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Sheffield as a student


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Long ago my old ecomomics teacher raved about his time growing up in Sheffield and told us almost every lesson what a great city it was!! Now his childhood was about 70 years ago, but I always remember the strength of feeling he had for his city so when my daughter recently started looking at Uni's to study at I raised Sheffield as an option. We've been to the University of Sheffield open day, she wants to study Physics, and were really impressed with what we saw. I'd be very helpful if forumites could assist in the pros and cons of Sheffield froom a students persepective please? What are the things/places to avoid, safety concerns or other things we need to know, and what are the must do's? Any information you could provide would be really helpful in helping her make a final decision. Thanks in advance

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First off - UoS is a wonderful University, it is genuinely a top-class place to study in the UK. Secondly, Sheffield is still a great city, friendly and warm people (despite this forum ;) ) and generally quite cheap to live compared to other University cities. Thirdly, (and I know quite a lot of Unions!) the Union is by far one of the best in the region, if not in the nation.

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First off - UoS is a wonderful University, it is genuinely a top-class place to study in the UK. Secondly, Sheffield is still a great city, friendly and warm people (despite this forum ;) ) and generally quite cheap to live compared to other University cities. Thirdly, (and I know quite a lot of Unions!) the Union is by far one of the best in the region, if not in the nation.

 

I think everyone on this forum would happily sit and a drink and a chat with you (One subject best left off the agenda with some of us mind you :) ).

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One of the main attractions for students to come to Sheffield and ultimately settle here is the great outdoors. Sheffield is the only city which contains part of a National Park within its boundaries and this offers multiple opportunities for walking, cycling, climbing and many others. These are all accessible by public transport.

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You'd probably like to hear from students, but I'm afraid they tend toward Facebook instead of forums like this (more's the pity), so I hope you don't mind hearing from all of us older folks about what we imagine the student experience is like. My other half teaches at the uni, not sure if that helps...

 

We moved to Sheffield from a very large city, and it took a little getting used to, but frankly we've fallen in love with city, and we see the same thing happening to the students here. Sheffield is not a flashy place and doesn't tend to be trendsetting. But it has a high proportion of kindly people, a huge amount of culture, whatever culture means to you: theatre, museums, music festivals, book festivals, clubs, restaurants. The centre is very walkable. And for outdoorsy types, the Peak District is nearby and easy to get to.

 

On the whole, Sheffield loves its students.

 

It's affordable, although not as cheap as it used to be.

 

It's diverse. That brings some tensions, but because it's got a friendly culture, it has a lot more pluses than minuses.

 

If you're daughter does come to Sheffield, tell her to try to do at least one thing outside of the uni: volunteer, hike, go to the theatre, make a friend who's not a student. And don't be a stranger yourself. It's a wonderful place to visit, and cheap compared to tourist towns.

 

Good luck through the application process and final year exams. What an exciting time!

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Yep, I'm one such former student.

 

Likewise.

 

And now my niece has just started a 3 year course at Hallam Uni as well, so I'm getting the chance to show her the best places in Sheffield (and perhaps a few to avoid as well).

 

Obviously I can't speak for the university experiences of other cities, but I think you'd have to go a long way to beat all the qualities Sheffield has to offer.

 

Good luck looking around, and of course getting the grades.

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