out "Degree Course Offers" by Brian Heap, which is updated annually. This gives possibly more information than you could ever need, but more importantly gives the average points offering in the preceding year for each course at each university. It's well worth a look, if a little expensive. (Check out the library!)

Try to make a list of ten-or-so different combinations of courses and locations, and then try to find out as much as possible about them.

Useful Information

Start with the official university prospectus. You can get hold of these from your college library, order them yourself, or pick them up from one of those higher education career fairs that occur in the summer term of Lower 6th.

This will contain the most factual information, as well as fancy pictures, and will have that nice new book smell. It should give you a good idea about what the uni will bU like, and how the course might be. Be prepared for it to be a bit biased though. This is what the university uses to sell itself, so obviously the good points will be exaggerated and the low points hidden away somewhere. Note that the more soft-focus shots in the book, the more ugly the Uni campus probably is.

Each course should also do its own mini prospectus in addition to the section in the official prospectus. This is the kind of thing you get when you go for interview or open day, though try to get hold of one in advance. Each university will have an admissions department, and each course a person in charge of admissions. Get on the phone, and ring them up. Ask if they have any extra information they can send you.

Don't wait for interview day to realise you don't want to go there. When you send off the UCAS form, you should know as much as possible about the courses, even if you haven't had a chance to visit yet.

Get on the web, and look up the official website. This might contain extra info as well as what's in the book. Search on Google for information on that university, and see what others have written about it. Look up the Student Union website as well - this is where all the social activities and sporting and recreational clubs will be organised and based, so best get a feel for this as well, as university is not all about learning. In fact, many will say the social side of university is more important than the academic....

Go and See It

Most importantly go there, and see what it's like. This might not be possible before interview day, and don't bother going in the holidays as uni is completely dead. Just make sure you see as much as possible on the interview day. Check out the open day section for a check list of what to see.

Talk to the Students

The only real way to find out what a university is like is to talk to the people that are there already. Honest opinions of courses and their good and bad points are often found in the alternative prospectus made by the student union, though this can be hard to get hold of. In general, it's only the views of one person on a course, which might not be the whole story, especially if they are writing good stuff to try and raise their marks a bit.

When you go, talk to as many people as possible. Sometimes this isn't possible, and you should be worried if you're just force fed propaganda and then hurried out the door. A quality university should be happy to let you talk to as many current students as possible.

Finally...

After reading everything there is from the university, talking to everyone you can find, searching the web and reading the truth written by students in the RealUni Alternative Prospectus you should have an idea as to whether you want to put it on your UCAS form.

True, you may get there for open day or interview and decide its not for you.... but as I said, choosing a university is a bit of a lottery - just make it an informed one, and use this site to find out what your letting yourself in for.

For further information, we reckon you should check out a book called "The Push Guide to Choosing a University". Find out more by visiting www.push.co.uk.

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