I'm a native of the North-East (of England, that is) and have spent the last several years studying at the University of wales in Lampeter. I'm studying archaeology, and can really only speak knowledgably about the departments related to that, so speaking academically, I can't really give you much helpful information. In terms of place, however, I can speak highly of both Wales and Newcastle as a place of study, though for very different reasons.
Wales is a beautiful country. Although I don't study at Bangor, I've heard very good things about it as a place; night life isn;t exactly rocking, but the selection of pubs available seems to be good. However, I haven't always heard only good things about the academic staff, though the comments I've encoutnered seemed to relate mostly to the geography types. If you're an outdoors type, or simply enjoy walking in the countryside, Wales is perfect; wherever you are, you're not every far from National Parks, mountains and a very pretty, often dramatic coastline. Getting places in Wales and around Wales vcan, in my experience at least, be difficult, so that's definately something to be wary of.
I live less than twenty minutes from Newcastle, and have done all my life. My best friend is just about to enter the final year of her Business Management degree there too. Academically, it's reputation is very good. However, the class sizes are large and unless you really, really make an effort with your lecturers you tend to be just another face inthe crowd. Of course, it's different with postgrad, depending on your course etc. etc, and you have to bear in mind that I'm used to really, really small lectures (my biggest this year had all of twenty people in it and my smallest just three). Socially, Newcastle is fantastic. It has good cinemas, good club scene (if that's your thing), but also many good pubs. Restaurants are varied, the shopping is good, and if you want to get out of the city and visit other places both locally and nationally, the transport connections are really good; Newcastle Airport and train station are easily accessible and buses run almost everywhere regularly (though not always reliably but hey, that's public transport).
I hope that ramble was useful! If you have any questions about anything, please do let me know and I'll do the best i can to answer them for you. Oh, and I used to be a representative to the Student Union from Lampeter University (Iwas the Raising and Giving Officer), so if you have any Union related questions, I can possibly help you out with them too.
Wales and Newcastle
Wales is a beautiful country. Although I don't study at Bangor, I've heard very good things about it as a place; night life isn;t exactly rocking, but the selection of pubs available seems to be good. However, I haven't always heard only good things about the academic staff, though the comments I've encoutnered seemed to relate mostly to the geography types. If you're an outdoors type, or simply enjoy walking in the countryside, Wales is perfect; wherever you are, you're not every far from National Parks, mountains and a very pretty, often dramatic coastline. Getting places in Wales and around Wales vcan, in my experience at least, be difficult, so that's definately something to be wary of.
I live less than twenty minutes from Newcastle, and have done all my life. My best friend is just about to enter the final year of her Business Management degree there too. Academically, it's reputation is very good. However, the class sizes are large and unless you really, really make an effort with your lecturers you tend to be just another face inthe crowd. Of course, it's different with postgrad, depending on your course etc. etc, and you have to bear in mind that I'm used to really, really small lectures (my biggest this year had all of twenty people in it and my smallest just three). Socially, Newcastle is fantastic. It has good cinemas, good club scene (if that's your thing), but also many good pubs. Restaurants are varied, the shopping is good, and if you want to get out of the city and visit other places both locally and nationally, the transport connections are really good; Newcastle Airport and train station are easily accessible and buses run almost everywhere regularly (though not always reliably but hey, that's public transport).
I hope that ramble was useful! If you have any questions about anything, please do let me know and I'll do the best i can to answer them for you. Oh, and I used to be a representative to the Student Union from Lampeter University (Iwas the Raising and Giving Officer), so if you have any Union related questions, I can possibly help you out with them too.