Advice on choosing Uni?

[cfc]

I have got two Unconditional Offers from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, and Middlesex University. Central have offered me a place on the BA (Hons) Writings for Performance Degree, while Middlesex have offered me a place on the BA (Hons) Creative Writing and Journalism degree.

For the past year-and-a-half, I have been writing my own musical, which is much more theatre-based. While I believe at this moment that that is the area of writing that I want to go into, I have also written private non-written books and articles in the past, and am worried about committing myself to a particular field too quickly, and that I might change my mind (as I feel like generally I’ve had a habit of doing in the past). I feel like the course at Middlesex might be more broad, and better for me long-term.

However, through visiting Middlesex twice, I’ve just never felt like I could see myself there for some reason. I think the building is very big and overwhelming. In contrast, I found Central much less intimidating, and feel like I might be happier in that environment. I don't know what the class sizes at Middlesex would be, but I do know that the class sizes at Central are small (around 15), which may give me more support, and suit my learning style.

Does anyone have any advice on what I should do, and what factors (the course itself or happiness + learning style should be the ones that help me make the choice?

Creative Writing and Journalism BA Honours | Middlesex University London

Writing for Performance, BA | The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama

 

[Jojo_LB]

First of all, congrats on getting offers! These degree programs sound very interesting.

There are a few things that have shaped my college experiences, that I wish I'd known before even enrolling in any program. When I first got into university back in 2001, I didn't know I was autistic or had any other sort of neurodevelopmental condition. If I had known, I would have had an easier, less excruciatingly painful time trying to live my life.

I changed universities two more times, and degree concentrations three times in all over 17-18 years. I finally graduated this month.

You are really young and starting out on this journey knowing what a lot of your strengths are and where your potential challenges lie, so you can make this go a lot more smoothly than I was ever able to.

For me personally, size of school and classes matter. My first college was New York University. Huge campus and class sizes (depends on the major too. All the core courses for my major taken by 1st and 2nd year students were huge in enrollment size). I had a massive meltdown one day in October 2002 and abruptly dropped out.

My second foray into getting my bachelor happened ten years later. I chose a slightly better school (by better, I mean much cheaper and slightly smaller campus) and a slightly different major. But I still didn't know the root of my problems, so I left school again two years later.

Funny in a very sad and bitter way, I found out about my neurodevelopmental conditions in my final semester of school, well into my 30's, too late to do anything about accommodations and communicating my needs to anyone. I try to rejoice in my accomplishments, but the pain of not knowing and therefore suffering and wasting so much of my time and life eats at me a little bit every single day. It is a lot to handle.

I think the more broad option sounds nice, but I personally like smaller schools, smaller classes, a more "close-knit community" feel where I am not just a number.

Accommodations at the school matter big time. Find out which school is more accommodating to their students with different needs. Is there anything you can find out about the faculty in each department at each university? If you can, find out more about them. You want to make sure that you are comfortable communicating your needs with them in case you ever have to in the future. It looks like you have visited each campus at some point in the past. I think it matters a great deal where you feel more comfortable, regardless of the concentration. You may love what you're studying, but if you don't feel supported you will have a really hard time. During your visits, were you able to meet with any faculty or department heads to ask some questions?

If I could do it all over again, I would obsessively gather as much information as I can on everything about the schools I'm considering, all information about accommodations for students with different needs, faculty, class sizes, etc. You are going to spend the next few years interacting with the same people, going to the same places almost every day. Consider all of that on top of your workload and other various life responsibilities. You have to be very sure you feel comfortable and supported at your school. Being a college student is hard for anyone, but it can be extra challenging for people like us.

 

[NothingToSeeHere]

These are some of the things that made a big difference to me when I was at uni (as a student, I now work at a uni). I did a BSc at a small specialized uni and an MSc at a very large city center Uni, so had very different experiences.

I coped better at the small Uni with small class sizes. I would recommend emailing the course leader at Middlesex to get an idea of the course and class sizes so you can compare properly.

Accommodation was an important factor to me, I wanted to be in a relatively small Halls in a quite area, and self catered so that I didn't have to go to a big communal area to get meals.

The big Uni where I did my MSc had an absolutely brilliant disability support department, they had a lot of experience supporting students with autism, and I would not have got through the year without them and my assigned mentor. The smaller unis disability support wasn't that great, but because it was a less stressful environment and less academically challenging I coped well enough anyway.

The lecturers at the smaller uni were far more supportive and accessible (because of the smaller course sizes) and because of that I felt far more able to discuss any issues with them.

I would recommend you get in contact with the disability support at both unis and ask them about what support they provide and what experience they have with autistic people, what training lecturers get on supporting autistic students ASD. Also as I mentioned before contact the course leaders, ask them questions about course sizes, work loads, anything you are concerned about.

 

[shysnail]

I really think your happiness has got to be the deciding factor. If you're not happy, chances are you won't finish the course or won't get as good a degree as you might have done. Plus, it would be miserable being stuck somewhere you hate for 3/4 years. For me, I didn't suit my first university at all. The subject was what I wanted, but I hated the atmosphere. Maybe in contrast to you, I didn't like how small it was. It felt like it made it more obvious that I wasn't fitting in. Ultimately, it just didn't "feel" right to me and I wasn't happy there. I dropped out.

My second uni was much bigger and felt a lot less pressured (it was considerably lower ranking in the league tables). However, I was generally quite happy there. I could blend into the background if I wanted. The course would never have been my first choice, but I did really well in it just because I had my anxiety under control there.

Ultimately, I think it comes down to where you will be happy. The actual content of your course I don't think matters nearly so much. The perfect course in the imperfect university is going to be hard to get through, I think.

As others have said, perhaps contact Middlesex and see what the situation would be in terms of class size and any other queries you might have. But if your gut is saying no, it may be time to listen.

Good luck!

 

[Pinkie B]

I don't know anything about the specific universities you mentioned, but I can give you some general advice based on my obnoxious number of years (and schools) spent in higher ed and my less obnoxious amount of time spent advising students. This is what I tell them:

Your time at university isn't about the degree. It's hardly even about the actual subjects that you learn. University is about learning about you.

So, given a choice between a specific program course that you like and a specific environment that you like, take the environment. Course subjects are less important than the people teaching them anyway and that's hard to predict based just on the major offerings.

At the end of the day, everybody who graduates gets a degree that's more or less most valuable for existing and only secondarily valuable for its specialization. Everybody also gets all of the memories and experiences and connections that they make while in school and those are probably worth much more.

 

[tducey]

Do your research into each school to see what they offer. See how well they treat others with disabilities as well. Good luck, congrats on the 2 acceptances.