Mostly for the British members. What is the reputation of the University of Birmingham like? I have an option to do an exchange next year and I was looking at Birmingham: what do you think?
Benjamin [inactive]
I've actually lived in Birmingham for the past 18 years... although I'm leaving tomorrow morning, and will be arriving in Scotland on Saturday.
The University of Birmingham is known as a 'red-brick university', which means that it's not as prestigious as Oxford and Cambridge, but it's in the second most prestigious category of English and Welsh (not 'British') universities. So essentially, it has a good reputation.
You can ask me practically any question about Birmingham as a city. But just of interest, why Birmingham?
Uriel
If it's through a university exchange program, your choices may be limited by what other universities your school has contracts with. I remember Santa Clara U. offered an exchange program for several countries, but only to go to one university in each. So you got to pick a country, but not a particular school IN that country. You just got what they gave you.
Josh Lalonde
That's exactly why. There are four schools in the UK to choose from: University of Birmingham, Keele University (in Newcastle-under-Lyme), Royal Holloway (University of London), and University of Reading.
Uriel
And at least you've heard of Birmingham, right?
On the flip side of that coin, though, it might be fun to choose one of the lesser-known places just to see what they are like. Less predictable that way. But it depends on what your objective in studying abroad is. What are you studying and why do you want to go, Josh?
Benjamin [inactive]
Josh Lalonde wrote:
That's exactly why. There are four schools in the UK to choose from: University of Birmingham, Keele University (in Newcastle-under-Lyme), Royal Holloway (University of London), and University of Reading.
Newcastle-under-Lyme — not a particularly exciting place to be honest; not a hugely prestigious university either.
Royal Holloway — it's in the middle of nowhere
Reading — don't know much about the place, I'm afraid
If those are your only choices, then I'd definitely recommend Birmingham. But equally, I would not have recommended Birmingham over, say, Edinburgh, for example.
Josh Lalonde
The city of Birmingham is the main reason I want to go. London seems like the cliché place to go if you're visiting England, not to mention that Reading probably isn't the most exciting area either. Keele didn't look like that great of a school, so Birmingham was left over. I think Birmingham's more interesting accent-wise too: I could just watch East Enders if I wanted to hear a London accent. And City College in Birmingham has a course in Jamaican Creole, so that all adds up. There are about 40 other countries I could go to also, but I'm really only looking at three others: Morocco, Senegal, and France.
